The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) will hold a joint public workshop on June 23, 2014, to explore the economic and legal analysis of conditional pricing practices among firms in a supply chain. The workshop will focus on conditional pricing arrangements – practices in which prices are explicitly or effectively contingent […]

Consumers deserve and are entitled to accurate information about the products they are purchasing. It’s for this reason that Elizabeth Scott says the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is very serious about protecting customers from misleading and deceptive environmental claims with its specific guidelines for environmental marketing. More commonly known as the “Green Guides,” the federal […]

The door and window industry should be well aware now of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Guide to Environmental Marketing Claims, more commonly referred to as the Green Guides. Laura Koss, FTC staff attorney, offered further insights into the guides and how companies must pay close attention when making environmental claims. The presentation was given […]

In any manufacturing industry, doors and windows included, “made in the USA” is a term that often pops up. But what does this mean—and what does the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) require when it comes to this term? The FTC’s “Made in USA” Act was designed to give the agency “the power to bring law […]

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is warning small businesses that an email with a subject line “NOTIFICATION OF CONSUMER COMPLAINT” is not from the FTC. The email falsely states that a complaint has been filed with the agency against their company. The FTC advises recipients not to click on any of the links or attachments […]

The Federal Trade Commission is once again cracking down on companies that make misleading green claims. Two of the nation’s paint companies, The Sherwin-Williams Company and PPG Architectural Finishes Inc., have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges that they misled consumers to believe that some of their paints are free of potentially harmful […]

“That’s what you are!” hissed the architect, wagging his finger at me just before he stomped out of the session I gave on Federal Trade Commission Green Guide implications at the Southern Design Symposium on October 4, 2012. It’s not the first time I’ve been the bearer of unwelcome news and I doubt it will […]

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been working on revising its “Green Guides” since 2010 and today the commission announced that the revisions are now complete. The guide is designed to help marketers ensure that the claims they make about the environmental attributes of their products are truthful and non-deceptive. The revisions to the FTC’s […]

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has warned 14 window manufacturers and one window glass manufacturer that they may be making unsupported energy savings claims for replacement windows. This is not the first time the FTC and window companies have been in the news in recent months. Earlier this year, five window companies settled with the […]

Looking at consumer ads for replacement home windows, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released an FTC-commissioned study indicating that when marketers use the phrase “up to” in claims about their products, many consumers are likely to believe that they will achieve the maximum “up to” results. The study describes what a test group of consumers […]