FTC: Watch articles from January 2000

FTC: Watch archives from January 2000

BP Amoco acquisition of ARCO: looks like a fight.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... We can't read BP Amoco's mind, of course, but as of late Friday, January 14 it appeared that the firm would either have to abandon its proposed acquisition of ARCO or try to fight off an FTC preliminary injunction motion in federal district...

U.S. soft drink industry merger study finds verticals good, horizontals mostly bad.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... During the 1980s and early 1990s, horizontal franchise acquisitions by Coca-Cola and PepsiCola bottlers led to higher carbonated soft drink (CSD) prices and lower per capita volumes, says a recent FTC Economics Bureau report. On average,...

FTC declines to dance with 8th Cir. again, dismisses Tenet Healthcare complaint.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... The Commission voted to dismiss its administrative complaint against Tenet Healthcare Corp. on December 23 following advice from FTC complaint counsel responding to a December 19 order to Show Cause. The Tenet case would likely end up in...

A hold-separate trustee for Exxon Mobil.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... The FTC has appointed Deloitte Consulting LLC as the Exxon-Mobil deal's hold-separate trustee pursuant to the consent agreement that cleared away the FTC's competition concerns. [FTC: WATCH No. 534, December 6] The trustee is to help the...

Annual Report for Fiscal Year 1998.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... The Commission has sents its Annual Report for Fiscal Year 1998 to Congress and posted it as a pdf file on its Web page. The 141-page report is also available for sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office,...

FTC 2000 regulatory review agenda.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... FTC regulations up for review this year include the Household Furniture Industry Guides (16 CFR Part 250) and the Telemarketing Sales Rule (16 CFR Part 310). The Commission will be requesting feedback on the Rule and Guides': *...

Goodbye Law Book Industry Guides.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... The Commission has rescinded its 1975 Law Book Industry Guides (40 FR 33436). The Guides cover claims made in promoting and billing legal reference materials that are primarily sold to law schools, law libraries and lawyers. Five law...

1999 report to Federal Reserve Board summarizes 18 leasing, lending, credit cases.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... The FTC has submitted its annual report to the Federal Reserve Board on enforcement of the Truth in Lending, Consumer Leasing, Equal Credit Opportunity and Electronic Fund Transfer Acts in 1999. The total includes: consent judgments against...

FTC staff report on Online consumer protection touts enforcement.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... The FTC "pioneered the use of the Internet as a law enforcement tool," says a staff report, "Five Years: Protecting Consumers Online," that outlines online fraud and deception enforcement cases since the fall of 1994. The agency brought...

FTC surfs Internet Jewelers 2nd year: Guides compliance varies from 12% to 75%.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... Following a second "surf of Online jewelry marketing sites, the FTC staff reports that compliance with the Jewelry Guides has increased since 1998, but could be better. Compliance ranged from 75 % for sites making claims about diamond...

Metal building insulation firm accused of price-fixing.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... A one-count criminal information filed in federal court in Houston named an Atlanta, Georgia building company with conspiring to fix the prices of metal building insulation sold nationwide. Mizell Bros. Co. Inc. allegedly engaged in a...

Point-of-purchase advertising and display: Suspected bid-rigging miscreants are still thrown a kitchen sink of charges.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... A federal grand jury in Manhattan has returned a two-count indictment against an officer of a New Jersey liquor company who allegedly took more than $130,000 in cash kickbacks without reporting the income on his federal tax returns. Michael...

Growing pains and future prospects : Conditioning the Bells' LD entry.
January 17, 2000... The competitive standard adopted early in the process of carrying out the requirements of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 -- that local telephone markets be irreversibly opened to competition before any of the Bell companies can offer long...

The Aetna-Prudential Merger : Buyer power concerns a significant factor.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... In another speech, Dr, Marius Schwartz explained why monopsony power -- power exerted by a buyer against sellers of a particular good or service -- is a matter of competitive concern, even if it results in lower prices to some segments of the...

