[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 219 (Thursday, November 13, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67435-67436]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-26803]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

[File No. 142 3003]


MPHJ Technology Investments, LLC, Jay Mac Rust, and Farney 
Daniels, P.C.; Analysis To Aid Public Comment

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Proposed consent agreement.

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SUMMARY: The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged 
violations of federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or 
practices. The attached Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes both 
the allegations in the draft complaint and the terms of the consent 
order--embodied in the consent agreement--that would settle these 
allegations.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before December 8, 2014.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/mphjtechconsent online or on paper, by 
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``MPHJ Technology 
Investments, LLC, et al--Consent Agreement; File No. 142 3003'' on your 
comment and file your comment online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/mphjtechconsent by following the 
instructions on the web-based form. If you prefer to file your comment 
on paper, write ``MPHJ Technology Investments, LLC, et al--Consent 
Agreement; File No. 142 3003'' on your comment and on the envelope, and 
mail your comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, 
Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite CC-5610 
(Annex D), Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the 
following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 
Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex 
D), Washington, DC 20024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Daniel O. Hanks (202-326-2472) or 
Michael Tankersley (202-326-2991), Bureau of Consumer Protection, 600 
Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20580.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to Section 6(f) of the Federal 
Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 2.34, 16 CFR 2.34, 
notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreement 
containing consent order to cease and desist, having been filed with 
and accepted, subject to final approval, by the Commission, has been 
placed on the public record for a period of thirty (30) days. The 
following Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes the terms of the 
consent agreement, and the allegations in the complaint. An electronic 
copy of the full text of the consent agreement package can be obtained 
from the FTC Home Page (for November 6, 2014), on the World Wide Web, 
at http://www.ftc.gov/os/actions.shtm.
    You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to 
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before December 8, 
2014. Write ``MPHJ Technology Investments, LLC, et al--Consent 
Agreement; File No. 142 3003'' on your comment. Your comment--including 
your name and your state--will be placed on the public record of this 
proceeding, including, to the extent practicable, on the public 
Commission Web site, at http://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm. As a 
matter of discretion, the Commission tries to remove individuals' home 
contact information from comments before placing them on the Commission 
Web site.
    Because your comment will be made public, you are solely 
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any 
sensitive personal information, like anyone's Social Security number, 
date of birth, driver's license number or other state identification 
number or foreign country equivalent, passport number, financial 
account number, or credit or debit card number. You are also solely 
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any 
sensitive health information, like medical records or other 
individually identifiable health information. In addition, do not 
include any ``[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information 
which . . . is privileged or confidential,'' as discussed in Section 
6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 
4.10(a)(2). In particular, do not include competitively sensitive 
information such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas, 
patterns, devices,

[[Page 67436]]

manufacturing processes, or customer names.
    If you want the Commission to give your comment confidential 
treatment, you must file it in paper form, with a request for 
confidential treatment, and you have to follow the procedure explained 
in FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).\1\ Your comment will be kept 
confidential only if the FTC General Counsel, in his or her sole 
discretion, grants your request in accordance with the law and the 
public interest.
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    \1\ In particular, the written request for confidential 
treatment that accompanies the comment must include the factual and 
legal basis for the request, and must identify the specific portions 
of the comment to be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule 
4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
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    Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to 
heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit 
your comments online. To make sure that the Commission considers your 
online comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/mphjtechconsent by following the instructions on the web-based 
form. If this Notice appears at http://www.regulations.gov/#!home, you 
also may file a comment through that Web site.
    If you file your comment on paper, write ``MPHJ Technology 
Investments, LLC, et al--Consent Agreement; File No. 142 3003'' on your 
comment and on the envelope, and mail your comment to the following 
address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 
Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite CC-5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20580, 
or deliver your comment to the following address: Federal Trade 
Commission, Office of the Secretary, Constitution Center, 400 7th 
Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20024. If 
possible, submit your paper comment to the Commission by courier or 
overnight service.
    Visit the Commission Web site at http://www.ftc.gov to read this 
Notice and the news release describing it. The FTC Act and other laws 
that the Commission administers permit the collection of public 
comments to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. The 
Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments that 
it receives on or before December 8, 2014. You can find more 
information, including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, in 
the Commission's privacy policy, at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.

Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment

    The Federal Trade Commission (the ``Commission'') has accepted, 
subject to approval, an agreement containing a consent order from MPHJ 
Technology Investments, LLC; Jay Mac Rust; and Farney Daniels, P.C. 
(the ``Respondents'').
    The proposed consent order has been placed on the public record for 
thirty (30) days for receipt of comments by interested persons. 
Comments received during this period will become part of the public 
record. After thirty days, the Commission will again review the 
agreement and the comments received, and will decide whether it should 
withdraw from the agreement and take appropriate action or make final 
the agreement's proposed order.
    This matter concerns allegedly deceptive representations that the 
Respondents made in a campaign of letters sent to thousands of small 
businesses across the United States in an attempt to sell licenses for 
certain U.S. patents. The complaint alleges that the Respondents made 
false or unsubstantiated representations in their letters that many 
small businesses had already agreed to pay thousands of dollars for 
such licenses. The complaint also alleges that the Respondents' letters 
falsely represented that a patent infringement lawsuit would be filed 
against the recipient if it did not respond to the letter, and that 
this suit would be filed imminently. The complaint alleges that these 
representations constitute deceptive acts or practices in violation of 
Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act.
    The proposed consent order contains provisions designed to prevent 
the Respondents from engaging in similar acts and practices in the 
future. Section I.A of the proposed order would prohibit false or 
unsubstantiated representations that a patent has been licensed in 
substantial numbers, at particular prices, or within particular price 
ranges. Section I.B of the proposed order would prohibit false or 
unsubstantiated representations about the licenses for a patent or the 
responses of recipients of patent assertion communications, or 
concerning the results of licensing, sales, settlement, or litigation 
of a patent. Section I.C would prohibit misrepresentations that the 
Respondents or an affiliate of the Respondents has initiated a lawsuit. 
And Section I.D would prohibit representations that the Respondents or 
an affiliate of the Respondents will initiate a lawsuit unless they 
have decided to take such action and they possess competent and 
reliable evidence sufficient to substantiate that they are prepared and 
able to do so. In determining whether such a representation was 
substantiated at the time that it was made, evidence that an action was 
not taken because of a change in circumstances or information obtained 
subsequent to making the representation shall be considered.
    These prohibitions in the proposed consent order apply to 
communications (other than filings in a lawsuit or correspondence 
between counsel in a lawsuit) that state that the intended recipient or 
anyone affiliated with the intended recipient is or may be infringing 
rights arising from a patent, is or may be obligated to obtain a 
license because of a patent, or owes or may owe compensation to another 
because of a patent.
    The proposed consent order also contains reporting and compliance 
provisions. Section II requires the Respondents to maintain and upon 
request make available certain compliance-related records. Sections III 
through VI requires the Respondents to deliver a copy of the order to 
officers, employees, and representatives having managerial 
responsibilities with respect to the order's subject matter, notify the 
Commission of changes in corporate structure that might affect 
compliance obligations, and file compliance reports with the 
Commission.
    Section VII of the proposed order provides that, with certain 
exceptions, the order will terminate in twenty years.
    The purpose of this analysis is to facilitate public comment on the 
proposed order. It is not intended to constitute an official 
interpretation of the complaint or the proposed order, or to modify in 
any way the proposed order's terms.

    By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2014-26803 Filed 11-12-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P