ANTITRUST ALERT
ANTITRUST ALERT
A Global Resource for Compliance Officers & Legal Advisors
ANTITRUST ALERT
A Global Resource for Compliance Officers & Legal Advisors
Section 5
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FTC Competition Chief Defends Stand-Alone Section 5 Use in Unfair Competition Cases

by | Mar 16, 2015 |

In a blog post last Friday, Debbie Feinstein, Director of Competition at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), defended the agency’s use of FTC Act Section 5 to target unfair methods of competition outside the scope of the Sherman and Clayton Acts.

While the use of Section 5 in consumer protection cases has long been established, many, including U.S. Congress members and FTC Commissioners, have urged the FTC in recent years to issue clearer guidelines on how Section 5 will be used to target conduct related to unfair methods of competition.  Feinstein suggested that those interested in the FTC’s future use of Section 5 “should look at what the Commission has done and the reason it gave for acting to stop the behavior. . . . The touchstone of every stand-alone Section 5 claim . . . is likely or actual harm to competition or the competitive process.”

Feinstein pointed specifically to invitation to collude cases as a prime example of the type of conduct prosecuted in a stand-alone Section 5 action.  The FTC first brought an invitation to collude case in the early 1990s, see Quality Trailer Products, 115 F.T.C. 922 (1992), in which Quality Trailer Products employees visited a competitor and urged it to raise its prices while stating that Quality Trailer would also raise prices.  Since that time, the FTC has continued to use Section 5 to bring actions in invitation to collude cases.  Most recently, the FTC brought complaints against two internet resellers of UPC barcodes in July 2014, alleging they had sent messages to one of their competitors proposing a scheme to raise their prices in line with the prices of another competitor.  Feinstein suggested that the large number of cases brought unanimously by the Commissioners “demonstrates that we are using our stand-alone Section 5 authority responsibly.”

Feinstein also noted that nearly all stand-alone Section 5 cases brought by the FTC have resulted in an injunctive remedy —  “I want to underscore that the Commission’s policy is not to seek disgorgement in stand-alone Section 5 cases. . . . Without the threat of a monetary penalty (let alone treble damages), I find it hard to understand the claim that significant procompetitive conduct is chilled by the possibility that the FTC may use its stand-alone Section 5 authority in some unforeseen way.”



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Patent Enforcement Protected by First Amendment?

by | Apr 24, 2014 | ,

After receiving a draft complaint and a stipulated order from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) banning its allegedly deceptive letters to infringers of its scanning technology, MPHJ Technology Investments LLC (MPHJ) filed suit against the FTC in the Western District of Texas, alleging violations of the First Amendment.  The complaint alleged that the FTC’s investigation prevented MPHJ from its government-granted right to enforce its patent, a form of free speech under the Bill of Rights.  On March 28, 2014, the FTC filed a motion to dismiss the complaint, and MPHJ filed its response on April 18, 2014.

The FTC argued in its motion to dismiss that the controversy was not ripe for suit because there had been no final agency action, that MPHJ was not immune from suit because patent enforcement activity is not protected by the First Amendment and that the FTC is not looking to prevent MPHJ from sending letters, only looking to prevent the deceptive statements within those letters.

MPHJ contended in its response that the FTC’s draft complaint was a sufficient “credible threat” of suit to make the case ripe for adjudication.  MPHJ’s patent enforcement conduct included a threat to sue the alleged infringers, and it was this conduct, in part, that was subject to the FTC investigation and also protected by the First Amendment.  MPHJ argued that in order to sue it under Section 5 of the FTC Act, the FTC must overcome the First Amendment protection for plaintiffs in a lawsuit from allegations of misconduct related to bringing that suit, which applies unless the suit brought was “objectively baseless.”  MPHJ argued that the FTC has not overcome the burden of showing objective baselessness, because in its investigation of MPHJ’s conduct, it concluded only that the letters threatening to sue infringers were “deceptive.”  According to MPHJ, allowing the type of enforcement activity pursued by the FTC would prevent patent holders like MPHJ from threatening to sue infringers.  MPHJ further argued that the District of Nebraska entered a preliminary injunction against the attorney general when faced with identical facts.

The case is MPHJ Tech. Inv., LLC v. FTC, case number 6:14-cv-00011, pending before the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.



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FTC Commissioners Disagree on Section 5 Authority

by | Mar 6, 2014 |

Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act confers broad enforcement powers on the Commission to prohibit “unfair methods of competition.”  In her February 13, 2014 keynote address to the Competition Law & Economics Symposium at George Mason law school, FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez argued that it would be a mistake for the Commission to circumscribe its authority by issuing guidelines for Section 5 enforcement.  While Chairwoman Ramirez “do[es] not object to guidance in theory,” she believes any guidance should be descriptive rather than prescriptive.

Other commissioners, however, have strongly backed providing companies with a clearer set of rules.  Commissioner Maureen K. Olhausen has said that she would refuse to support any Section 5 enforcement actions until the FTC establishes guidelines, while Commissioner Joshua D. Wright has already proposed such guidelines.

