Federal Trade Commission

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government, established on September 26, 1914. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., it operates with a mission to protect consumers and promote competition. As of September 2024, the FTC had approximately 1,323 employees.

The FTC's primary operations involve enforcing civil antitrust law and consumer protection laws. It actively works to prevent anticompetitive, unfair, and deceptive business practices through law enforcement, advocacy, and education. The agency comprises three main bureaus: the Bureau of Competition, which addresses anticompetitive business practices; the Bureau of Consumer Protection, which safeguards consumers against unfair or deceptive acts; and the Bureau of Economics, which provides economic analysis for its policy decisions.

The FTC's patent litigation posture is unique as a government regulatory body. Its single tracked case shows it as a plaintiff in an administrative complaint, rather than asserting or defending patents directly. This reflects its role in policing unfair or deceptive acts or practices related to patent assertion.

A notable case is Federal Trade Commission v. MPHJ Technology Investments, LLC et al., an administrative complaint filed in 2014. This action represented the first time the FTC used its consumer protection authority against a patent assertion entity (PAE), often referred to as a "patent troll." The FTC alleged that MPHJ used deceptive sales claims and phony legal threats in demand letters sent to thousands of small businesses, falsely claiming patent infringement and demanding licensing fees for networked scanning systems. The case highlighted the FTC's focus on regulating misleading practices in patent assertion, particularly those targeting small businesses.