The Federal Trade Commission suffered its first definitive loss Tuesday in the push to ban employment noncompete agreements, although the decision probably isn't the final word given a likely appeal and two other pending challenges also viewed as a test of the agency's efforts to expand its rulemaking footprint. U.S. District Judge Ada E. Brown's ruling means that the ban won't go into effect Sept. 4 as planned, although the agency said it is "seriously considering a potential appeal." For now, however, the decision gives the U.S. Chamber of Commerce a clear win on its bid to stop the FTC in its tracks on efforts to expand rulemaking beyond its normal consumer protection realm and into the essentially unused antitrust space via its authority over "unfair methods of competition."