FTC: Watch articles from December 2001

FTC: Watch archives from December 2001

Second Request hardball.(FTC investigates acquisition of FAG by INA; other merger and acquisition news)(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... An FTC investigation of the proposed merger of two German ball bearing manufacturers, INA's acquisition of FAG, continues after the firms' resistance to complying with the agency's request for additional information under the Hart-Scott-Rodino...

Senate, court hearings on Microsoft settlements.(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... "An order for Microsoft to place low-cost computers and free Microsoft software into the public schools, where future Microsoft customers can be trained, is the type of punishment that Brer Rabbit sought in the briar patch." -- American...

Monsanto, target of antitrust suit, files a patent countersuit.(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... In a recent private antitrust lawsuit where the plaintiffs describe themselves as David pitted against Goliath, Monsanto faces allegations that it prevented Chemical Products Technologies (CPT) and other companies from selling cheaper, generic...

From the FTC FOIA Files: EC probe of Aventis; Roche/Corange, Litton/IMO & 22 investigations.(Federal Trade Commission, European Commission)(Statistical Data Included)
December 3, 2001... * Global Securities Information Inc. (GSI) asked for a copy of a recent European Union (E.U.) "statement of objections" (SOO) that the E.U. purportedly slapped on Aventis S.A. and/or its wholly owned subsidiary Aventis Animal Nutrition S.A. to...

New U.K. antitrust bill : Bid-riggers could spend 5 years in the slammer.(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... The United Kingdom's (U.K.) Department of Trade and Industry will introduce new antitrust legislation -- "the Enterprise Bill" -- to update the U.K.'s merger regime and impose criminal penalties against hard-core cartel runners. ...

U.S./E.U. merger review forum witnesses increased comity; African countries to join antitrust fold.(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... A U.S./ European Union (E.U.) joint merger working group is working to: (a) minimize differences over the E.U.'s conglomerate merger theory (where concerns are raised if merged entity can leverage its market power to foreclose one or several...

Cancer Institute study confirms: no such thing as a safe cigarette; new test method under development.(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... In 1998, the FTC asked the Department of Health and Human Services for assistance in developing recommendations to fix the cigarette tar and nicotine testing methodology. Last week, the FTC Consumer Protection Bureau noted that the National...

House hearings on Echostar/DirecTV deal.(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... House hearings on Echostar/DirecTV deal: As of November 30, the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet had slated a hearing on "Competition in the Multi-Channel Video Programming Distribution Marketplace,"...

House hearing on baseball antitrust bill.(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... House hearing on baseball antitrust bill: The House Judiciary Committee is expected to hold a hearing on the "Fairness in Antitrust in National Sports (FANS) Act of 2001" (H.R. 3288) on December 6. [FTC:WATCH No. 577, November 19]. Since 1922,...

More divestiture studies.(from the Federal Trade Commission)(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... More divestiture studies: FTC General Counsel William Kovacic tells FTC:WATCH he hopes that the Commission will regularly review past transactions where divestitures were required to evaluate whether the estimated efficiencies were realized. A...

FERC and state price-fixing cases.(Federal Energy Regulatory Commission)(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... FERC and state price-fixing cases: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce wants the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission "to exercise its authority to preempt state courts from dictating how power companies determine electricity rates and compensate...

Visa/MasterCard judgment: tweaked, finalized.(exclusionary rules and practices remedy)(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... Visa and MasterCard will be living for the next ten years with an order designed to remedy exclusionary rules and practices that shut out competition. U.S. District Court Judge Barbara S. Jones -- who threw out one of the two counts in the...

Wells Fargo & Co. to divest six Marquette branch offices.(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... Wells Fargo & Co. agreed to sell six branch offices that hold around $250 million in deposits in Minnesota and South Dakota to resolve Antitrust Division concerns about its pending acquisition of Texas Financial Bancorporation, Inc. (TFBI) and...

GM contract bid-riggers plead guilty.(John A. Baker, Sauger)(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... Machine tool company, Sauger, and its president, John A. Baker, pleaded guilty to rigging bids for General Motors Corp.'s tooling contracts in the U.S. District Court in Detroit. In 2000, a federal grand jury charged Sauger and Baker with:...

