Sec. 2: Findings and Purposes
Congress finds that:
Competition results in higher-quality goods and services;
Competition fosters small business growth, reduces economic inequality and spurs innovation;
Market power in the U.S. is substantial and growing;
Market power makes it difficult for people to start their own business, depresses wages and increases income inequality;
Market concentration contributes to the concentration of political power;
Anticompetitive effects include higher prices, lower quality, lessened choice, reduced innovation, foreclosure of competitors and entry barriers;
Monopsony power allows a firm to force suppliers to accept below-market prices or force workers to accept below-market wages;
Horizontal and vertical consolidation and conglomerate mergers have potential to increase market power and cause anticompetitive harm;
[author: Jackie Odum]
On February 10, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it will begin distributing over $1.7 million to consumers that it claims lost money as a result of an alleged student loan debt relief scheme. The payments are part of a 2018 settlement with a student debt relief group, previously covered by Enforcement Watch, that resolved alleged violations of the Federal Trade Commission Act, (FTC Act), 15 U.S.C. § 45(a), the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Act (Telemarketing Act), 15 U.S.C. §§ 6101-6108, and the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rules, 16 C.F.R. § 310.
In its complaint, the FTC alleged that the group defrauded consumers into believing that they were affiliated with the U.S. Department of Education to elicit payment of illegal fees. The FTC further alleged that the group falsely claimed that these fees would be credited towards consumers’ student loans. Instead, the group allegedly pocketed the fees.
This article was originally published on Hoban Law Group, and appears here with permission.
As the hemp industry has come to understand by now, marketing hemp and/or CBD products with improper and unsubstantiated “disease” claims in the labeling violates a number of federal regulations. Since about 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) and/or U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has issued at least 70+ warning letters to businesses for marketing hemp products with illegal disease claims.
Marketing CBD Products
Of course, most of us know that marketing CBD products with disease claims, regardless of evidence or any studies to support the claim, will typically render the product an “unapproved drug” under the Federal Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act (“FDCA”). Simply put, only products correctly positioned as drugs can legally make these types of claims. For example, Epidiolex (a CBD isolate drug) has been approved by the FDA to treat epilepsy, but FDA’
Thursday, February 11, 2021
As anyone who has been through a corporate sale process can tell you, there is no such thing as a “standard” M&A transaction. Every deal is different and presents a unique set of challenges. This is especially true of transactions involving lead generation companies, which can be very different than businesses in other industries. Amongst other differences, companies in this space utilize a wide variety of customized commercial arrangements and are subject to numerous industry-specific regulatory requirements that buyers need to be aware of before making an investment in this space. In this article, we highlight the top 10 issues that buyer should diligence when considering acquiring a lead generation company. Sellers in this space should focus on eliminating any issues in these areas as well to make them a more attractive acquisition target.
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As 2020 drew to a close and Congress scrambled reach a deal to continue funding the federal government, tucked in amidst the 2124 pages of the 2021 Appropriations Bill is a new power for the FTC: civil penalty authority for deceptive COVID-related acts and practices. Titled the COVID-19 Consumer Protection Act (see page 2094 here), the law states as follows:
(b) For the duration of a public health emergency declared pursuant to section 319 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) as a result of confirmed cases of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID–19), including any renewal thereof, it shall be unlawful for any person, partnership, or corporation to engage in a deceptive act or practice in or affecting commerce in violation of section 5(a) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C.45(a)) that is associated with