Blog

We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: Glitch Happens. In the case of Accretive Health, Inc., it was a laptop taken from the passenger compartment of an employee’s car. What transformed this oops into a full-fledged uh-oh was that the laptop contained files with 20 million pieces of data about 23,000 patients, including sensitive health information. And according to the FTC’s lawsuit, the employee in question didn’t need all that to do his...

No one is sliding across the living room floor in shades lip synching to Bob Seger, but violating the FTC’s Risk-Based Pricing Rule is risky business nonetheless. That’s the message of the FTC’s $1.9 million settlement with telecom company Time Warner Cable, Inc., the first case brought under the Risk-Based Pricing Rule. Part of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Risk-Based Pricing Rule has been in place for almost three years. If a company...

Each year, the Premerger Notification Office answers thousands of letters, phone calls, and emails regarding the Hart-Scott-Rodino rules, giving informal advice on the potential reportability of transactions and help in completing the HSR Notification and Report Form. Recently, the PNO considered a transaction involving a U.S. company acquiring a foreign issuer with both U.S. and foreign assets. These assets included both U.S. and foreign patents...

Green Foot Global said its EnviroTabs fuel additive was “the world’s 1st multi-vitamin for your engine.” A lawsuit filed by the FTC suggests that one primary nutrient in the environmental “multi-vitamin” was Vitamin D — for Deception. Advertised online in English and Spanish, EnviroTabs sold for about $25. The product was promoted as a quadruple threat for gear heads and tree huggers alike. “Do Your Part to Protect the Planet,” the ads said. Pop...

A recent FTC law enforcement crackdown focused on allegedly deceptive biodegradability claims for plastics. Four of the cases settled and a fifth is heading to trial. Another action targeted green claims made by a company the FTC had sued before. Of course, the orders in the cases apply just to those companies, but if you’re intent on keeping your green claims clean, there’s a lot you can glean from the announcement. 1. Guidance is only a click...

This tale of phantoms doesn’t involve crashing chandeliers and operatic crescendos. But according to a lawsuit filed by the FTC, the results were just as dramatic for consumers mistreated by debt collectors who used deceptive and threatening tactics to collect on “phantom” payday loans — bogus debts people didn’t really owe. The complaint charges Atlanta- and Cleveland-based Pinnacle Payment Services, LLC and a chorus of corporate officers and...

Remember the cases the FTC announced last year against a software developer and rent-to-own stores that secretly monitored people in their homes? Unbeknownst to consumers, computers came installed with a program called PC Rental Agent. When the software was in “Detective Mode,” companies could remotely activate the camera — meaning they were surreptitiously snapping, transmitting, and storing pictures of anything in the range of the webcam. Well...