FTC: Watch articles from June 2001

FTC: Watch archives from June 2001

Mergers: divergence from convergence?
June 18, 2001... If European Union competition officials block General Electric's acquisition of Honeywell, as GE Chairman and CEO Jack Welch suggested last week was a distinct possibility, industrialists and investors would do well to recall FTC Commissioner...

Broadband bill stumbles in committee : Amendment would clarify 1996 Telecom Act is not an antitrust exemption.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... Last week, the House Judiciary Committee voted down by voice vote the controversial broadband 'competition' bill "Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act of 2001" (H.R. 1542) that was sponsored by Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman...

Leary calls for "objective and predictable" predation standards ...(Thomas Leary)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... What this country needs is "objective and predictable standards in the law of predation." That's what Commissioner Thomas Leary told a forum sponsored by last month by Steptoe & Johnson law firm. Leary drew attention to recent high visibility...

...wants FTC to follow up 1986 study on impact of state dealer regs on auto prices.(Federal Trade Commission)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... In another recent speech, Commissioner Leary suggested that the FTC should revisit state regulations of automobile dealers, and conduct another study to follow up on the 1986 Economics Bureau study that estimated the impact of state dealer...

FTC to Senate on cross border fraud: Canadian cons whipping USA in outscamming their neighbors.(Federal Trade Commission)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 18, 2001... U.S. law enforcers must increase cooperation with their Canadian counterparts if the expanding universe of cross border telemarketing fraud is to be contained, Consumer Protection Bureau Planning & Information Management Associate Director...

Multidisciplinary practice endorsed by U.K. Office of Fair Trading.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... Although the American Bar Association stands in the doorway, blocking the advance of multidisciplinary practice firms, the game is far from over. Professional services are increasingly bought and sold in international markets. If there is a...

Merger watch - closings.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... Merger watch - closings: The FTC has closed an investigation of Tyco International Ltd.'s proposed acquisition of John Maneely Co. because the parties abandoned the transaction. The FTC closing letter does not say what the possible product...

DeWine and Kohl eye US/EU differences.(Michael DeWine)(Herb Kohl)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... DeWine and Kohl eye US/EU differences: Following "the stark difference in conclusions" between U.S. and European Union (EU) antitrust authorities about the General Electric (GE) and Honeywell International deal, Antitrust Subcommittee...

An antitrust rulemaking?(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... An antitrust rulemaking? Not bloody likely. An online newsletter, EBN, recently sent antitrust practitioners all atwitter with a report that the FTC "is looking into formulating a rule requiring all participants in an industry open-standards...

Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act appeal.(Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act appeal: The parties to Individual Reference Services Group, Inc. v. Federal Trade Commission, et al. and Reed Elsevier Inc. v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System have asked the United States Court of...

Feds Microsoft monoculture.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... Feds Microsoft monoculture: as reported here several times, the federal government, including the FTC and the Justice Dept., while complaining loudly of Microsoft Corp.'s alleged anticompetitive activities, have allowed themselves to become...

Senate antitrust agenda.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... Senate antitrust agenda: The Senate Antitrust Subcommittee is putting the finishing touches on its agenda for the remainder of the 107th Congress following the recent change of party control, and expects to announce this week its priority...

Bill to end prison monopoly.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... Bill to end prison monopoly: The US Chamber of Commerce endorses the "Federal Prison Industries Competition in Contracting Act," (H.R. 1577) sponsored by Reps. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Mac Collins (R-Ga.) and Carolyn...

Comment.(prison labor)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... Comment: Federal Prison Industries makes all sorts of stuff for the government, including furniture, and, by law, has first claim on government contracts for products that it produces. The idea behind the statute is that (a) since U.S....

AT&T objects to broadband lobbying.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... AT&T objects to broadband lobbying: AT&T has criticized the Hispanic Technology and Telecommunications Partnership (HTTP) for supporting the controversial "Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act of 2001" H.R. 1542. HTTP is a coalition...

FTC poseurs soliciting SS info.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... FTC poseurs soliciting SS info: The FTC has warned Medicor LLC customers they should not send their social security numbers and birth dates to a scam artist posing as an FTC employee claiming to need them as "evidence" for the FTC's case...

Credit and fiber investigations closed.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... Credit and fiber investigations closed: FTC investigators suspected that Southern Management Corp., a real estate management company, was violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act "by furnishing derogatory information -- 'I-9' credit ratings,...

