News release: “Commission approval of Federal Register notice: The Commission has approved the publication of a Federal Register notice seeking comments on a revised proposal for a new trade regulation rule governing business opportunities. Dating from 1978, the FTC historically has had a single rule covering two distinct types of offerings: franchises and business opportunity ventures. Many of the very familiar national fast-food restaurants and hotels, for example, are franchises, business opportunity ventures include vending machine routes, rack display operations, and medical billing schemes ventures. These ventures, unlike franchises, typically do not involve the right to use a trademark or other commercial symbol. Nevertheless, they do call for the opportunity seller to provide purchasers with locations for machines, or with accounts, or clients, and have been covered by the Franchise Rule.”