Aventis asks to hold on to French Refludan plant and IP.(intellectual property; reopening of Rhone-Poulenc acquisition of Hoechst AG order)(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... Aventis (formerly Hoechst AG and Rhone-Poulenc S.A.) asked the Commission to reopen its January 2000 final order concerning Rhone-Poulenc's acquisition of Hoechst AG to allow the firm to retain ownership of a plant and intellectual property....

Multi-agency Internet surf finds suspicious bio-terrorism cures.(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... A recent Internet surf indicated that at least forty sites are plugging unlikely "cures" for anthrax and smallpox such as oregano oil and zinc mineral water. A co-coordinated Internet surf by the FTC, Food & Drug Administration, more than 30...

RhinoPoint.com unlocks horns with FTC: Consumers' Personal Information bound for electronic graveyard.(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... RhinoPoint.com will pay Internet access fees for customers who paid membership fees and divulged their personal and financial information, resolving a May, 2001 FTC complaint. Within 30 days of the final order, the defendants must delete or...

Federal court halts alleged credit card charlatans.(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... At the request of the FTC and Illinois, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois slapped a temporary restraining order on three companies and an individual that allegedly orchestrated an advance fee credit card scam. The...

For the record.
December 3, 2001... The following order is final FanBuzz, Inc. File No. 012-3151 Contact: Carol Jennings, 202-326-3010

AOL/TW cable agreements.(America Online/Time Warner, Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... America Online/Time Warner, Inc. (AOL/TW) asked the FTC to approve (a) a non-affiliated Internet Service Provider (ISP) with West Central Ohio Internet Link, LLC (WCOIL ); and (b) an alternative cable broadband service agreement between Time...

Commission dismisses alias as defendant.(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... The Commission dismissed "Kenneth Finney" as a defendant in its Federal District Court case against Pathway/Four Vend, Inc. because it determined that the name is merely an alias used by the other individual defendant, Evan Blumstein, The case...

Calendar.
December 3, 2001... December 5 - Commissioner Leary will address the National Advertising Review Board Annual Meeting, New York City ABA Antitrust Section's Financial Markets and Institutions Committee brownbag luncheon with the Federal Reserve's Steve...

FTC Competition Bureau Deputy Director Michael E. Antalics and Karin Richards.(join O'Melveny and Myers L.L.P.)(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... FTC Competition Bureau Deputy Director Michael E. Antalics and Karin Richards, assistant to Bureau Director Joseph Simons, are leaving for O'Melveny & Myers LLP, joining former Bureau Director Richard Parker and former FTC General Counsel Debra...

Former Acting Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust John M. Nannes.(joins Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom)(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... Former Acting Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust John M. Nannes has rejoined Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom as a partner. Nannes supervised the Antitrust Division's Transportation, Energy & Agriculture Section, Computers & Finance...

Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Deborah Platt Herman.
December 3, 2001... Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Deborah Platt Herman recently married, and is now Deborah Platt Majoras.

On October 25, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer.(new trial attorney for Microsoft Corp. case)(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... On October 25, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer welcomed Williams & Connolly partner Brendan Sullivan, Jr. as the new lead trial counsel representing the state attorneys general in their "battle against the illegal monopoly of...

Two weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal reported that Microsoft formally appointed its long time lawyer Charles F. "Rick" Rule.(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... Two weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal reported that Microsoft formally appointed its long time lawyer Charles F. "Rick" Rule as their "counsel of record." Rule was assistant attorney general for antitrust during part of the Bush I...

Former FTC Competition Bureau Assistant Director for Health Care Rich Feinstein.(joins Boies, Schiller and Flexner)(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... Former FTC Competition Bureau Assistant Director for Health Care Rich Feinstein has moved on to Boies, Schiller and Flexner. His replacement, Jeffrey Brennan, comes from a partnership in Howrey, Simon, Arnold & White's antitrust practice group....

Merger watch.(Nestle allowed to go forth with acquisition of Ralston Purina)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 17, 2001... It took almost a year, but on December 11, a unanimous (sort of) FTC accepted a consent agreement that will allow Nestle to consummate its acquisition of Ralston Purina Company. The relevant product market, the commissioners agreed, is dry...

Bad news for TMP Worldwide.(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... Whether or not Yahoo's hostile bid for online employment service HotJobs.com succeeds in snatching the target from TMP, owner of rival service Monster.com, TMP will have FTC trouble on its hands. The agency has opened an investigation of TMP's...