Passing through: a reply to Bulow and Baker.
January 17, 2000... In November, 1999, my piece, A Critique of the FTC's Analysis' of the Proposed Tobacz'o Settlement, appeared on the American Antitrust Institute's (AAI) web site. Its conclusions were summarized in Bert Foer's AAI column in the November 21...

Music videos investigation closed.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... Music videos investigation dosed: in 1995, the Justice Dept.'s Antitrust Division began investigating the business of distributing video programs that promote individual musicians and their music via satellite and cable television. [FTC: WATCH...

Microsoft and Caldera settle.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... Microsoft and Caldera settle: it was thought to be the case that might really damage Microsoft. Software company Caldera, Inc. alleged that, to protect its DOS product, Microsoft sought to destroy Caldera's competing DR DOS through various...

Well, that didn't take long, the announced merger agreement between America Online and Time Warner prompted a January 13 letter.(Public Interest Advocacy Centre)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... Well, that didn't take long, the announced merger agreement between America Online and Time Warner prompted a January 13 letter from Canada's private Public Interest Advocacy Centre asking the Canadian government to "make a formal request...

PIAC Executive Director/General Counsel Michael Janigan.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... PIAC Executive Director/General Counsel Michael Janigan noted that the agreement provides that: "If a party believes that anti-competitive activities carried out in the territory of another party adversely affect its important interest, the...

Financial software company Elite Information Group.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... Financial software company Elite Information Group says it's gotten a second request from the FTC in connection with Solution 6's proposed acquisition of Elite for about $99 million.

Quote-unquote.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... Quote-unquote: "As an adolescent I aspired to lasting fame, I craved factual certainty, and I thirsted for a meaningful vision of human life -- so I became a scientist. This is like becoming an archbishop so you can meet girls." - Matt Cartmill...

RHI will sell 2 plants, assets to wed Global.(Global Industrial Technologies)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... RHI AG (RI-II) will divest two refractory plants and assets of a third plant to Resco Products Inc. in order to win FTC approval for its proposed marriage to Global Industrial Technologies, Inc. (Global). Both RHI and Global make and market...

Fidelity loses California title plants to win Chicago Title Corp.'s common stock.(Fidelity National Financial)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... Fidelity National Financial, Inc. will sell title plants in six California counties before acquiring Chicago Title Corporation's common stock to resolve FTC allegations that the deal would adversely affect competition in local California title...

MacDermid to divest photopolymer business before snagging Polyfibron.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... MacDermid and Polyfibron will divest Polyfibron's liquid photopolymer business, terminate photopolymer distribution arrangements and stay clear of anticompetitive agreements with other photopolymer manufacturers to get the FTC nod for...

First American Real Estate Solutions petitions FTC to withdraw order.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... First American Real Estate Solutions, LLC is requesting that the Commission reopen proceedings and withdraw or amend a consent order entered on January 27, 1999. FARES argues that it is not one of the big three national credit bureaus,...

Auction Site settles FTC privacy charges; Commissioners debate deceptive v. unfair.(ReverseAuction.com)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... Online auction house ReverseAuction.com, Inc. will delete personal Identifying Information allegedly hijacked from a competitor's site to settle FTC charges it violated individuals' privacy by sending commercial email (spam) to e-mail addresses...

Bayer develops FTC headache for allegedly violating 1985 order.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... Bayer Corp will spend $1 million on a consumer education campaign to settle FTC allegations that the firm made unsubstantiated therapeutic benefit claims for its aspirin product in violation of an earlier order against its predecessor. ...

FTC hammers more government auction information brokers.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... Two individual defendants in the case against Infodirect will be banned from selling information guides and from telemarketing to settle FTC allegations that they made fraudulent claims about government auctions and foreclosed properties. ...

3 companies charged with misleading coupon and rebate offers.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... Bumble Bee Seafoods, Memtek Products and UMAX Technologies will implement a new coupon program and/or stick to promised delivery dates to settle FTC charges that they made false or misleading coupon and cash rebate offers. Bumble Bee's...

