Monthly Archives: August 2007

Federal Trade Commission Competition Director Jeffrey Schmidt expressed regret at the federal district court decision announced today in the Whole Foods/Wild Oats case, calling it a loss for both consumers and competition. “We respect the Court’s decision, which we currently are reviewing. We brought this challenge because the evidence before us showed that the merger […]

Operators who allegedly crammed unauthorized charges for Web site services onto the phone bills of hundreds of thousands of small businesses and non-profits will pay more than $1.2 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that their operations violated federal law. The settlements also will bar the unlawful practices the defendants used to bilk the […]

Commission approval of final consent order: The Commission has approved a final consent order in the matter of Kmart Corporation, et al., and authorized the staff to forward letters to the commenters of record. Among other things, the order requires Kmart to reimburse the dormancy fees for eligible consumers. Kmart will publicize the refund program […]

Commission approval of comments to the Louisiana State Bar Association: The Commission has approved the filing of comments by the staff of the Federal Trade Commission’s Office of Policy Planning, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Bureau of Competition, and Bureau of Economics with the Louisiana State Bar Association concerning revisions to proposed rules on lawyer advertising […]

Commission authorizes Department of Justice to amend FTC complaint: The Department of Justice, with the authorization of the Commission, has filed an amended complaint in the matter currently pending against Srikanth Venkataraman, d/b/a Scorpio Systems, Ltd., for allegedly calling numbers on the Do Not Call Registry, failing to transmit its telephone number and name to […]

The Federal Trade Commission today announced a complaint challenging Jarden Corporation’s (Jarden) proposed $1.2 billion acquisition of sporting equipment manufacturer K2 Incorporated (K2), alleging that the deal would be anticompetitive and detrimental to consumers of monofilament fishing line, the most widely used type of fishing line in the United States. Under the terms of a […]

FTC Offers Tips for Laptop Security Consumers can take many measures to make their laptop secure from hackers, viruses, and other potential threats, such as installing firewalls, updating antivirus software, and using strong passwords. Now, the Federal Trade Commission is offering tips for protecting laptops from theft. OnGuardOnline.gov and Alertaenlinea.gov offer sections devoted to laptop […]

The Federal Trade Commission today announced it has concluded a two-year review of the FTC’s Appliance Labeling Rule (16 C.F.R. Part 305) and, after substantial public comment and consumer research, has amended the Rule to improve the design and content of the EnergyGuide label required on most new appliances sold in the United States. The […]

At the request of the Federal Trade Commission, a federal judge has temporarily halted an operation marketing Visa- and MasterCard-branded stored-value cards from making unauthorized debits from consumers’ bank accounts. According to a complaint filed by the FTC, the defendants market bank-issued, Visa- and MasterCard-branded stored-value (prepaid) cards under a variety of names through Web […]