Valero-Ultramar Diamond Shamrock.(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... We can turn up no evidence that the agreement between the FTC staff and Valero, which is subject to the commissioners' approval, will encounter resistance at the commission level. On December 8, Valero announced that the agreement requires...

How much say should rivals have in merger reviews?
December 17, 2001... "In a nutshell, it seems that foreign merger enforcement has reached the point by 1999 that it poses a substantial constraint on the overseas expansion plans of U.S. corporations." World Bank Economist Simon J. Evenett To what extent...

EC tackles merger reform in Green Paper.(European Commission)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... Is the increasing trend towards multiple premerger filings in three or more European member states imposing too much burden on parties merging their operations in Europe? Should the European Commission's (EC's) dominance test be simplified? The...

FTC retail scanner data study: Don't rely on just any data for merger investigations.(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... Economists need to educate attorneys and non-economist decision-makers investigating mergers of brand name products about the correct weight to give retail scanner data and econometric analysis, according to a preliminary FTC Economics Bureau...

Pitofsky: satellite merger unprecedented EchoStar: merger will bridge digital divide.(FTC Chairman and Georgetown University Law Prof. Robert Pitofsky)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... EchoStar's proposed acquisition of DirecTV from General Motors "raises profound antitrust concerns" in the emerging broadband market, former FTC Chairman and Georgetown University Law Prof. Robert Pitofsky testified at a December 4 House...

AAI urges Supreme Court to hear Noerr-Pennington case.(American Antitrust Institute)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 17, 2001... The Supreme Court should grant certiorari in A.D. Bedell Wholesale Co., Inc., et al. v. Philip Morris, Inc. et al., a case involving an allegedly misplaced interpretation of the Noerr-Pennington doctrine, the American Antitrust Institute urged...

Baseball antitrust exemption hearing.(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... "[M]aybe the Supreme Court's help in 1922 has outlived its usefulness and the market should be allowed to work in baseball like it has in the other major sports," House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-Wisc.) stated...

Music industry still marketing explicit tunes to youth.(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... The recording Industry has not yet reformed its marketing practices of targeting adult rated music to youth, the FTC concluded in its follow up Report to Congress, "Marketing Violent Entertainment to Children: A One-Year Follow-Up Review of...

Interagency financial privacy workshop.(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... The eight federal agencies required to implement and enforce the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB Act) informed the financial industry that financial privacy notices need to be more clearly designed and concisely written at a December 4 interagency...

FTC plans roundtable on jurisdiction issues in cross border consumer disputes.(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... The FTC will hold a public roundtable discussion of jurisdiction issues for cross-border consumer disputes. The Hague Conference on Private International Law is negotiating the Proposed Hague Convention on Jurisdiction and Foreign Judgments...

Canada may strengthen competition law.(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... Canada's House of Commons Industry Committee is considering strengthening a proposed bill to overhaul the Canadian Competition Act (Bill C-23). The current version of Bill C-23 would amend the Competition Act, by: (a) permitting increased...

FTC amends Rules of Practice to clarify official roles.(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... The role of the FTC Competition Bureau Director during enforcement proceedings is to "typically review and approve the terms of proposed consent agreements," and should not be confused with "complaint counsel." That definition can be found in a...

Jewelry Guides on new FTC web site.(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... A new FTC Web site is designed to educate businesses about their responsibilities to comply with the Commission's Guides for the Jewelry, Precious Metals, and Pewter Industries (Jewelry Guides), and alert consumers to common misrepresentations...

Senate Microsoft settlement hearing knocked out until next year.(Statistical Data Included)
December 17, 2001... The December 12 Senate Judiciary Hearing on the Microsoft Settlement was postponed until next year after a Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W. Va.) invoked the "two hour rule," which that while the Senate is in session, committees may not meet for more than...

Nine states want MS to license browser code, auction Office rights for at least 3 OSs and distribute "real" Java.(Microsoft Corp.)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... The nine remaining plaintiff litigating states and the District of Columbia in the Microsoft antitrust case have asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to enter judgment compelling Microsoft to disclose and license all...

Microsoft, others respond to the states.(Microsoft Inc. agrees to objectives set forth by Court of Appeals)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller: "We are proposing remedies that are strong but fair. The remedies have been crafted to relate closely to the Court of Appeals Decision. They would achieve the objectives set forth by the Appeals Court, namely,...

