Articles Posted in FTC Antitrust Highlights

The Commission, with the concurrence of the Acting U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust, has authorized the release of the Twenty-Eighth Annual Report to Congress Regarding the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Premerger Notification Program. The report summarizes Commission and Department of Justice (DOJ) actions conducted under the HSR Act in fiscal year 2005, noting that 1,695 premerger…

The Federal Trade Commission today told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the agency protects health care consumers from anti-competitive conduct by enforcing antitrust laws, and that the FTC is committed to working with physicians and other providers to give them guidance to avoid antitrust pitfalls as they respond to market challenges.“The agency will bring enforcement…

It was announced on September 6, 2006 that an operation placing spyware on consumers’ computers in violation of federal laws will give up more than $2 million to settle Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) charges. Under a stipulated final judgment and order, the defendants are permanently prohibited from interfering with a consumer’s computer use, including but…

Following a public comment period, the Commission has approved the issuance of a final consent order in the matter concerning Linde AG’s acquisition of The BOC Group. The vote approving issuance of the final order was 5-0.Authored by: Robert W. Doyle, Jr.202-589-1839rdoyle@dbmlawgroup.com

The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced a law enforcement action on August 18 challenging a 2005 acquisition that combined the natural gas liquids (“NGL”) storage businesses of Enterprise Product Partners, L.P. and TEPPCO Partners, L.P. under common ownership. The FTC’s complaint alleged that the transaction likely would result in higher prices and service degradations by…

The FTC and the Federal Reserve Board on August 7 issued a joint report to Congress on compliance with the consumer dispute provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”). The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (“FACT Act”), which generally amends the FCRA, required the FTC and the Board to conduct a…

A company and its owner selling contact lenses directly to consumers via three Web sites are settling Federal Trade Commission (“Commission” or “FTC”) charges they violated federal law by failing to verify consumers’ prescriptions as required by the Commission’s Contact Lens Rule. They will pay $40,000 in civil penalties and will be prohibited from violating…

By a unanimous vote, the Federal Trade Commission (“Commission” or “FTC”) determined on August 2 that computer technology developer Rambus, Inc. unlawfully monopolized the markets for four computer memory technologies incorporated into industry standards for dynamic random access memory (“DRAM”) chips. DRAMs are widely used in personal computers, servers, printers, and cameras. In an opinion…

Testifying on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) before the U.S. Senate’s Special Committee on Aging, Commissioner Jon Leibowitz described the FTC’s work in the area of branded and generic pharmaceutical competition and discussed barriers that can lead to the delay of generic entry into the U.S. marketplace.Opening with a discussion of pharmaceutical prices,…

On July 25, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC” or “Commission”) told the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity of the House Financial Services Committee that changes in the real estate industry, which increasingly incorporate the Internet into their business models, give consumers “the choice to save potentially thousands of dollars in commissions in exchange for…