Exxon Mobil applies to divest assets to Tosco.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... Exxon Mobil Corporation asked agency approval to divest its Exxon Northeast Marketing and Mobil Mid-Atlantic Marketing assets to Tosco Corp. as detailed in Paragraphs 1V and V of its recent consent agreement with the Commission [FTC: WATCH No....

Octel consent order final.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... The Commission's consent agreement with Associated Octel Co. Ltd. is final. Octel agreed to enter a long-term agreement with Oboadler's current U.S. distributor, Allchem Industries Inc., to supply the distributor's requirements for lead...

Amended complaint from Operation Missed Print.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... The Commission has amended its complaint against National Supply & Distribution Center, Inc. et al-- to add Larry O. Ellis, Lee Siegel and Scott Earl as defendants. The original complaint was filed on December 7 in the U.S. District Court,...

Supervalu to divest store to Applemarket.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... Supervalu Inc. has petitioned the Commission to approve the transfer of a Florida store to Apple Market, Inc. Jitney-Jungle originally sold the store to Supervalu to comply with a September 1997 FTC consent order that resolved concerns...

Shell Oil consent agreement final.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... The Commission order with Shell Chemical Co. requiring the company to back up performance and efficacy claims for its fuel additive products with reliable scientific evidence is final [FTC: WATCH No. 529, September 27]. The Commission vote...

Unilever order final.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... The Commission's order with Conopco, Inc., doing business as Unilever Home & Personal Care USA, requiring Unilever to refrain from claiming that any antimicrobial product protects users against germs [FTC: WATCH No. 529, September 27] is final....

Precision Castparts order final and divestiture application shortened.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... The Commission's consent agreement allowing Precision Castparts Corp. to acquire WymanGordon--so long as it divests large stainless steel and large nickel-based super alloy production assets and provide technical assistance to Doncasters PLC --...

El Paso Energy order final.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... The El Paso Energy Corporation/Sonar divestiture order -- requiring E1 Paso to sell off Sonat's Sea Robin pipeline; one third ownership of the Destin Pipeline; and ETNG -- is final [FTC: WATCH No. 531, October 25]. REFERENCE: January 11...

Five Star Auto Club settlement approved.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... The FTC has voted to approve a stipulated final judgment and order for a permanent injunction against Thomas Lee Bewley and Judy E. Bewley: Five Star Auto Club [FTC: WATCH No. 518, March 15]. A U.S. District Court judge signed the...

New England Tractor Trailer Training School of Massachusetts.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... The Commission's consent agreement with New England Tractor Trailer Training School of Massachusetts -- requiring the company and its owner to disclose job placement and licensing-test pass rates to prospective students- is final [FTC:WATCH...

Kroger Order modified.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... The Commission modified its decision and order with the Kroger Co -- requiting the divestiture of eight supermarkets -- to allow Kroger's acquisition of Fred Meyer to go ahead [FTC: WATCH No. 524, June 7]. Now Kroger only has to maintain...

Calendar.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... January 20 - A memorial service for former FTC Commissioner Phil Elman will be held at the FTC, Room 432, at 3:00pm. Speakers include Richard Posner, who served as an attorney advisor for Commissioner Elman, and FTC Chairman Robert Pitofsky,...

A little travelin' music, please.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... A little travelin music, please: in the FTC's Competition Bureau, Casey Triggs has returned to the trial staff after a stint as deputy assistant director in Mergers I. Steven K. Bernstein moves into that slot. Michael Antalics moves from...

Rim shot.(William J. Baer rejoined Arnold and Porter )(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... Rim shot, please: Former Competition Bureau director William J. Baer rejoined Arnold and Porter on January 10 to head the firm's Antitrust Group, relieving A&P Chairman Michael N. Sohn of those duties.

Report from Canada : Pre-merger notification amendments promise to complicate filing, increase costs for very complex deals.(Canada's Competition Act )
January 17, 2000... (Partner - Davies, Ward & Beck - Toronto) Longer waiting periods, more long-form filings, significantly greater costs, and a requirement that the target of a hostile takeover must also provide pre-merger notification information are in...

