FTC Commissioner Joshua Wright, during yesterday’s keynote speech at BakerHostetler’s Section 5 Symposium, announced his plan to call for the FTC Commissioners to vote on three proposed definitions of Section 5’s “unfair methods of competition.”
Covering the Section 5 Symposium and Commissioner Wright’s announcement, Global Competition Review wrote:
“Joshua Wright will ask his four Federal Trade Commission colleagues to vote next week on three different definitions of section 5 of the FTC Act and perhaps formally pin down, for the first time in 100 years, what an ‘unfair method of competition’ is.”
Also covering the event, Law360 wrote:
“A stable definition of what constitutes an ‘unfair method of competition’ would provide businesses with important guidance about what conduct is lawful and what conduct is unlawful under Section 5,” [Commissioner Wright] said, at a conference held by BakerHostetler. “The benefit of added business certainty is less important than ensuring Section 5 enforcement actions — including consents — actually reach and deter anti-competitive conduct rather than chill pro-competitive conduct.”
BakerHostetler’s antitrust attorneys will be analyzing Commissioner Wright’s proposal and its implications for practitioners and the business community. Stay tuned.