Photo of Robert Langer

Robert Langer

Subscribe to Robert Langer's Posts

Bob is recognized as one of the country’s foremost authorities on antitrust, consumer protection, and trade regulation law. He possesses unparalleled experience in counseling, litigation, and regulatory investigations in the field.

Follow:Read more about Robert LangerRobert's Linkedin Profile

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced its annual adjustment of the thresholds for premerger notification filings under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (HSR), as well its adjustment for the thresholds for prohibitions on certain interlocking directorates under Section 8 of the Clayton Act.

The new HSR thresholds will be effective thirty days after publication in the Federal Register. Publication is expected sometime during the week of…

Read More FTC Announces New Premerger-Notification and Interlocking-Directorate Thresholds

Recently, for the first time in 24 years, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) published revisions to its guidelines on advertising allowances and other promotional payments and services, widely known as the Fred Meyer Guides (“Guides”). Originally published in 1969, the Guides explain Sections 2(d) and 2(e) of the Robinson-Patman Act, which require a seller that pays for or provides promotional allowances to customers to do…

Read More FTC Publishes Revised Guides for Advertising Allowances and Other Merchandising Payments

Connecticut recently awarded licenses to four medical marijuana producers, marking the beginning of Connecticut’s legal medical marijuana industry. Although medical marijuana businesses are licensed and heavily regulated by the State of Connecticut,[1] they have had difficulty securing basic financial services due to ambiguities in federal policy. Financial institutions are wary of servicing such clients owing to the requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act and…

Read More New Guidance on Providing Financial Services to Medical Marijuana Businesses

Section 5(a)(1) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (the FTC Act), 15 U.S.C. § 45(a)(1), prohibits, among other offenses, “unfair or deceptive acts or practices.” Twenty-eight states have en-acted FTC Act analogues, which are commonly referred to as “Little FTC Acts.” See chart appended as Exhibit A.

Because these state statutes are based on the FTC Act, states have long looked to precedent under…

Read More Business Torts as Little FTC Act Claims: Does the Difference Really Make a Difference?

On October 1, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued final revisions to its Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims (Green Guides or Guidance). The FTC will publish the more than 300-page Green Guides in the Federal Register at 16 C.F.R. Part 260; you may review the text of the Guidance here and at the FTC’s website. Though the Guidance does not…

Read More The FTC’s Revised Green Guides

Reproduced with permission from Antitrust & Trade Regulation Report, 101 ATRR 408, 09/30/2011. Copyright _ 2011 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (800-372-1033) http://www.bna.com.

I. Introduction
The authority of the Federal Trade Commission (‘‘FTC” or ‘‘the Commission”) to prohibit ‘‘unfair or deceptive acts or practices” dates back to the Wheeler-Lea Amendment to the FTC Act in 1938.[1]

Since then, federal and state courts…

Read More The Second Prong of the “Cigarette Rule’ Continues to Serve as a Basis for Finding Unfairness Under Several “Little FTC Acts’

In This Issue:

  • FTC and DOJ Issue Revised Horizontal Merger Guidelines
  • Wiggin and Dana Authors Influential Brief on Confidentiality of Documents Produced Under an Antitrust Subpoena
  • Resale Price Maintenance Redux
  • In-House Attorney/Client Communications Are Not Privileged In The European Union

FTC AND DOJ ISSUE REVISED HORIZONTAL MERGER GUIDELINES

On August 19, 2010, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (the “Agencies”) issued Revised…

Read More Antitrust and Consumer Protection Newsletter

Eight years ago, in the fall of 2002, we authored an article in the pages of the Antitrust Report that warned of the dangers of assuming that state antitrust law would always be the same as its federal counterpart.1 That warning is even more salient today than when originally written. The United States Supreme Court’s 2007 decision in Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v.

Read More So You Still Think You’re Safe Under the Antitrust Laws? Another Word of Advice To Those Who Would Ignore The States

This year brings the commencement or increase in enforcement of three major privacy initiatives. First, on March 1, 2010, Massachusetts began enforcement of its specific, and as many would claim, onerous privacy regulation. While only a Massachusetts state regulation, the implementing law states that its jurisdictional reach is to all businesses that possess personal information about a Massachusetts resident. Thus, although this jurisdictional claim has…

Read More Practical Application of Consumer Privacy Laws to Franchised Businesses*