On June 2, the Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, agreed to its first settlement of a merger challenged under the new administration, less than one week after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) entered into its first such settlement. The consent decree will require the divestiture of three businesses and will allow Keysight Technologies, Inc. to complete its proposed $1.5 billion acquisition of Spirent Communications plc.
Several state attorneys general (AGs) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have begun scrutinizing ancestry tracking company 23andMe following its recent announcement that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. As part of these efforts, the AGs have issued alerts on ways consumers can exercise their rights under state privacy laws, and the FTC has issued letters stressing potential risks to U.S. bankruptcy trustees. 23andMe, which was founded in 2006, has collected DNA and associated genetic material on seven million American customers to provide information related to those customers’ ancestry.
On January 15, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Minnesota, and Illinois filed a lawsuit against Deere & Company (Deere). The complaint, which Michigan, Wisconsin, and Arizona have since joined, accuses Deere of creating and maintaining a repair services monopoly and engaging in anticompetitive business practices that interfere with farmers’ rights to repair their Deere agricultural equipment in violation of federal and state antitrust laws.
Massachusetts Attorney General (AG) Andrea Joy Campbell announced Massachusetts’ new consumer protection regulations prohibiting “junk fees” and providing consumers with greater transparency regarding trial and subscription offers, prohibiting unfair marketing tactics that obscure the true cost of a product or service. The regulations are intended to help consumers understand the total cost of products and services at the outset of a transaction, avoid fees, and make it easier to cancel unwanted costs associated with trial and subscription offers.
On January 16, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued “Antitrust Guidelines for Business Activities Affecting Workers” (2025 Guidelines). The 2025 Guidelines aim to “promote clarity and transparency” in demonstrating how the agencies identify certain business activities that may violate the antitrust laws. The 2025 Guidelines are intended to replace the 2016 “Antitrust Guidance for Human Resource Professionals,” (2016 Guidelines).
On December 17, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Illinois Attorney General (AG) Kwame Raoul settled their lawsuit against Grubhub for $140 million (Grubhub will only have to pay $25 million, with the balance suspended due to Grubhub’s inability to pay).
Warnings of an impending regulatory focus on hidden and junk fees materialized following President Joe Biden’s call to Congress during his 2023 State of the Union address to eliminate them. On December 17, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced its final rule, Trade Regulation rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees (Junk Fees Rule), which bans junk fees associated with live-event ticket and short-term lodging (hotels and vacation rentals). By focusing exclusively on the live-event ticket and short-term lodging sectors, the rule is notably narrower in scope than the originally proposed rule from October 2023, which targeted junk and hidden fees across all industries nationwide.
On October 25, Pennsylvania Attorney General (AG) Michelle Henry announced a court order requiring the pastor and founder of Peniel Christian Fellowship International to pay $305,704 in restitution for allegedly misusing ministry funds for personal expenses. The AG took action alleging that charitable donations to the church were diverted into the pastor’s personal accounts to pay for rent, vehicles, and other private expenses.
This article was originally published on September 18, 2024 on Bloomberg Law and is republished here with permission.
The Northern District of Texas’s nationwide ban on the Federal Trade Commission’s noncompete rule isn’t a complete bar to government enforcement. The rule sought to curb unfair methods of competition and would have voided employees’ noncompete provisions. It required employers to send notice that noncompete agreements are no longer enforceable.
Earlier this month, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a final rule to combat fake reviews and testimonials.[1]