Section 5 may confer broader powers than the Sherman Act and Clayton Act in theory, but many courts have in practice treated Section 5 as coterminous with these other antitrust statutes and the far more extensive body of caselaw interpreting them.  Whether the FTC can extend its power with Section 5 may depend on the specific circumstances of any action.  Invoking Section 5, however, is a somewhat fraught exercise for the Commission, which would not want an unfavorable court decision that could tie its hands in the future.  Indeed, Chairwoman Ramirez made a point of saying that for “most of [its] antitrust cases,” the FTC has no need of Section 5.

The scope of Section 5 may remain uncertain, but one can be sure the debate will continue.



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Republicans Press FTC to Establish a Clear Standard for Section 5

by | Oct 29, 2013 |

In a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Wednesday, October 23, eight GOP lawmakers from both the House and the Senate called on the FTC to publish clear guidance on Section 5 of the FTC Act.

Section 5 grants the Commission broad authority to regulate “unfair methods of competition” beyond the scope of the Sherman Act and Clayton Act.  In FTC v. Sperry & Hutchinson Co., 405 U.S. 233 (1972), the Supreme Court opined that the FTC was authorized to consider public values beyond the letter or spirit of the antitrust laws when enforcing Section 5.  Then, during the 1980s, courts began rejecting the FTC’s attempts to bring Section 5 actions, out of concern that the agency had failed to put forth adequate standards.  More recently, the FTC has used Section 5 in various agency actions to target invitations to collude and breaches of standard-setting commitments, but no cases have been affirmed by the courts.

In their letter, the legislators warned that “the absence of clear parameters . . . based on empirical and economic justifications, engenders uncertainty in the business community,” which in turn deters innovation and stifles economic growth.  Over the summer, Commissioner Brill questioned the need for a formal statement, citing the fact that no business executive had ever addressed the lack of guidance with her.  The letter also contended that defendants in administrative cases often settle due to “economic pressures rather than substantive agreement,” and these settlements leave no room for judicial review – pushing back on Chairwoman Ramirez’s belief that a policy could be developed through agency enforcement actions.

Both Commissioners Wright and Ohlhausen announced policy proposals earlier this year, which the lawmakers pointed to as evidence to refute Chairwoman Ramirez’s statement from a congressional oversight hearing that it is difficult to articulate the outer bounds of Section 5 authority and that the existing informal guidance is sufficient.



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FTC Commissioner Wright’s Policy Statement Proposes Section 5 Limitations

by | Jun 20, 2013 | ,

by Michelle Lowery

On June 19, 2013, Commissioner Joshua Wright of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed a Policy Statement on the FTC’s enforcement authority under Section 5 of the FTC Act, which prohibits unfair methods of competition.  According to Commissioner Wright, the intent of his proposed Policy Statement is to initiate a discussion on the appropriate parameters of the FTC’s authority under Section 5.  Commissioner Wright expects that the proposed Policy Statement will end years of ambiguous Section 5 enforcement by articulating a clear standard of what types of conduct constitute an unfair method of competition.  The Policy Statement defines an unfair method of competition as “an act or practice that (1) harms or is likely to harm competition significantly and that (2) lacks cognizable efficiencies.”  Commissioner Wright explained that the definition as a whole allows the Commission to reach conduct not covered by the Sherman and Clayton Acts, is tied to modern jurisprudence on harm to competition as well as to the Horizontal Merger Guideline’s efficiencies standards, focuses on conduct that is most likely to harm consumers and reduces the risk of prosecuting pro-competitive behavior.

Commissioner Wright remarked that before the FTC will exercise its Section 5 authority, the conduct at issue must be outside the bounds of well-defined antitrust case law.  He further stated that the FTC should exercise this authority in areas where the Commission finds business practices that harm consumers through activities not yet reviewed by the courts.  Commissioner Wright foresees two broad areas of enforcement under Section 5: invitations to collude, and using unfair competition to acquire market power (where monopoly power might not exist).  According to Wright, before the Commission brings a case, it should examine both the magnitude and the probability of harm to competition to determine whether the conduct constitutes an unfair method of competition.  Even if the Commission concludes that conduct harms competition, the second prong of Wright’s proposed policy would restrict the Commission’s ability to prosecute if a cognizable efficiency exists.

For Commissioner Wright’s full discussion of the proposed Policy Statement, see: https://www.ftc.gov/speeches/wright/130619section5recast.pdf



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FTC Issues Preliminary Privacy Report, Seeks Comment from Stakeholders

by | Dec 8, 2010 | ,

by Heather Egan Sussman and Carla A. R. Hine

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s recently proposed framework for offline and online businesses and policymakers may have a significant impact on entities that collect, maintain and use consumer data.  The deadline for public comment is January 31, 2011.

To read the full article, please visit: https://www.mwe.com/info/news/ots1210e.htm.
 



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