Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%
Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.
Earnings Claims and the Amended FTC Disclosure Rule: Lamenting a Lost Opportunity
Let's not be overly critical of the Amended FTC Disclosure Rule, which was promulgated in January 2007 after being 10 years in the development stage. As Stephen Toporoff of the Federal Trade Commission ('FTC') has convinced me in recent discussions, amending a federal regulation is an arduous task. In this instance, it required an extensive amount of background research on the history of the original Disclosure Rule, several hearings, careful review of the hundreds of comments, careful examination of the UFOC Guidelines and their origins and assumptions, comparing them with the original Disclosure Rule's format, and testing in many cases the care and thought that went behind the original language of the UFOC Guidelines. The Amended Disclosure Rule was no shot from the hip. In light of this background information, and considering simply the politics of federal agencies, it is not very surprising that it took a decade for the FTC to issue the Amended Disclosure Rule.
But given the existence of the UFOC Guidelines as a pre-existing roadmap for disclosure and the almost 30-year track record of franchise disclosure and sales regulation, the substantive changes made to the Amended Disclosure Rule, as they affect the type and quality of disclosure given to franchise prospects, were, overall, not earth-shattering. The disclosure documents we will be seeing later this year will in most respects be identical to what we have seen since the UFOC Guidelines were last amended in 1993. There are a couple of notable exceptions, such as the expanded litigation disclosures required under Item 3, and the disclosure of information about franchisee associations, which will appear in Item 20. In my mind, the most notable accomplishments of the Amended Disclosure Rule will be: 1) the clarification that it is generally not applicable to international transactions; and 2) bringing the mechanics of the disclosure process into the 21st century. Neither of these relates to the substantive disclosure given to franchisees.
Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About It
Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.
A Lawyer's System for Active Reading
Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages.
Blockchain Domains: New Developments for Brand Owners
Blockchain domain names offer decentralized alternatives to traditional DNS-based domain names, promising enhanced security, privacy and censorship resistance. However, these benefits come with significant challenges, particularly for brand owners seeking to protect their trademarks in these new digital spaces.