Blog

You’ve got lots of needs as a business owner – among them, supplies you rely on from square-dealing vendors. But what if the vendor misleads your staff about the price or quantity of those supplies, hits you with a huge invoice you didn’t authorize, and then tries to pressure you into paying it? Those are just some of the sales tactics the FTC is challenging in recent law enforcement actions. In three unrelated cases, the FTC has sued California...

Make, model, and cup holders are considerations, of course, but what really matters to a prospective used car buyer is whether the vehicle’s systems check out. It just makes sense, since so many of those systems are tied to safety. But it’s not easy for consumers to tell if they’re buying a lemon or a creampuff. Many dealers try to assuage that concern by advertising that their used cars have passed multi-point checks. FTC complaints charge that...

Since 2004, brand-name and generic drug manufacturers have filed certain agreements with the FTC and DOJ as required by the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act (also known as MMA filings). Congress required these filings after the FTC raised concerns that some agreements between brand-name and generic drug companies had the potential to unlawfully delay generic drug entry and thereby undermine the goals of the Hatch...

When we announced Operation Collection Protection in November, a federal-state crackdown on illegal debt collection practices, we said it was just the start of a historic partnership – and we weren’t kidding. Today marks the next phase: four FTC cases against debt collectors who falsely claimed an affiliation with local courts or law enforcement, new actions from the CFPB and state law enforcers, and a video you won’t want to miss. The name...

Ads for Lumosity’s “brain training” program made it sound simple. Play games for 10-15 minutes several times a week to delay memory decline; protect against dementia and Alzheimer’s disease; improve school, work, and athletic performance; and reduce the effects of everything from ADHD to post-traumatic stress disorder. But an FTC complaint alleges that defendant Lumos Labs didn’t have sound science to support those claims. What’s the message for...

2015 saw the end of The Late Show with David Letterman, but his Top 10 List legacy lives on. From the home office in Washington, D.C., here is our informal take on ten topics we covered this year in the BCP Business Blog. Advertising substantiation. People will be citing the D.C. Circuit’s POM Wonderful opinion for years to come, so we extracted a dozen quotable quotes. Other relevant posts: Spilling the beans: The anatomy of a diet craze...

If what looks to be an article, video, or game is really an ad – but it’s not readily identifiable to consumers as such – the FTC has another word for it: deceptive. Ads that blur the line between advertising and content have long been a consumer protection concern under Section 5 of the FTC Act. The FTC just issued an Enforcement Policy Statement on Deceptively Formatted Advertisements that reiterates how it applies established legal principles...

When consumers updated Java SE, which has been installed on more than 850 million computers, Oracle Corporation promised “safe and secure access to the world of amazing Java content” and stated that the updates had “the latest . . . security improvements.” But according to a settlement just announced by the FTC, when it came to those security updates, Java SE was pouring decaf. Consumers use Java to do everything from playing online games to...

The law may not authorize the use of light sabers, but to protect consumers and ensure that companies comply with existing orders, the FTC will use the forces within its power. It’s a lock that the agency’s $100 million settlement with LifeLock – one of the largest redress orders of its kind – makes that point as big as life. LifeLock’s first go-round with the FTC and 35 state AGs was in 2010. According to that complaint, LifeLock didn’t live up...

Data security watchers read with interest the United States Court of Appeals’ decision earlier this year in FTC v. Wyndham, upholding the FTC’s authority to challenge allegedly lax data security practices under the unfairness prong of the FTC Act. We view that ruling as a milestone victory for consumers and for companies of all sizes that are committed to keeping customers’ personal information secure. Now there’s another big development in the...