Consumer Protection

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Introduction

Customer reviews are ubiquitous in today’s commercial environment. Whether the business is Amazon.com or the doctor’s office down the street, consumers are accustomed to rating and reviewing goods and services online and having access to reviews from other consumers to help inform their purchasing decisions. Ratings are important because consumers sometimes have limited opportunities to interact with sellers, prompting them to rely on accounts…

Read More Consumer Review Fairness Act Prevents Companies From Stifling Negative Consumer Reviews

In PHH Corporation v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, no. 15-1177 (D.C. Cir. Oct. 11, 2016), the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit recently held that the organizational structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is unconstitutional. The appellate court concluded that the CFPB’s structure—as an independent agency with a single director—did not contain sufficient checks to satisfy basic separation of powers…

Read More Court Rules CFPB Unconstitutional and Finds CFPB Improperly Applied Mortgage Lending and Reinsurance Laws

On May 5, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a proposed rule that drastically limits the effectiveness of arbitration clauses in consumer financial product agreements. Specifically, the proposed rule bans providers of “consumer financial products” from including arbitration clauses in their contracts that prohibit consumers from filing or participating in class actions. The proposed rule also sets out specific language regarding the right…

Read More CFPB Proposes Rule Banning Class Action Prohibitions

In a long-awaited decision, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) announced on October 30th that fax advertisements must include a detailed notice that describes the recipient’s right to opt out of receiving future fax ads—even if the recipient consented to receive the fax. But, in an unusual concession, the agency also announced that it would retroactively waive the opt-out notice requirement for companies that had petitioned…

Read More FCC Gives Companies Six Months to Seek Retroactive Waiver of Fax Ad Rule

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

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

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*

A 1993 article in this Journal reported, without fanfare, a federal district court ‘s holding that a “franchisor and franchisee were legally incapable of conspiring” in restraint of trade.1 Since that time, two other district courts and two courts of appeals have echoed that decision.2

Resources

Reprinted with permission from the Franchise Law Journal (American Bar Association), Volume 23, Number 1, Summer 2003

Read More Antitrust and Franchising: Conspiracies Between Franchisors and Franchisees Under Section 1

BACKGROUND DISCUSSION

The Antitrust Guidelines for Intellectual Property (hereinafter “IP”) Licensing (hereinafter “the Guidelines”), issued jointly by the Justice Department and the FTC (hereinafter collectively referred to as “the Agencies”) on April 6, 1995, will undoubtedly have a significant impact on the drafting, negotiation, and subsequent scrutiny, by the government and private citizens, of domestic licensing arrangements, as well as multinational licenses having an impact…

Read More The Impact of the New Antitrust Guidelines on Licensing