In this case, we’re presented with a conflict between a federal regulatory agency and a state regulatory agency over the latter’s exercise of a general patent power. The Virginia Funeral Board, deriving its authority from the constitution and legislature of that commonwealth, passed a rule forbidding its licensees from engaging in certain forms of price advertising. The Federal Trade Commission objected, citing its congressional mandate to banish “unfair methods of competition” from interstate commerce. Thus arises two questions: Was it “unfair” for the Board to ban price advertising among its licensees, and if so, does the FTC possess the constitutional authority to remedy the situation via the proposed order?

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