Canada's supermarket merger concerns resolved in settlements.
January 17, 2000... Divestiture undertakings offered by Sobeys Inc. have cleared the way for an unchallenged acquisition of The Oshawa Group Limited. The acquisition created the only other national competitor to Loblaw Companies Limited, which earlier in the year...

Failing firm airline merger permitted -- with undertakings.(Canadian Airlines Corporation's acquisition by Air Canada)
January 17, 2000... After determining that Canadian Airlines Corporation ("Canadian") "is facing imminent insolvency," the Competition Bureau announced that it would not oppose the acquisition of Canadian by Air Canada and its partner 853350 Alberta Ltd. Canadian...

Record criminal fines continue to increase.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... In the fall of 1999, the Competition Bureau announced that fines totaling $88.4 million had been imposed in relation to multiple conspiracies to fix prices and allocate market shares for ten vitamin and food additive products sold in Canada....

The return of the administrative black hole.(Trans Union case)(Brief Article)
January 31, 2000... This is an update to the saga of Trans Union, the 1993 FTC case alleging that the credit reporting firm illegally used consumer credit data to compile target marketing lists. Trans Union has insisted that nothing about its direct-marketing...

FTC names online privacy advisory committee.
January 31, 2000... Successful candidates for the FTC's new Advisory Committee on Online Access and Security will hold their first meeting on February 4. The meeting will be open to the press and public. The Committee will advise the Commission regarding: (a)...

Interlocking directorate thresholds raised.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 31, 2000... The FTC has hiked the threshold figures that define when it is unlawful for an individual to serve as an officer or director of two or more competing corporations. Section 8 of the Clayton Act is now applicable to such arrangements if each...

Proposed Franchise Rule changes draw generally favorable comments, many tweak suggestions.(Brief Article)
January 31, 2000... First, there was the "advance notice" comment period. Then came some "workshops." Comes now the public comment period on the post-comment period on the proposed amendments to the FTC's Franchise Rule. The National Franchisee Association,...

Your lawyer, our witness.(Dura Lube Corp. case)(Brief Article)
January 31, 2000... Your lawyer, our witness - Dura Lube Corp. insists that it needs to call one of the FTC's trial lawyers as a witness as it contests charges that it participated in a scheme that produced false and unsubstantiated claims for Dura Lube Super...

Your merger case, our lives.(Exxon Mobil ordered to divest Benicia Refinery)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 31, 2000... Your merger case, our lives: Hundreds of employees of Exxon's Benicia Refinery in Benicia, Cal. have petitioned the FTC to help them hang on to their health care and pension benefits, especially their option to take their pension benefits in a...

From the FOIA files.(Freedom of Information Act)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 31, 2000... From the FOIA files: The FTC receives hundreds of Freedom of Information Act requests each year. Here's what some of the requests have turned up. The FTC has 25 consumer complaints about Yahoo; several complaints about Brownstone Studios;...

Words of Note.(Cato Institute supports Microsoft Corp.)(Brief Article)
January 31, 2000... Words of Note: The Cato Institute remains quite cross with the Justice Dept.'s relentless pursuit of Microsoft and with "conservatives" who don't get it. "Presumably committed to private property and free markets, conservatives should be...

Compuware and Viasoft abandon merger.(Brief Article)
January 31, 2000... Following a civil antitrust suit filed in October by the Antitrust Division to block the merger of mainframe software giant Compuware and upstart competitor Viasoft, the firms have now dropped their plans. The government saw the merger...

North Carolina divestitures clear the way for bank mergers.(United States. Department of Justice. Antitrust Div.)(Brief Article)
January 31, 2000... Divestiture of eighteen bank branches in North Carolina with $315 million in deposits -- that's the price of a Justice Department go-ahead for the merger of Centura Banks and Triangle Bancorp Inc. The Antitrust Division was concerned that the...

