Tag Archives: FTC

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Newest Commissioner Makes the “Wright” Call for FTC Act’s Section 5

MurinoGuest Commentary

By Andrea Agathoklis Murino, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

In a speech last week, the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) newest Commissioner, Joshua D. Wright, provided an unusually candid and public exploration of his would-be agenda as a sitting Commissioner.  Foremost among his to-do list is the issuance of a binding public “Unfair Methods Policy Statement,” that would specify both guiding and limiting principles the FTC would use in the application of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act.  Section 5, though deceptively straight-forward in language, has a tortured history of enforcement and remains among the more muddled doctrines in United States competition law today.  Commissioner Wright’s bold attempt to eliminate this uncertainty is assuredly the “Wright” call.

All seem to agree that Section 5 was established to reach conduct that could otherwise not be condemned under the Sherman or Clayton Acts.  There is uniform consensus behind the history of the legislation that the FTC was designed to be a tribunal which could assess potential Section 5 violations using its accumulated and competition-specific expertise and knowledge in ways that a generalist adjudicator could not.  Like so much in life, this was easier in theory than in practice.  I certainly agree with Commissioner Wright that Section 5 enforcement has fallen short.  You need look no further than the fact that not since the 1960s – over 50 years ago – is there a case where the FTC prevailed on a Section 5 appeal.  Indeed, for most of the years since, Section 5 was barely used as it was intended at all.

Using deliberate and determined language, Commissioner Wright’s call-to-arms begins with the premise that there is an “unfortunate gap between the theoretical promise of Section 5 as articulated by Congress and its application in practice by the Commission.”  He then moves on to explain that there is little hope for Section 5 application if the FTC cannot properly articulate its enforcement policy, and most importantly, that this Commission can “put an end to the state of affairs” by issuing a “policy statement articulating its views on the appropriate application of its signature statute in unfair methods of competition cases.”   Continue reading →

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Are Antitrust Agencies Nudging Standard Setting Bodies on Patent Licensing?

DOJ150px-US-FederalTradeCommission-Seal.svgEUAny article authored by three current or former economists from the world’s most powerful antitrust institutions would merit the free enterprise community’s attention (even if their bylines include the standard disclaimer that their views don’t necessarily reflect the views of their employers). But the context in which a recent Competition Policy International article was released and the message it sends make the piece required reading, especially for those in high-tech industries.

The FOSS Patents blog first flagged the article, Standard Setting Organizations Can Help Solve the Standard Essential Patents Licensing Problem. Its authors are the chief economist at the European Commission’s DG Competition agency; a former chief economist of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division; and the Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Economics. The article was published in the context of a still-simmering debate over “standard-essential patents” (SEPs), a subject which we’ve addressed here (and here) several times. WLF has also waded into the most recent U.S. government pronouncement on SEPs, FTC’s consent decree with Google, with comments to the Commission.

The two thorniest challenges related to SEPs are: 1) whether SEP holders should be permitted to seek enforcement of their patents through injunction or exclusion order? and 2) what constitutes a “reasonable” royalty for such a patent, so that the patent holder is in compliance with its commitment to the standard setting organization (SSO) that set the underlying standard? Continue reading →

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Expert Speakers at WLF Program Address Promise and Perils of FTC “Green Guides”

ecofriendlyAt a February 21 WLF Web Seminar, Sustainable “Green Advertising”: Implications of FTC’s Guidelines for Public, Private, and Self-Regulation, two private attorneys and a forestry trade association environmental expert offered a revealing tour through the provisions and pitfalls of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) guidelines for “green advertising.” The Commission issued the third edition of its “Green Guides” in October 2012.  The Guides inform FTC’s use of its “unfair advertising” authority under Section 5 of the FTC Act and are also specifically incorporated by reference in numerous state consumer protection acts, most prominently California’s.

The presenters at this hour-long program, which can be viewed for free by clicking the title above, were Crowell & Moring partner Christopher Cole and associate Natalia Medley, along with American Forest & Paper Association Senior Director of Energy and Environmental Policy Jerry Schwartz.