House vote on Tauzin/ Dingell postponed until next year.(United States House of Representatives, Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act of 2001)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... On December 14, the House did not vote on the "Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act of 2001." (H.R. 1542) -- the Tauzin/Dingell bill -- as had been expected. H.R. 1542 would ban the Federal Communications Commission and each state...

Nestle now has an ad problem.(Council of Better Business Bureau's National Advertising Division turns ad dispute over to the Federal Trade Commission)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... Nestle now has an ad problem: The Council of better Business Bureau's National Advertising Division has referred advertising claims for Carnation Good Starts Infant Formula to the FTC because, the NAD says, Nestle promised to consider the...

Verizon has a couple of problems.(Verizon Communications accused of false advertising and trying to raise rates in New York City)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... Verizon has a couple of problems: The CBBB's National Advertising Division has also criticized Verizon's advertising claim that there are no "Hidden charges" in its long distance calling plans. AT&T complained that (1) Verizon doesn't disclose...

Closed investigations.(Allen Edmonds Shoe Corp., Jerry's Chevrolet/Buick Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... Closed investigations: The FTC has closed an investigation of Allen Edmonds Shoe Corp. for alleged illegal reesale price maintenance agreements. File No. 001-0168; Northeast Regional Office The Jerry's group of automobile dealerships in...

"Three Tenors" update.(PolyGram Holding Inc., Decca Music Group, UMG Recordings Inc., Universal Music and Video Distribution accused of rigging music market)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... "Three Tenors" update: In D.9298, pending before FTC Chief Administrative Law Judge James P. Timony, the FTC accuses Polygram Holdings, Decca Music Group, UMG Recordings and Universal Music & Video Distribution Corp. of rigging the market for...

White House alert.(White House refers insurance complaints to Federal Trade Commission, but...)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... White House alert: Have a complaint about your insurance policy? If you send it to the White House, the White House will refer it to the FTC because "your agency is best suited to reply." The only problem, of course, is that the FTC has been...

SunTrust, Huntington divest 7 Florida offices.(SunTrust Banks Inc. will sell branches in order to acquire Huntington National Bank's Florida operations)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 17, 2001... SunTrust Bank and Huntington National Bank will divest seven of Huntington's Florida branches with $168 million in deposits to win the Antitrust Division's approval for SunTrust's pending acquisition of Huntington's Florida operations. The...

Hearst sheds $19 million, Medi-Span biz.(Hearst Corp. settles Federal Trade Commission allegations against its First Data Bank subsidiary)
December 17, 2001... Hearst Corp. agreed to disgorge $19 million and divest the Medi-Span drug information database business that it acquired in January 1998 to resolve FTC allegations that Hearst's subsidiary First Data Bank unlawfully acquired J.B. Laughery, Inc....

Ahold divests 2 supermarkets to get Bruno.(Koninklijke Ahold N.V. will sell BI-LO Inc. stores to acquire Bruno's Supermarkets Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... After agreeing to divest two BI-LO supermarkets within ten business days after merging, Holland's Koninklijke Ahold NV's (Ahold) subsidiary New Bronco Acquisition Corp. can go ahead with its proposed $500 million acquisition of Bruno's...

Dow Chemical wants 2 divestiture agreements modified.(seeks approval from Federal Trade Commission)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... The Dow Chemical Company has petitioned for FTC approval to amend the "Huntsman Agreement" and the "Ineos Agreement," both part of the FTC's merger order that required Dow Chemical Co. and Union Carbide Corp. to divest four of their chemical...

CVS seeks approval to buy Horizon assets.(CVS Corp. plans to acquire Horizon Pharmacies Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... CVS Corporation (CVS) seeks FTC approval to buy some of Horizon Pharmacies, Inc.'s assets, as required by a 1994 consent order resolving FTC concerns about the merger of Revco D.S., Inc. and Hook-SupeRx, Inc. (HSI). CVS bought Revco in 1997, it...

FTC dismisses baby food merger complaint.(Federal Trade Commission, H.J. Heinz Co., Beech-Nut Nutrition Corp.)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... At the request of complaint counsel, the Commission dismissed its Part III administrative complaint charging that H.J. Heinz's Co. proposed merger with Milnot Holding Company's Beech-Nut Nutrition Corp. violated the antitrust laws because it...

