Category Archives: ftc

Reading list: irrationally sticky defaults

Posted on November 4, 2014 by rtushnet

Robert Letzler, Ryan Sandler, Ania Jaroszewicz, Isaac Knowles, and Luke M. Olson, Knowing When to Quit: Default Choices, Demographics and Fraud, Oct. 8, 2014 Abstract: A long literature in psychology and economics has shown that default options influence consumer choices, … Continue reading →

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FTC challenges Gerber allergy-protection claims in court

Posted on October 30, 2014 by rtushnet

Read the FTC’s explanation. The FDA approved an extremely limited claim about very sketchy scientific evidence, and Gerber converted that into “the first and only infant formula that meets the criteria for a FDA Qualified Health Claim,” with accompanying gold … Continue reading →

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Bring me my (bonded) leather: deceptiveness claims were just opinion

Posted on August 26, 2014 by rtushnet

Design Resources, Inc. v. Leather Indus. Am., 2014 WL 4159991, No. 1:10CV157 (M.D.N.C. Aug. 19, 2014) DRI sued defendants LIA and Ashley under the Lanham Act and the North Carolina Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act. Dr. Nicholas Cory was … Continue reading →

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Personal liability for corporate scheme appropriate for repeat offender

Posted on August 19, 2014 by rtushnet

Federal Trade Comm’n v. Grant Connect, LLC, No. 11–18023, 2014 WL 3973402 (9th Cit. Aug. 15, 2014) Individual defendant Kyle Kimoto appealed from the district court’s grant of summary judgment to the FTC and its permanent injunction against a variety … Continue reading →

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FTC can presume consumer reliance in contempt proceedings

Posted on August 13, 2014 by rtushnet

FTC v. BlueHippo Funding, LLC, No. 11-374-cv (2d Cir. Aug. 12, 2014) (random side note: decided two and a half years after oral argument!) The FTC appealed the damages portion of a 2010 SDNY order granting in part the FTC’s … Continue reading →

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FTC announces settlement with "official" ticket seller that wasn’t

Posted on July 24, 2014 by rtushnet

Details at the FTC’s site. I was interested in this because usually the FTC leaves alone cases in which a business victim is a likely plaintiff; it makes sense to use government resources to go after defendants who otherwise would … Continue reading →

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FTC goes after misleading certification mark

Posted on July 22, 2014 by rtushnet

Here’s some discussion of the FTC’s complaint from the FTC itself, with a link to the proposed settlement. Unsurprising takeaway: If you purport to certify products as “Made in the USA,” it is a good idea to do some verification … Continue reading →

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FTC successfully imposes individual liability on high-level employee

Posted on March 3, 2014 by rtushnet

Federal Trade Commission v. Ross, 2014 WL 703739, No. 12-2340 (4th Cir. Feb. 25, 2014) The hits (by which I mean FTC victories) just keep on coming. Here, the FTC sued Innovative Marketing and several of its high-level executives and … Continue reading →

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The dangers of monetizing a Twitter feed

Posted on March 3, 2014 by rtushnet

I’ve seen commentary about how this article on the successful monetization of photostream Twitter accounts by a company called Kulfoto ignores that the copyright situation of the photos it shares seems to be … unclear at best However, I was … Continue reading →

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FTC wins big against diabetes treatment claims

Posted on February 27, 2014 by rtushnet

Federal Trade Commission v. Wellness Support Network, Inc., 2014 WL 644749, No. 10–cv–04879 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 19, 2014) (magistrate judge) The FTC sued Wellness and its principals Robert Held and Robyn Held for false advertising and deceptive practices in the … Continue reading →