The speakers organized their remarks with a Powerpoint presentation, which is available visually to those who view the program.  The slide deck is also available here.

Some of the interesting insights that you will hear from our speakers include:

  • Products which may meet the thresholds required under federal environmental regulations to qualify as “non-toxic” may not be marketed as such under the Green Guides if trace amounts of toxic materials are present.
  • The marketing of products as “non-toxic” or “free of” certain substances will likely be two of the most challenged practices under the guides.  Those challenges will most likely be brought by companies against other companies, especially larger companies vs. smaller companies.
  • The concept of “recycled content” was one of the most hotly contested during debate and discussion leading to the finalization of the Guides.  For instance, textile and paper companies which utilize scraps of materials generated from production in further production cannot claim such products were made with “recycled content” because in the FTC’s mind, such usage is a routine industry practice.
  • Class action plaintiffs’ lawyers might use the Green Guides as a baseline for filing private shareholder class action lawsuits challenging public companies’ “sustainability reports”.
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Vigorous Antitrust Enforcement Forecast at WLF Media Briefing Event

FTC_Man_Controlling_TradeAt Washington Legal Foundation’s media briefing program last Tuesday, Same Administration, New Management: What to Expect from DOJ and FTC on Antitrust and Consumer Protection, speaker Janet McDavid noted the aggressive challenges William Baer, the Justice Department’s new Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division, initiated against mergers when he was director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition.

Mr. Baer wasted no time substantiating Ms. McDavid’s point, filing suit to prevent the consummation of a merger between America’s highest market-share brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev and Mexico’s largest, Grupo Modelo.

If the Justice Department takes action to keep inexpensive beer inexpensive (an action certainly counter to governments’ taxation and other policies aimed at advancing temperance), the business community can be sure that it won’t hesitate to move against other combinations, joint ventures, etc. in the next four years. Our hour-long program would be thus be a worthy investment of time.

In addition to Ms. McDavid, a partner at Hogan Lovells LLP, WLF’s January 29 program (which can be viewed by clicking the title above) included experienced perspectives from Squire Sanders partner Brady Dugan and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Of Counsel Andrea Murino. WLF Legal Policy Advisory Board Chairman, K&L Gates Counsel Dick Thornburgh, moderated the discussion.

In addition to assessing the future of merger review and enforcement, the speakers addressed civil exclusionary conduct actions; FTC and DOJ approaches to intellectual property (including standards-essential patents and patent “trolls”); criminal enforcement; international antitrust cooperation; and the division of labor between the two federal agencies.

A Powerpoint deck including slides utilized by Ms. McDavid and Ms. Murino can be downloaded here.

Addendum (Feb. 5): Further evidence of a more aggressive approach to mergers can also be seen in the Justice Department’s challenge to an already-consumated merger between two online product review companies.  Read more about it from several of Janet McDavid’s colleagues here.

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Update: DOJ/USPTO’s Curiously Timed “Statement” on Standards-Essential Patents

DOJusptoIn our January 8 post, FTC’s Standards-Essential Patent Settlement: The Real “Elephant” in the Room?, we advanced the question of how much of a role regulatory turf has played in motivating the Federal Trade Commission’s recent actions regarding “standard-essential patents” (SEPs). SEPs are a major legal policy issue, and the Commission and the Justice Department both want to be the cop on the beat regarding alleged competition-related abuses of such patents.

The concept of a turf battle seems a bit more plausible to us today after reading about, and then reading, a joint Justice Department-U.S. Patent Office “Policy Statement on Remedies for Standards-Essential Patents Subject to Voluntary F/Rand Commitments.” While not directed specifically at any case or open docket, the statement is clearly aimed at the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) and its consideration of injunction requests in cases involving SEP patents.

After five pages of extolling the purposes and virtues of SEPs, the statement offers that in “some circumstances” injunctions or exclusions “may be inconsistent with the public interest.” One page later though, the agencies state, “This is not to say that consideration of the public interest factors set out in the statute would always counsel against the issuance of an exclusion” where patents are encumbered by a F/RAND commitment. It goes on to note some of those exceptional circumstances, adding, “This list is not an exhaustive one.”