3 sets of AOL/TW ISP & cable agreements.(AOL Time Warner Inc. seeks approval for Internet service provider agreements)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... 1. America Online/Time Warner, Inc. (AOL/TW) requested FTC approval for: (a) a non-affiliated Internet Service Provider (ISP) agreement with Digital Communications Networks (DCN); and (b) an alternative cable broadband service agreement between...

ExxonMobil offers BP two more patents.(ExxonMobil Corp., British Petroleum Company PLC)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... ExxonMobil Corp. seeks FTC approval to provide BP with two extra patents needed for jet turbine oil manufacture and product development, as required by Appendix B of the 1999 FTC merger order. Exxon divested its former jet turbine oil business...

Commission approves Lafarge divestiture.(Federal Trade Commission approves Peak Investments L.L.C.'s acquisition of Blue Circle assets)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... The Commission approved the divestiture of Blue Circle's Calera, Alabama lime assets to Australia's Peak Investments, L.L.C. (Peak), as required by the FTC's June order to resolve antitrust concerns about Lafarge's merger with Blue Circle. Peak...

Consumer credit report fees up 6%.(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... The ceiling that Consumer reporting agencies may charge for providing credit reports under the Fair Credit Reporting Act will increase from $8.50 to $9.00 on January 1. Reporting agencies must notify consumers of the cost before billing them....

Calendar.
December 17, 2001... December 19 - "Antitrust Enforcement In The Securities Industry,"a brown bag lunch program presented by the ABA Antitrust Section's Sherman Act Section 1 Committee and Financial Markets &Institutions Committee, features Antitrust Division...

FTC Commissioner Orson Swindle.(named chief of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Experts Group)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... FTC Commissioner Orson Swindle has become chief of the U.S. delegation to the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development Experts Group that is reviewing the 1992 OECD Security Guidelines. The Experts Group will report its findings to...

FTC Chairman Timothy J. Muris and former chairman Caspar Weinberger.(award to Basil J. Mezines)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... FTC Chairman Timothy J. Muris and former chairman Caspar Weinberger bestowed the first Miles W. Kirkpatrick Award for Lifetime FTC Achievement on Basil J. Mezines. Weinberger was briefly FTC Chairman during President Richard Nixon's...

Kirkpatrick led the 1969 ABA Commission.(Federal Trade Commission reorganization)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... Kirkpatrick led the 1969 ABA Commission to study the FTC after a report by "Nader's Raiders" found that the agency failed to protect U.S. consumers because it was riddled with outmoded and inefficient procedures, management and incompetent...

FTC privacy guru Toby Levin.(moves to Privacy Counsel's new office)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... FTC privacy guru Toby Levin is moving over to the Privacy Counsel's (company that provides resources to businesses to implement privacy) new Washington D.C. Office where she will join former Assistant Secretary of Commerce Larry Irving.

Former Deputy Assistant AG and Antitrust Division Special Counsel for Information Technology Jeffrey Blattner.(partner in Hogan and Hartson)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... Former Deputy Assistant AG and Antitrust Division Special Counsel for Information Technology Jeffrey Blattner is now a partner in Hogan & Hartson's Antitrust, Competition, Consumer Protection and Legislative Groups. Blattner served as counselor...

Microsoft has appointed former federal prosecutor Odell Guyton.(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... Microsoft has appointed former federal prosecutor Odell Guyton as its "director of compliance" to oversee a "comprehensive education and compliance assurance program." And former FTC competition staffer David Dadoun becomes Microsoft's first...

Oregon Attorney General and National Association of Attorneys General Antitrust Committee Chair" Hardy Myers has appointed Patricia Conners.(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... Oregon Attorney General and National Association of Attorneys General Antitrust Committee Chair" Hardy Myers has appointed Patricia Conners chair of the NAAG Multistate Antitrust Task Force, replacing California Assistant Attorney General Tome...

The NAAG Multistate Task Force includes the antitrust section chiefs from every Attorney General's office.(National Association of Attorneys General)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... The NAAG Multistate Task Force includes the antitrust section chiefs from every Attorney General's office. The group coordinates multistate antitrust cases, advocates competition before federal and state courts and administrative agencies,...