Dental Group to Appeal Ruling on Advertising

The California Dental Assn. said it plans to appeal a ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that found the organization has been illegally restricting competition among its 15,000 members. In doing so, the court upheld a Federal Trade Commission decision in May 1996. The FTC said the dental association restricted comparison-advertising, a violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and the FTC Act. The FTC said the dental association’s rules have, in effect, prevented dentists from advertising across-the-board discounts and from making superiority claims. The association has not enforced its rules since the FTC’s 1996 decision. The group plans to argue that it is not subject to FTC jurisdiction because it is not a for-profit corporation.