Federal Trade Commission Act, Section 5, unfair or deceptive acts or practices
15 U.S.C. § 45 · Read 2026-08-15
In force since 1914. Section 5 is the general provision the Commission uses for advertising claims, data security failures and unfair competition outside the antitrust statutes.
Identifier
- Identifier
- 15 U.S.C. § 45
- Level
- Federal
- Status
- In force
- Adopted
- 1914-09-26
- Applies from
- 1914-09-26
- Supervisory bodies
- FTC
Named requirements
Unfair acts or practices
Substantial injury not reasonably avoidable and not outweighed by countervailing benefits.
Deceptive acts or practices
Representations likely to mislead a consumer acting reasonably.
Cease and desist orders
The administrative proceeding and the order that follows it.
Civil penalties for order violations
Penalties per violation once an order is final.
Official source
United States case law
20 decisions · Read from CourtListener, Free Law Project on 2026-08-22.
- Queerdoc, Pllc v. DOJ - United States Department of Justice
9th Cir.Open to review by a higher court, the source does not state the outcome
Ask NovaCopilotGet the opinionRetrieved directly from Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit when you click. No permanent storage on our side.
- Federal Trade Commission v. Hoskins
9th Cir.Open to review by a higher court, the source does not state the outcome
Ask NovaCopilotGet the opinionRetrieved directly from Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit when you click. No permanent storage on our side.
- Intuit v. FTC
5th Cir.Open to review by a higher court, the source does not state the outcome
Ask NovaCopilotGet the opinionRetrieved directly from Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit when you click. No permanent storage on our side.
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Spartan Securities Group, LTD
11th Cir.Open to review by a higher court, the source does not state the outcome
Ask NovaCopilotGet the opinionRetrieved directly from Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit when you click. No permanent storage on our side.
- Gwynne A. Wilcox v. Donald J. Trump
D.C. Cir.Open to review by a higher court, the source does not state the outcome
Ask NovaCopilotGet the opinionRetrieved directly from Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit when you click. No permanent storage on our side.
- Federal Trade Commission v. Noland
9th Cir.Open to review by a higher court, the source does not state the outcome
Ask NovaCopilotGet the opinionRetrieved directly from Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit when you click. No permanent storage on our side.
- Media Matters for America v. FTC
D.C. Cir.Open to review by a higher court, the source does not state the outcome
Ask NovaCopilotGet the opinionRetrieved directly from Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit when you click. No permanent storage on our side.
- American Federation of Government Employees, Afl-Cio v. Trump
9th Cir.Open to review by a higher court, the source does not state the outcome
Ask NovaCopilotGet the opinionRetrieved directly from Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit when you click. No permanent storage on our side.
- Trump v. United States District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco
9th Cir.Open to review by a higher court, the source does not state the outcome
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- Minnesota Bankers Assoc. v. FDIC
8th Cir.Open to review by a higher court, the source does not state the outcome
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- Rebecca Slaughter v. Donald Trump
D.C. Cir.Open to review by a higher court, the source does not state the outcome
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- Texas Association of Business v. FCC
6th Cir.Open to review by a higher court, the source does not state the outcome
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Change monitoring
The row is re-read against the publisher's own publication on a fixed interval. The dates below can be checked on the spot and travel with the API response.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Register | FTC, 15 U.S.C. § 45 |
| Publisher | U.S. Federal Trade Commission |
| Last read | 2026-08-15 |
| Interval | Every 30 days |
| Next re-read | 2026-09-14 |
| Status | Re-read overdue |
Row history
Dated events concerning this exact row, newest first. No event appears here without a date in a primary source.
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-08-15 | Row read against the official publication | U.S. Federal Trade Commission |
| 1914-09-26 | Adopted under 15 U.S.C. § 45 | U.S. Federal Trade Commission |
| 1914-09-26 | Date of application according to the publisher | U.S. Federal Trade Commission |
Monitoring states when the row was checked, not how the legal position should be assessed.
Cite this row
The string below travels with a memo, a case file or an agent chain. The same string sits in the citation field of the API response.
15 U.S.C. § 45, Federal Trade Commission Act, Section 5, unfair or deceptive acts or practices. NovaCopilot, https://legal.exploreworldai.com/us/regler/ftc-act-section-5 (hämtad 2026-10-17, bevis sha256:58c8cbc229b11bd2, bygge legal-2026-10-17).
- sha256:
- 58c8cbc229b11bd2f671ae6e4fb833abd871b8b7885a5d73f03df26154bfcc7b
- hämtad:
- 2026-10-17
- source_confidence:
- derived
- bygge:
- legal-2026-10-17
Derived path to the publisher. The address is built from the identifier and lands in the publisher's own register. uscode.house.gov.
The row is a source reference with an official identifier. No legal advice and no compliance decision.
Verifiable trust signals
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