The Federal Trade Commission released the final agenda for its June 11, 2019 workshop that will examine consumer protection issues related to the online event ticket marketplace. Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter will provide opening remarks, followed by a keynote address from Eric Budish, Economics Professor at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. The […]
Category Archives: Federal Trade Commission
FTC Returns Nearly $315,000 to Consumers Who Bought Worthless Credit Card Interest Rate Reduction Programs
The Federal Trade Commission is mailing 305 checks totaling $314,945 to consumers who paid up-front for worthless credit card interest rate reduction programs pitched by Payless Solutions using illegal robocalls. According to the FTC’s complaint, filed jointly with Florida’s Office of the Attorney General, the Orlando-based defendants illegally called thousands of consumers nationwide—including many seniors—and […]
FTC Announces Amendments to Rule Providing Model Forms and Disclosures To Facilitate Compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act
The Federal Trade Commission has approved publication of a Federal Register notice announcing the rescission of several model forms and disclosures under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) transferred rulemaking authority under several portions of the FCRA to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The Commission […]
FTC Staff Issues FY 2016 Report on Branded Drug Firms’ Patent Settlements with Generic Competitors
A new Federal Trade Commission staff report found that, despite a considerable increase in the total number of final Hatch-Waxman patent settlements in FY 2016, significantly fewer settlements included the types of reverse payments that are likely to be anticompetitive. This report is the Bureau of Competition’s third snapshot of such agreements since the Supreme […]
Statement by Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Competition Director Bruce Hoffman on District Court Ruling in Agency’s Monopolization Case against Qualcomm
Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Competition Director Bruce Hoffman issued this statement regarding the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California’s ruling yesterday that Qualcomm Inc.’s licensing practices relating to its modem chips violate Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act and constitute an unfair method of competition under the FTC Act: […]
Operators of Payment Processing Firm Settle Charges for Assisting Fraudulent Schemes that Took More than $110 Million from Consumers
Payment processor Allied Wallet, its CEO and owner Ahmad (“Andy”) Khawaja, and two other officers, Mohammad (“Moe”) Diab and Amy Rountree, have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they assisted numerous scams by knowingly processing fraudulent transactions to consumers’ accounts. According to the FTC’s complaint, the operators of Allied Wallet knowingly processed payments […]
FTC Extends Comment Deadline on Proposed Changes to Safeguards Rule
The Federal Trade Commission has agreed to extend by 60 days the deadline for the public to submit comments on proposed changes to the Safeguards Rule, which requires financial institutions to develop, implement, and maintain a comprehensive information security program. The FTC announced in March that it was seeking comment on proposed changes to the […]
International Competition Network Adopts Framework for Competition Agency Procedures and Recommended Practices on Investigative Process and Announces the U.S. Agencies will Host the 2020 ICN Annual Conference
At its annual conference, the International Competition Network (ICN) established a Framework on Competition Agency Procedures (CAP) that reflects the commitment by its participants to uphold fundamental procedural fairness principles and adopted Recommended Practices for Investigative Process that offer aspirational guidance and norm-setting principles on procedural fairness. The ICN also presented reports on vertical mergers, […]
FTC Approves Final Consent Order against UrthBox, Inc. and its Principal Related to Compensated Online Reviews and “Free” Trial Offer
Following a public comment period, the Federal Trade Commission has approved a final order settling charges that San Francisco-based UrthBox, Inc. and its principal misrepresented that customer reviews were independent when, in fact, the company provided those customers with free products and other incentives to post positive reviews online. According to the agency’s April 2019 […]
FTC Disconnects Pointbreak Media Robocall Scheme Defendants
At the Federal Trade Commission’s request, a U.S. district court in Florida granted summary judgment against two individuals, approved six settlement agreements involving 11 defendants, and entered a default judgment against the remaining seven defendants, officially ending the massive Pointbreak Media robocall scheme. In May 2018, the FTC charged the Florida-based defendants with operating a […]