The other week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a Report to Congress under the FTC Collaboration Act that requires the FTC to conduct a study on its efforts with state attorneys general to combat fraud across the United States. While the bulk of the report spoke to those efforts, it was the final section detailing the FTC’s legislative recommendations that struck us as most notable. In the report, the FTC made three recommendations: (1) restore the ability to obtain equitable monetary relief; (2) provide independent authority to seek civil penalties; and (3) expand liability for thos ..read more

A series of recent California laws have placed significant restrictions on the sale of certain products in the state that contain intentionally added perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). California hopes, by 2032, to expand this prohibition to include essentially any product containing PFAS. Senate Bill 903 (SB 903), which was passed by the Senate’s Environmental Quality Committee on April 4 and remains pending, would ban any person from distributing, selling or offering for sale products that contain “intentionally added” PFAS substances, with only limited exception. The law ..read more

Back in February 2023, the FTC announced a federal complaint against a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) provider that it alleged had delivered tens of millions of debt service calls to consumers nationwide. The FTC also sued the parties that used the VoIP provider’s services to market debt relief services. We do not often see much discussion about court decisions where FTC consumer protection claims are actually dismissed, but in this case – at least with respect to the VoIP provider – things did not go well for the FTC. Going after a VoIP provider in this context is a big deal and would be ..read more

Marketers understandably get excited when a celebrity is spotted using their product. It’s validation of all their efforts! Unfortunately, just because a celebrity has used the product – even if they have publicly posted about it – doesn’t mean the company has the right to leverage that in advertising. Several companies have found this out the hard way. The most recent addition to this club is Maree Inc., a luxury bedmaker. Maree Inc. allegedly posted on Instagram a photo of NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo that showed him on a luxury bed and the company called him “our client.” This post was in ..read more

Some may be shocked that an advertising law blog is writing about the Bare Beauty Babes blog and Naked & Thriving, but it is not the implied nudity that should raise an eyebrow. Instead, it is the fairly scandalous takeaway that advertisers may need to rethink their testimonial and native advertising disclosures in order to be all buttoned up and avoid a dressing down from the FTC or NAD. While for many years we have thought of #ad or #sponsored as the gold standard for a disclosure to identify commercial content, a recent NAD case reminds us not to be on autopilot and instead to think thr ..read more

The other day, the FTC announced settlements with two different companies that allegedly made false promises to small businesses that their companies could help these small businesses get Paycheck Protection Program loans. As we will discuss in more detail, these cases highlight the fact that the FTC – in some situations – has the authority to seek damages under Section 19 of the FTC Act, as opposed to the more typical refunds that we see in many FTC cases. Under The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), certain small businesses could obtain forgivable loans under an ..read more

The latest public Federal Trade Commission (FTC) meeting focused on two issues – the recent announcement of revisions to the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR or Rule) and a discussion of an agency report on supply chain issues in the grocery industry. Both are important topics. But the most important question for many of us – is there anything to report about the recently confirmed new commissioners, Melissa Holyoak and Andrew Ferguson. Sadly, they were not in attendance because they are still “going through the federal onboarding process,” according to Chair Lina Khan. We anticipate – and hope ..read more

The 1995 Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), and particularly its later added Do Not Call provisions, come about as close as one can get to a universally popular government program. So anytime the FTC modifies the TSR, it is big news. Last week, the FTC finalized one set of modifications and announced another set of proposed modifications. (To read the federal register notices, click here and here.) As we have noted before in connection with the Green Guides, the FTC periodically reviews its guides and rules to see if updates are required. That process is currently ongoing with respect to the TSR ..read more

A while back, I wrote an article titled “3 Things to Address in Digital Media Agreements,” which focused on issues related to the purchase or sale of ad space on different media channels (e.g., websites and mobile applications). That article included a discussion of agreement terms related to (1) content – the content of the ads as well as the content of the publisher property where the ads will appear, (2) tracking and reporting on delivery of the campaign, and (3) the collection and use of data related to the campaign. Those are three of the biggest issues that arise in digital media deals ..read more

Five is the magic number – whether it’s Fifth Harmony or the Jackson 5 or five FTC commissioners. In a surprising development, late on Thursday last week, the Senate confirmed two new Republican commissioners – Melissa Holyoak and Andrew Ferguson – and confirmed Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter to a second term. The vote was supposed to happen late in December, but many of us were quite surprised when that did not happen because of a blocking move by Senator Hawley. It has been almost one year since Commissioner Wilson loudly exited the Commission, leaving the Commission with three Democratic co ..read more