Mitsubishi and UCAR exec indicted in international graphite electrode price-fixing case.(Mitsubishi Shoji)(UCAR International)(Brief Article)
January 31, 2000... A federal grand jury in Philadelphia has indicted both Mitsubishi Corp. of Tokyo and Georges Schwegler, a former executive of UCAR International on charges of participating in an international conspiracy to fix prices and allocate the volume of...

The Century: from Standard Oil to Microsoft -- 1999 the busiest antitrust year ever.(Brief Article)
January 31, 2000... The 20th century is bracketed by bookends -- landmark antitrust cases that illustrate the movement of our economy. That is the view from Antitrust Division of Director of Operations and Merger Enforcement Constance K. Robinson. At the beginning...

Federal jury finds air cleaning company violated old FTC order.(Brief Article)
January 31, 2000... A manufacturer of ozone generating air treatment machines and its president must stop claiming their machines have therapeutic medical effects and can remove indoor air pollutants, ordered a federal judge in an interim injunction. A...

Cross-border lottery scam out of luck.(B.B.M. Investments Inc.)(Brief Article)
January 31, 2000... FTC and Canadian government officials temporarily shut down a Canadian telemarketing company that allegedly targeted U.S. citizens in a lottery scheme. Vancouver-based B.B.M. Investments Inc., (B.B.M.) and its owner Timothy Ryan Atkinson...

FTC continues battle against shoddy HIV test kits.(Alfa Scientific Designs)(Brief Article)
January 31, 2000... The FTC continued its fight against an online proliferation of inefficient and unapproved human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) home test kits by winning a preliminary injunction against a company that it alleges supplied substandard test kits to...

FTC appoints RHI AG Interim trustee and approves trust agreement.(Brief Article)
January 31, 2000... The FTC voted unanimously to approve the appointment of an interim trustee and trust agreement in the proposed acquisition by RHI AG of Global Industrial Technologies, Inc. These measures are aimed at ensuring the respondent fully complies...

El Paso petitions for FTC approval to divest pipeline and gas company.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 31, 2000... El Paso Energy/Sonar Inc., El Paso Energy Corporation asked the FTC to OK its divestiture of Sonat's Sea Robin Pipeline Company to Trunkline Gas Company d/b/a CMS Trunkline Gas Company, an entity controlled by CMS Energy Corporation [see order...

Exxon Mobil asks permission to divest Mobil Texas Marketing assets.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 31, 2000... Exxon Mobil Corp. asked the FTC for approval to sell Mobil Texas Marketing Assets, as defined in the FTC's order, to 7-Eleven, Inc. [FTC:WATCH No. 534, December 6]. Send comments to the FTC, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Ave.,...

Reckitt & Colman consent order final.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 31, 2000... Final is Reckitt & Colman's order with the FTC, OK'ing its $2.7 billion acquisition of Benckiser N.V. from Vermogensverwaltung GmbH so long as it divests two household cleaning product businesses to Church and Dwight Co. [FTC: WATCH No. 534,...

Hoechst AG order final.(Brief Article)
January 31, 2000... The complex FTC order with Hoechst AG requiring France's Rhone Poulenc SA to divest thrombin inhibitor drug assets and its interest in a specialty chemicals subsidiary before hooking up with Germany's Hoechst [FTC: WATCH No. 535, December 20]...

Web Viper defendant dismissed.(Brief Article)
January 31, 2000... The Commission voted to dismiss Richard M. Bagdonas as a defendant in the Web Viper d/b/a Yellow Web Services et al. matter. REFERENCE: FTC Press Release, January 28 File No. X990056 Contact: Nancy Pineles, 202-326-2484

Calendar.(United States. Federal Trade Commission)(Brief Article)
January 31, 2000... February 1 - Commencement of administrative trial before ALJ D. Michael Chappell in Dura Lube Corp., et al (D. 9292) February 2 - FTC commissioners meet to consider staff-recommended complaint for preliminary injunction in the proposed...

Report from Canada.
January 31, 2000... [Ed. Note: This is the New Canadian pre-merger information requirements for short-form and long form filings that we promised in the last issue.] For the purposes of subsection 114 (2) of the Act, the short form information is the...