Navigating a Shifting Landscape 

The U.S. pet industry is booming—an estimated $143.6 billion market in 2023, with over 152 million American households that own at least one pet. Alongside this growth, however, comes increasing scrutiny regarding the safety of pet products. Recent high-profile incidents, such as Petmate’s nationwide recall of Pet Zone pet toys due to non-compliant button cell batteries, have highlighted not only the risks to pets and households, but also the potential for significant financial and reputational harm to companies.  

Continue Reading Pet Product Regulation May be Nipping at the Heels 

PFAS compliance in cosmetics has become a critical and growing legal risk for beauty and personal care companies, driven by an expanding patchwork of state bans across 14+ jurisdictions and increasingly sophisticated consumer class action litigation that companies must address proactively rather than reactively. Click here to continue reading the full version of this alert.

When a consumer safety complaint arises, having the right procedures in place can make all the difference in minimizing legal and regulatory exposure. This cross-functional checklist is designed to help legal, compliance, engineering, manufacturing, customer service, and marketing teams stay aligned, act decisively, and respond with confidence when a potential product safety issue emerges.

Continue Reading Is Your Company Prepared? A Checklist for Responding to Consumer Safety Complaints  

Despite only having two active Commissioners, the FTC has remained busy. The Commission resolved a long-running litigation related to sensitive consumer location data, announced a workshop on developments in the financial services industry, and approved a merger with divestiture conditions. These stories and more after the jump.

Continue Reading FTC Blog Updates (May 3 – 8, 2026)

Register now to join Crowell partners Joanna Forster, Toni Michelle Jackson, and Dan Leff for a focused discussion on surveillance pricing — what it means for your business, the risks it creates, and the concrete steps you can take now, from reviewing your pricing practices and privacy policies to building a proactive risk management strategy. The webinar will take place on Wednesday, June 10, 2026 from 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EDT.

Continue Reading Register Now! The Next Frontier — Surveillance & Personalized Pricing Webinar

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) closed out April and opened May with activity across both consumer protection and competition bureaus. This past week, the agency released new data showing the scale of social media-driven fraud, targeted allegedly deceptive multi-level marketing earnings claims, urged the Tennessee Supreme Court to reduce its reliance on ABA law school accreditation, and required divestitures to resolve competition concerns in a foodservice technology merger. More on these stories after the jump.

Continue Reading FTC Blog Updates (April 27-May 1, 2026)

A New Jersey consumer products company was sentenced this week to pay a criminal fine of $8 million plus an additional $395,786 in restitution to victims after pleading guilty to willfully failing to report dangerously defective air conditioners to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The case illustrates the staggering civil and even criminal consequences that can flow from failure to satisfy the Consumer Product Safety Act’s (CPSA) mandatory reporting requirements, especially the willingness of federal prosecutors to pursue criminal charges.

Continue Reading Criminal Sentencing in Royal Sovereign Case Underscores Staggering Consequences for Defective Product Reporting Failures

This week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that a company’s president and CEO must pay a $140 million judgment based on participation in a timeshare exit scheme. The FTC also took action that backed Chairman Ferguson’s prioritization of healthcare fraud with the establishment of a Healthcare Task Force in March. More on these stories after the jump.

Continue Reading FTC Blog Updates (April 20-24, 2026)

In a Law360 article published today, “How Food, Beverage Claims May Preview Cosmetic Litigation,” Crowell attorneys argue that class action litigation trends from the food and beverage industry — including lawsuits over “natural” labeling claims, deceptive packaging (slack-fill), and greenwashing — are directly foreshadowing, and providing a strategic roadmap for, the wave of similar litigation now targeting cosmetics and personal care product companies. Click here to read the full article.