Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices

CFTC (And FERC) Compliance Managers Take Note – CFTC Schedules Vote On Final Interpretation Of Disruptive Trading Practices

At its open meeting on May 16, 2013, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission will vote on the final interpretative rule for disruptive trading practices under Section 747 of the Dodd-Frank Act. That order should be of...more

FTC Dot Com Disclosure Update: What's New for 2013

In March, the Federal Trade Commission issued updated advertising guidelines to take into account the challenges created by the rapid growth of mobile and online advertising platforms, particularly small screen size and other...more

Using Bribery And Corruption To Steal Business – A Thyestean Feast?

Not much beats the ancient Greek House of Atreus for dramatic gore: infanticide, patricide, fratricide, filicide, matricide, cannibalism, incest and about every other horror which can befall one family occurs in the various...more

Revisions to The European Union’s Trade Defence Instruments

The European Commission has published legislative proposals that would make EU anti-dumping and anti-subsidy instruments more efficient and better adapted to shield EU producers from unfair practices. Specifically, the...more

2012 Bank Enforcement Actions Still High, But Significantly Lower Than 2010-11

Originally published in BNA’s Banking Report, 100 BBR 617 on 04/02/2013. Overall Trends & Outlook - In 2012, the federal banking agencies, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (‘‘FDIC’’), Office...more

New Foreclosure Rules

The new mandatory regulations regarding foreclosures, recently developed by the Illinois Supreme Court, went into effect on Match 1st. The rules came about due to the deceptive practices that judges observed as well as the...more

Boarding School Review, LLC v. Delta Career Education Corp.

Order GRANTING Plaintiff's Motion to Dismiss Pursuant to FRCP 12(b)(6)

Plaintiff operates a website called Community College Review. It received multiple cease and desist letters, which escalated in the severity of their threats, from counsel for certain institutions about which routine,...more

Federal Court Approves Lender Settlement Of TILA, UDAP Claims Based On HELOC Reductions

On March 15, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California approved a lender’s settlement with a class of borrowers who claimed that the bank suspended or reduced borrower home equity lines of credit...more

Unfair Contract Terms - ACCC Moves to Enforcement Phase

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) period of grace concerning the use of unfair contract terms in standard form consumer contracts is over. Following an industry review which prompted some businesses...more

What Lead Generators Need to Know about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)

In this presentation: - What is the CFPB? - What does the CFPB Cover? - What Laws and Regulations does the CFPB Enforce? - CFPB Supervision and Examinations - CFPB Enforcement...more

Web Analytics Firm Settles FTC Charges Over Intrusive Data Tracking

The Federal Trade Commission recently announced that it has approved a final order settling charges against Compete, Inc., a Boston-based web analytics company. Compete, Inc. sells reports on consumer browsing behavior to...more

FTC Remains Tough on ‘Robocalls’ with New Enforcement Case

Once again, the FTC has completed a major enforcement action against the illegal use of robocalls, a form of prerecorded, computerized telemarketing calls. This time, the action resulted in a $1.1 million civil penalty...more

Individualized Causation and Reliance Defenses Render Class Representative Inadequate in the Northern District of Illinois

Class action defense practitioners routinely face uphill battles on the issue of individualized defenses for class members. However, these arguments should not be overlooked as tools to defeat class certification. Lipton v....more

Magistrate Recommends Dismissal with Prejudice of Claims Against Global Payments

Global Payments, which processes credit card transactions, announced on March 30, 2012 that an unauthorized person gained access to a portion of its processing system. Global Payments later disclosed that Track 2 data (card...more

Tennessee Court of Appeals Confirms Foreclosures Cannot Be the Basis for a TCPA Claim

On September 25, 2012, the Middle Section of the Tennessee Court of Appeals issued an opinion confirming that foreclosure proceedings cannot serve as the basis for a Tennessee Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) claim. ...more

High Court Rules on Keyword Advertising - Baker & McKenzie

In May 2012, we reported that the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia had found Google had engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct when it displayed a number of advertisements in sponsored links as part of its...more

Telecommunications Regulatory Update – January 2013: Baker & McKenzie

In This Issue: Digital Dividend Auction One Step Closer; ACMA consults on future arrangements in the 28/31 GHz bands; ACMA consults on 800MHz, 1800MHz and 2 GHz bands; ACCC to appeal TPG decision about ADSL2+...more

Magistrate Recommends Lawsuit Against Global Payments Should Be Dismissed

A federal Magistrate has recommended dismissal with prejudice of all of the cardholder plaintiffs’ claims against payment processor Global Payments, Inc. in a widely-reported data breach case....more

S&P Seeks Declaration That Credit Ratings Are Immune From Liability

On February 5, two Standard & Poor’s entities filed a declaratory judgment action in the Southern District of South Carolina seeking to bar the South Carolina Attorney General from suing S&P under South Carolina’s Unfair...more

Consumers Have Another Channel to Make Complaints

Many cities and municipalities have non-emergency “hotlines” designed to provide access to non-urgent municipal services (e.g., tree trimming, dead animal removal, sidewalk repair)....more

FTC Fines Path Mobile Social Networking App $800,000 for Privacy Breaches

The developer of the popular Path social networking app for mobile devices has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it deceived users by collecting their personal information without their consent. As part...more

IBM Suit Over Corporate Raiding Illustrates Use of Social Media Evidence

IBM has launched an assault against Virginia-based competitor, Computer Sciences Corporation, charging it with instituting a raid on its Finance Department through a departed IBM executive, Christopher Greiner. ...more

Lawsuits Challenge Subway on ‘Footlong’ Promises

It only took a couple of lawsuits for Subway to figure out the math: If you offer “footlong” sandwiches to customers, they are going to expect – and eventually demand – 12 inches of food. The restaurant chain has been...more

Eleventh Circuit Holds that Net Revenue, Not Profits, Should Determine Damages in FTC Deceptive Marketing Case

The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit recently affirmed a judgment against three individual defendants finding that the district court correctly used net revenue to calculate damages. Defendant-appellants were...more

California Appeals Court Holds No Actual Damages Necessary To Sustain Claims Against Dealer, Finance Company Under State Auto...

On January 15, the California Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District held that an auto buyer need not plead actual damages to sustain a claim under the state’s auto finance act, and that there is no statutory...more