The statement also declares, “The DOJ is the executive-branch agency charged with protecting U.S. consumers by promoting and protecting competition” (emphasis ours). FTC shares the same consumer protection mission, though it is an independent, not an “executive-branch,” agency.

The DOJ/USPTO statement’s declaration of regulatory primacy, the timing of its release (one week after the FTC settlement with Google), and the statement’s complete failure to reference the very relevant Google consent decree, are certainly all very curious.

The possibility of regulatory turf battles should be of interest not only to inside-the-Beltway antitrust policy types, but also to anyone effected by government action on standards-essential patents. In its statement, DOJ/USPTO related a desire to “ensure greater certainty concerning the meaning of a F/RAND commitment.” DOJ/USPTO’s perspective on SEPs and injunctions arguably differs in some significant respects from what four FTC Commissioners said regarding the Google consent decree, fomenting, not alleviating, uncertainty from the U.S. government.

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FTC’s Standards-Essential Patent Settlement: The Real “Elephant” in the Room?

elephantCross-posted at WLF’s Forbes.com contributor page

Our 700th post!

The Federal Trade Commission’s decision last Thursday not to pursue a case under the Sherman Act or the Federal Trade Commission Act regarding Google’s online search business practices has elicited a wide range of opinions, including one particularly biting quip from within the Commission. Departing Commissioner J. Thomas Rosch noted in his statement of concurrence and dissent that “after promising an elephant more than a year ago, the Commission instead has brought forth a couple of mice.”

Perhaps that elephant was in the FTC press room last Thursday after all, however, in FTC’s resolution of its other investigation involving Google. Though it was completely unrelated to FTC’s online search practices inquiry, Chairman Leibowitz announced the same day that a formal Complaint and a Proposed Consent Order had been filed involving Google-owned Motorola Mobility’s standards-essential patents (SEPs).

Like it alleged in settlements involving Robert Bosch GmbH (November 2012) and Negotiated Data Solutions (2008), FTC concluded that Motorola’s refusal to license SEPs on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms was “unfair” under FTC Act Section 5. The Commission’s use of Section 5 always raises eyebrows and motivates some to invoke the specter of the “National Nanny” FTC of the 1970s. We’re not sure if the Google/Motorola agreement will usher in an era of renewed “unfairness jurisdiction” cases, but it certainly raises some interesting issues and questions:

Regulatory Turf/Muscle-Flexing? FTC Act Section 5 provides the Commission with a unique regulatory weapon, and the Google SEPs case offered it a seemingly undeniable opportunity to sharpen this tool while also one-upping its counterparts at the Justice Department. When announcing its approval of Google’s purchase of Motorola Mobility last February, DOJ-Antitrust expressed “concern” that the company’s commitments to FRAND licensing of SEPs were “ambiguous” and that “how Google may exercise its patents in the future remains a significant concern.” Such concern did not rise to the level of a violation of the Sherman Act, so DOJ could only wring its hands. Continue reading →

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Professor Joshua Wright Confirmed as FTC Commissioner

2-theusfederalWith all the sturm und drang over whether the automatic sequestration process could be avoided, it was easy to (almost) overlook the news that the U.S. Senate has confirmed George Mason University School of Law professor Joshua Wright as Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission.

We first noticed his confirmation at the blog to which Commissioner Wright was a major contributor for many years, Truth on the Market. He has published extensively throughout his academic career, which is quite evident from the number of works he has on SSRN. Washington Legal Foundation was fortunate to have published a Legal Backgrounder by Commissioner Wright and University of Pennsylvania Law School Professor Jonathan Klick last March, The Anti-Competitive Effects Of “Any Willing Provider” Laws.

We wish Commissioner Wright the best and look forward to the impact he will have on FTC regulation and enforcement for some years to come.

