Monthly Archives: August 2015

FTC Issues Guidance on Scope of “Unfair Competition” Under Section 5 of FTC Act

August 14, 2015

In a short statement issued yesterday, the FTC issued guidance regarding how it will interpret Section 5 of the FTC Act. Section 5 is a little-used antitrust statute for which the FTC has issued no guidance in the Act’s 100-year history. It states that “[u]nfair methods of competition in or affecting commerce, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce” are unlawful. When drafting the statute, however, Congress did not define specific acts or practices which would constitute unfair competition, leaving considerable uncertainty in the interpretation of the law.
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FTC to Clarify Its Powers to Police Unfair Competition

August 9, 2015

WASHINGTON—The Federal Trade Commission in its 100-year history has never agreed on formal principles for policing companies engaged in “unfair” competition. That looks set to change.

Members of the FTC are close to a bipartisan agreement to lay out for the first time how the commission views its authority to bring cases against businesses it believes compete unfairly, according to people familiar with the deliberations.
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