Biweekly FTC Roundup: A Guide for the Perplexed Edition
In a prior post, I made the important if wholly unoriginal point that the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) recent policy statement regarding unfair methods of competition (UMC)—perhaps a form of “soft law”—has neither legal force nor precedential value. Gus Hurwitz offers a more thorough discussion of the issue here. But policy statements may still have ... Biweekly FTC Roundup: A Guide for the Perplexed Edition
Biweekly FTC Roundup: Highly Skilled Sandwich Maker Edition
Happy New Year? Right, Happy New Year! The big news from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is all about noncompetes. From what were once the realms of labor and contract law, noncompetes are terms in employment contracts that limit in various ways the ability of an employee to work at a competing firm after separation ... Biweekly FTC Roundup: Highly Skilled Sandwich Maker Edition
Biweekly FTC Roundup: Grail-Shaped Beacon Edition
The lame duck is not yet dead, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is supposed to be an independent agency. Work continues. The Commission has announced a partly open oral argument in the Illumina-Grail matter. That is, parts of the argument will be open to the public, via webcast, and parts won’t. This is what’s ... Biweekly FTC Roundup: Grail-Shaped Beacon Edition
Biweekly FTC Roundup: Commissioners Bite Horse Edition
The massive New Deal sculptures that frame Federal Trade Commission headquarters are both called “Man Controlling Trade.” And according to the Commission’s new Policy Statement Regarding Unfair Methods of Competition Under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, “Three Commissioners Controlling the Economy” appears to now be one of the agency’s guiding principles. The ... Biweekly FTC Roundup: Commissioners Bite Horse Edition
FTC Biweekly UMC Roundup – Mountain of Puffery Edition
Research still matters, so I recommend video from the Federal Trade Commission’s 15th Annual Microeconomics Conference, if you’ve not already seen it. It’s a valuable event, and it’s part of the FTC’s still important statutory-research mission. It also reminds me that the FTC’s excellent, if somewhat diminished, Bureau of Economics still has no director; Marta ... FTC Biweekly UMC Roundup – Mountain of Puffery Edition
FTC Biweekly UMC Roundup – Refugee from the FTC Edition
Faithful and even occasional readers of this roundup might have noticed a certain temporal discontinuity between the last post and this one. The inimitable Gus Hurwitz has passed the scrivener’s pen to me, a recent refugee from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the roundup is back in business. Any errors going forward are mine. ... FTC Biweekly UMC Roundup – Refugee from the FTC Edition
FTC Biweekly UMC Roundup – 88 mph Edition
We’re back for another biweekly roundup – and what a biweekly it’s been! The JCPA rode, died, and rides again. Yet AICOA is AWOL. FTC Chair Lina Khan went to Congress and back to (Fordham) law school, making waves wherever she went. DOJ added to the agencies’ roster of recently lost cases. And the FTC ... FTC Biweekly UMC Roundup – 88 mph Edition
FTC Biweekly UMC Roundup – Reform Dies in Committee Edition
Welcome back to the FTC UMC Roundup! The Senate is back in session and bills are dying. FTC is holding hearings and faith in the agency is dying. The more things change the more they stay the same. Which is a fancy way of saying that despite all the talk of change, little change seems ... FTC Biweekly UMC Roundup – Reform Dies in Committee Edition
FTC Biweekly Roundup – A Change in Title Edition
You’d think things would be calm during these last weeks of August – the Senate in recess, folks wrapping up summer vacations or seeing their kids back off to school, and the big news being that coming out of the White House instead of Congress or the agencies. You’d think. We don’t have a single ... FTC Biweekly Roundup – A Change in Title Edition
FTC UMC Roundup – Call for Submissions Edition
It’s been a busy summer, and promises to be a busier fall. So the UMC Roundup is on hiatus this week. But because the news doesn’t stop even when we do, we’re using this week’s Roundup to announce a call for submissions relating to the FTC’s ANPR on Commercial Surveillance and Data Security. Submissions relating ... FTC UMC Roundup – Call for Submissions Edition
FTC UMC Roundup – Well That Happened Edition
I thought this was going to be a slow week. The Senate is in recess and, with so much recent attention focused on the Senate and AICOA – and the FTC’s had only just started things with the Meta/Within suit – it seemed this would be a slow week. We actually considered taking a recess ... FTC UMC Roundup – Well That Happened Edition
FTC UMC Roundup – A Quantum of Wonder Edition
Early August is an unpredictable time in the policy world. With Congress about to go on recess, one never knows if there will be a mad rush to get something done, or what that something may be. And it is, for many, a month of vacations and light schedules. Short staffing may delay work or ... FTC UMC Roundup – A Quantum of Wonder Edition