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From the Waning Days of 2012, Five Developments You May Have Missed

dec12Before fully moving forward into 2013, The Legal Pulse offers five late December developments our readers may have missed during the holiday season:

1. Administration’s Regulatory Plan Released.  The federal government waited until late December to release its Spring 2012 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. This is the list of regulatory plans that the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the Office of Management and Budget requires all federal agencies to submit to it by April of each year. As noted by the House Oversight Committee, the Unified Agenda has traditionally been issued between April and July. We’re in the process of reviewing it, but one item from the EPA’s priorities list jumped off the screen: “Expanding the Conversation on Environmentalism and Working for Environmental Justice.” We’ve consistently raised red flags about environmental justice here at The Legal Pulse, and will keep an even closer eye on that going forward.

2. FTC Issues Report on “Child-Directed” Food Advertising. What a difference a year makes. At the end of 2011, we were still talking about the threat posed to free speech and freedom of choice by the Interagency Working Group’s (IWG)  Nutrition Principles to Guide Industry Self-Regulatory Efforts. As that Legal Pulse post explained, Congress all-but terminated that effort by requiring a cost-benefit analysis. Last March, FTC Chairman Leibowitz told a congressional panel that it was “time to move on” from the IWG “self-regulatory” effort.On December 21, the Commission released what it termed a “follow-up” study on food ads directed at children. FTC’s study credited the food industry for expanding its self-regulatory efforts, but remained critical of the amount of money devoted to advertising foods the FTC deemed less-than-nutritious. The study has one major flaw: it is based on data that is three years old. It’s fair to say that a significant amount of improvement in the nutritional value of foods has occurred in those three years. Continue reading →

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New WLF Publication Offers Contrasting Views on Antitrust and Online Search Engines

KanterRobertson CW2Media reports in the last several weeks indicate that a resolution to the Federal Trade Commission’s internal deliberation on whether to pursue an antitrust and/or an unfair competition case against Google is drawing near. Other reports indicate that regardless of what FTC decides in the coming days or weeks, those seeking government action will continue to pursue other avenues.

In order to inform the current and future debates over the specific issues related to online search, and the broader consideration of how antitrust principles apply to the online space, WLF has released a new publication in its Conversations With publication series: Competition in Online Search – What Role for Antitrust?

WLF’s Legal Policy Advisory Board Chairman, The Honorable Dick Thornburgh, directs the conversation between attorneys Jonathan Kanter and Robby Robertson.

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As “Standards-Essential” Patent Debate Expands, WLF Briefing Offers Some Perspective

PodiumPic1Last month, a Legal Pulse post discussed some important courtroom developments involving disputes over so-called standards-essential patents (“SEPs”). We noted in the post that federal agencies and elected officials were also expressing interest in and concern over SEPs. Since that post there has been a flurry of activity. In just the past week, we have seen:

  • A proposed settlement from the Federal Trade Commission in the context of a merger affecting automobile air conditioning equipment makers where the company being acquired, SPX Services, was a holder of SEPs and had been seeking injunctions against allegedly willing licensees of the patents.
  • Ericsson filing a patent infringement and breach of contract lawsuit against Samsung in the Eastern District of Texas where SEPs and alleged failure to offer a license on RAND terms is involved.
  • The U.S. International Trade Commission announcing it will review a USITC’s judge’s decision that Apple did not infringe Samsung patents. In the announcement, the Commission seeks public comment on several questions related to SEPs.

At a Washington Legal Foundation Media Briefing program yesterday, Standards-Essential Patents: Where Do IP Protections End and Antitrust Concerns Begin?, two academic experts on patents and antitrust, as well as a leading patent pool and standards practitioner, addressed these developments and the larger question of what role government can and should play in SEP controversies.

Speaker Professor Adam Mossoff referenced research on America’s first “patent war”, involving sewing machines, which led to an Arizona Law Review article. Professor Contreras based his presentation on a research paper available here.

Those attending the program in person also received copies of past WLF publications relevant to the topic being discussed.  Links to those papers appear below.