Articles

02.09.17

FTC Clamps Down on Homeopathic Products

Homeopathy is a system of alternative medicine created in 1796 in Germany. The system is based on the principle that “like cures like,” meaning that a substance that causes the symptoms of a disease in healthy people can also be used to cure similar symptoms in sick people. In fact, the ...


02.09.17

Apple Ad out of Tune With Publicity Rights, Says New Suit

A new lawsuit accuses Apple of violating the publicity rights of a singer who says an iPhone ad illegally samples his voice. Jerome Lawson, the lead singer of the 1970s group The Persuasions, does not allege that Apple violated the copyright in the song “Good Times,” perhaps because he ...


02.09.17

New Suit: JCPenney Scammed Consumers With Deceptive Pricing

The latest company to be hit with a deceptive pricing class action: JCPenney, charged with falsely inflating “original” prices to create a misleading impression of big discounts that don’t actually exist.Kansas resident Ann Cavlovic claimed that she fell for the tactic when she ...


02.03.17

AG Sues Google Over Student Privacy Violations

Does Google violate the privacy rights of students by collecting personal data when they use its educational apps?Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood says yes in a new lawsuit accusing the tech company of illegally gathering and using the information for advertising purposes.Formerly known as ...


02.03.17

Current State of the FTC: Three Top Priorities

On February 2, Acting Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, Maureen Ohlhausen, addressed the ABA 2017 Consumer Protection Conference in Atlanta and highlighted her consumer protection goals. If there is a theme to her vision, it is that regulatory humility is integral to creating a better ...


02.03.17

FTC Hangs Up on "Massive" Robocall Scams

The Federal Trade Commission took action against a pair of "massive" robocall telemarketing scams that prompted several defendants to agree to (1) a permanent ban from making robocalls and (2) a payment of more than $500,000 to the Commission.A number of defendants were named in the two ...


02.02.17

Supreme Court Considers New York's Surcharge Law

The Supreme Court of the United States recently heard an oral argument concerning New York's surcharge law, addressing whether the statute—which prohibits the imposition of surcharges on customers who pay with credit cards but permits discounts for those who pay in cash—constitutes ...


02.02.17

Seventh Circuit: Bank May Challenge CAMELS Rating

A bank may challenge the rating it received from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) under the CAMELS system, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit determined, because while the agency has discretion to set appropriate levels of capital for each institution, it does not ...


02.01.17

Q&A With TX Attorney General on Consumer Protection Priorities

In recent years, offices for state Attorneys General have been increasingly active in enforcing consumer protection issues. Given the array of interesting issues currently being explored in Texas, I spoke to Attorney General Ken Paxton on his office’s recent work surrounding consumer ...


01.27.17

SpongeBob SquarePants Eatery Gets TM Protection

The Krusty Krab, a fictional restaurant from the SpongeBob SquarePants cartoon, deserves trademark protection, a federal court judge in Texas has ruled, holding that a proposed real-life eatery with the same name violates Viacom's trademark rights.The Krusty Krab is featured prominently in the ...