Companies often ask us whether they can highlight positive reviews without mentioning negative ones. The good news is that there are ways to do that, but when the conversation veers from highlighting positive reviews to...more
In its third recent Penalty Offense Authority notice, the FTC today notified more than 1,100 companies offering “money-making opportunities” that it intends to pursue civil penalties of up to $43,792 per violation for...more
Making good on promises to creatively explore all of its options for enforcement, the FTC yesterday notified 70 for-profit higher educational institutions that it intends to use its long dormant Penalty Offense Authority to...more
The future composition of the FTC became a bit clearer on Monday, as the White House announced that President Biden will nominate privacy expert and scholar Alvaro Bedoya as FTC commissioner. If confirmed, Bedoya would take...more
TINA.org continues to aggressively beat the enforcement drum. Today, its leaders sent a letter to Acting Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection Samuel Levine encouraging the FTC “to implement a penalty offense program...more
The FTC yesterday took two actions that on their face seemed part of the regular course, but that could signal notable changes for financial institutions and multi-level marketing companies. First, the FTC filed an amended...more
The Senate Commerce Committee today voted overwhelmingly to move forward with Lina Khan’s nomination as FTC Commissioner, signaling that Khan is likely to ultimately be confirmed as the youngest Commissioner ever at 32. As...more
In a significant but unsurprising move, the CFPB announced today that it was rescinding a policy statement issued in January 2020 that sought to tether the Bureau’s “abusive” authority to certain limiting principles. The...more
President Biden’s nominee to serve as CFPB Director, Rohit Chopra, today testified in front of the Senate Banking Committee about his potential regulatory and enforcement priorities as head of the consumer finance regulator....more
Often when people think about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) they say to themselves, “well, I’m not a bank so that doesn't really apply to me.” But consumer financial protection laws are actually much broader...more
Things are about to change dramatically at the CFPB. President-elect Joe Biden today nominated Rohit Chopra, a current commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission and long-time proponent of aggressive enforcement, to serve...more
The FTC today announced four new enforcement actions and one new settlement alleging deceptive income claims in violation of the FTC Act. The FTC noted that these actions are part of a broader initiative branded as...more
Turns out the best defense may not be a good offense, at least when litigating against the FTC. The Northern District of Illinois yesterday rejected an attempt by multi-level marketer Neora, LLC (formerly Nerium) to obtain a...more
Last week, the FTC sent warning letters to ten multi-level marketing companies alleging that the companies failed to stop their participants from making deceptive product and earnings claims related to COVID-19. The letters...more
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have far-reaching effects on businesses and consumers everywhere. While many states are taking broadly consistent approaches on certain issues (e.g., price gouging, non-essential business...more
This week, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) made a series of announcements in connection with its efforts to address the outbreak of COVID-19. The Agency sought to reassure the American public that the U.S. food supply...more
If you’ve been shopping lately, it’s likely that you’ve encountered empty shelves and shortages of items, such as (for inexplicable reasons) toilet paper. This tends to happen whenever a disaster – whether that’s a hurricane...more
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleging that Airbnb is violating the FTC Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) by assigning “secret...more
The CFPB announced today a policy statement outlining three new principles that it intends to apply when evaluating whether practices are “abusive” under the Dodd-Frank Act. ...more
The FTC today announced two new actions under the Consumer Review Fairness Act against companies (CRFA) that allegedly used non-disparagement provisions in consumer form contracts in connection with selling their respective...more
The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) submitted a citizen petition to FDA related to the use of dairy terms such as “milk,” “yogurt,” “cheese,” “ice cream” and “butter” in the statements of identity for non-dairy...more
This morning, the FDA announced its intention to engage in greater oversight of the dietary supplement industry. The announcement also conveyed that the Agency had sent 12 warning letters and five advisory letters to...more
While many today returned to work after the Holiday season, things remained quieter than usual here in the nation’s capital – with many federal workers furloughed until further notice as the federal government continues to be...more
The Senate today confirmed Kathleen Kraninger as CFPB Director by a party-line, 50-49 vote, with Sen. Tillis abstaining. Kraninger will replace current Acting Director Mick Mulvaney, who also currently oversees Kraninger at...more
FDA recently released a new draft guidance, “Innovative Approaches for Nonprescription Drug Products,” that described two “innovative approaches” that sponsors of new drug applications may wish to consider to demonstrate the...more