FTC may drop administrative Whole Foods case
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The U.S. administrative proceeding looking into the merger of organic grocers Wild Oats and Whole Foods Markets Inc.  has not been stopped despite a loss in district court, but Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Majoras said on Tuesday the FTC rarely presses on after losing a court fight.
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Whole Foods Market's leader does the right thing.
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Business & money: Fate of supermarket chain in balance, with court to decide today whether to approve rescue package.
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The Supreme Court is considering whether states may bar people from buying wine directly from out-of-state suppliers, a big-money question that could lead to sweeping changes in how alcoholic beverages are regulated and sold.
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(InfoWorld) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has shut down four illegal e-mail spamming operations, including one that offered the opportunity to "date lonely wives," the agency said Thursday. Two of the other operations sending unwanted commercial e-mail hijacked the computers of third parties and used them to spam customers with sexually explicit e-mail, the FTC said Thursday. The FTC charged the four operations with violating the U.S. CAN-SPAM Act. Federal courts in Illinois and Arizona approved the FTC request to shut down the operations. Cleverlink Trading Ltd. and its partners will give up US$400,000 in spam-related gains to settle FTC charges that e-mail from them or their affiliates violated federal law. The FTC sued the group, saying their "date lonely wives" spam violated nearly every provision of the CAN-SPAM Act. Cleverlink's e-mail contained misleading headers and deceptive subject lines, it did not contain a link to allow consumers to opt out of receiving future spam, did not contain a valid physical postal address and did not contain the disclosure that it was sexually explicit, the FTC said. It also included sexual materials in the initially viewable area of the e-mail, in violation of the FTCâs adult labeling rule. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division halted the operation and froze the defendants' assets. The court approved a settlement with Cleverlink and four other defendants in July. In a second case, the FTC charged that Zachary Kinion sent spam hawking adult sites, mortgage rates and privacy software and paid other spammers commissions to send spam messages for him. Kinion hid his true originating address by routing his spam through the computers of innocent third parties, the FTC said. The FTC charged him with violations of the CAN-SPAM Act, and the Illinois court ordered him to halt his e-mail operations. A settlement, which the FTC agreed to in June, includes a judgment of $151,000, suspended because of Kinion's inability to pay, the FTC said. Another spam operation used "spam zombies" -- computers used without their ownersâ knowledge -- to conceal the source of sexually explicit spam. Defendants William Dugger, Angelina Johnson and John Vitale also violated the adult labeling rule, the FTC said. The settlement, approved in July by the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, requires the three defendants to give up $8,000 in spam-related profits, and it requires them to obtain permission from other people's computers before using them to send e-mail. The fourth spam operation used spam to drive traffic to Web sites by third parties, the FTC said. Brian McMullen, doing business as BM Entertainment and B Pimp, routed his promotions for pharmaceuticals and adult content through unwitting consumersâ computers, the FTC said. A settlement approved by the Illinois court in July imposes a judgment of $24,193, suspended based on McMullen's inability to pay, the FTC said. In addition, he has pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to spam and unauthorized possession of credit cards. He currently is awaiting sentencing.
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The Federal Trade Committee has filed a complaint in federal court asking that two Internet advertising and software firms be shut down. The FTC made the filing last Thursday and will hold a press conference on the matter tomorrow.
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An appeals court yesterday removed the final obstacle standing in the way of a merger between Whole Foods and Wild Oats, setting the stage for the nation's two largest sellers of organic and natural foods to combine operations.
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Los Angeles Times - WASHINGTON &#8212; The U.S. Supreme Court can ignore the usual liberal-versus-conservative divide in the next two weeks when it takes up California-centric cases on medical marijuana and the direct shipping of wine to consumers. Instead, the justices will be forced to decide between competing versions of conservatism.
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SUPREME COURT The US Supreme Court is hearing arguments in a case that could lead to sweeping changes on how alcoholic beverages are regulated and sold.
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An unusual battle is being waged against Whole Foods in Burbank, Calif., not over its business practices, but the threat it poses to the communityâs horse owners.
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Natural and organic food retailer Whole Foods Market Inc.  on Friday extended its tender offer for Wild Oats Markets Inc.  for a fourth time as it waits for a hearing that will decide if it can go ahead with the deal.
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The FTC recently announced its opposition to Whole Foods' acquisition of Wild Oats.
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Whole Foods Market Inc.  and Wild Oats Markets Inc.  said on Tuesday that they would challenge U.S. anti-competition regulators that plan to file a lawsuit aimed at blocking the supermarket chains' proposed merger.
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WASHINGTON -- Whole Foods Market Inc. said yesterday it was free to complete its acquisition of rival Wild Oats Markets Inc. after a federal appeals court denied a request from US antitrust authorities to temporarily block the deal.
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By Jason Ryan, The State, Columbia, S.C.  Jun. 22--Online music retailer BurnLounge said Thursday it will eliminate portions of its business that have been the target of a lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission.
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Securities regulators have launched an informal investigation of Web postings by Whole Foods Market chief executive John P. Mackey, after revelations that the maverick leader opined about the company and its rivals in anonymous stock chat rooms for years, according to people familiar with the inq...
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(InfoWorld) - A U.S. court has banned a company accused of marketing a bogus employment scheme through a series of Internet and newspaper advertisements from selling any more work-at-home opportunities, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said Monday. The FTC, in a complaint filed in September 2006, accused Group C Marketing, doing business as HBG Publications, and Satinderjit Singh Chaddha, the company's sole officer, of selling bogus business opportunities. The business took more than $1.7 million from customers since mid-2004, according to court documents. Judge George King of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles signed an order this month requiring the company to pay $287,500, based on the company's ability to pay. The judge barred the company from marketing any more work-at-home opportunities and prohibited it from selling or sharing its customer list. The company must also file compliance reports when the FTC asks for them. The FTC accused the company, based in Walnut, Calif., of advertising that customers could "make $7 for each and every envelope which you secure, stuff, and mail." Group C told customers that for their $40 "registration fee" they would get everything they needed for the envelope-stuffing business, and that the money would be refunded after the first 100 envelopes. However, after sending in the fee, customers did not receive envelopes and did not get paid for stuffing envelopes, the FTC said. Instead, the defendants directed consumers to start their own work-at-home envelope-stuffing scams and find other people to pay them $7, by buying their own ads similar Group C's ads.