The Germans are coming!(records of the Federal Trade Commission)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... The Germans are coming! According to an FOIA request filed at the FTC, a conspiracy of German businessmen "secretly control the world and the U.S. Economy and can let it crash whenever they feel the time is ripe to do so." Although not...

Justice sues to block rapid prototyping deal.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... The $45 million acquisition of DTM Corporation by industry leader 3D Systems Corporation would result in complete elimination of competition between them in the market for industrial rapid prototyping systems in the U.S., says the Antitrust...

2 lawyers must show why they are not in contempt of 1999 court order.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... A federal district court ordered ex-attorney Richard Murkey and practicing lawyer Keith Gill to show cause as to why they should not be held in civil contempt for violating a November 1999 final order that ruled the defendants illegally sold...

Muris announces health fraud cases.(FTC Chairman Tim Muris)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... FTC Chairman Tim Muris showed up for a press conference announcing a new batch of FTC enforcement actions against five companies who allegedly made wildly exaggerated claims about ineffective remedies for potentially grave medical conditions...

Court settles FTC "Travel Unravel" cases.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... A couple of travel package telemarketers agreed to deposit more than $300,000 for consumer redress and post bonds to settle FTC charges that they violated the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR Rule) and FTC Act by shaking down consumers with...

Franchise Rule: cigars, gumballs.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... Three companies agreed to not violate the FTC Franchise Rule, and one will cough up $33,000, to resolve FTC allegations that they withheld information and made unjustified earnings claims to their customers. Cigar Manufacturers Outlet,...

The following orders are final:.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... Hannaford Brothers Co. File No. 991-0838 Contact: Michael E. Antalics Stoker, Inc. File No. 012-3015 Contact: Michael Ostheimer, 202-326-2699

Calendar.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... June 20 - FTC Commissioner Sheila Anthony will be the luncheon speaker at the American Council of Life Insurers' "E-Business: Technology and Insurance Law" conference, J.W. Marriott Hotel, Washington June 26 -June 26 - FTC Commissioner...

Late on the night of June 14.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... Late on the night of June 14, after wrangling over the Better Education for Students and Teachers (BEST) Act all day, the Senate unanimously confirmed Charles James as assistant attorney general for antitrust.

Last week, newly-inducted FTC Chairman Tim Muris.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... Last week, newly-inducted FTC Chairman Tim Muris made clear that he liked the Pitofsky era's use of fact-finding hearings and workshops for policy development and law enforcement agendas. One of the president's campaign policy advisors, Ted...

Muris also presented outgoing FTC Chairman Robert Pitofsky.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... Muris also presented outgoing FTC Chairman Robert Pitofsky with the American Antitrust Institute's (AAI) second annual "Level Playing Field Award," on June 12. Several attendees remarked that Muris's presentation remarks were heavy on...

Having honored Pitofsky, Muris arranged for his formal, public oath-taking on Monday.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... Having honored Pitofsky, Muris arranged for his formal, public oath-taking on Monday, June 18, to be presided over by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. [This space intentionally left blank so the reader may insert his own editorial...

The New York Times reported last week that an internal FTC memo suggested that FTC Commissioners Sheila Anthony.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... The New York Times reported last week that an internal FTC memo suggested that FTC Commissioners Sheila Anthony and Mozelle Thompson had reservations about confirming George Washington University Economics Professor Howard Beales as Consumer...

Lois C. Greisman.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... Lois C. Greisman, former attorney advisor for consumer protection to Chairman Pitofsky is acting chief of staff in Chairman Tim Muris's office until the end of summer, while Pitofsky's executive assistant, James C. Hamill, has also moved to...

Former Assistant Attorney General James Rill.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2001... Former Assistant Attorney General James Rill has joined the AAI Advisory Board and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) senior economist Diana Moss will become a Senior Research Fellow in September, specializing in the energy sector.

Politics and antitrust.
June 4, 2001... Aside from a few cranks scattered about the country, their is a political consensus in the U.S. that antitrust enforcement generally is good for us. The disagreements tend to be around the edges. Nothing better illustrates the consensus than...

Hatch asks FTC to look at patent challenges.
June 4, 2001... One quarter of the FTC Competition Bureau's resources go to reviewing pharmaceutical industry conduct and mergers, FTC Competition Bureau Director Molly Boast told the Senate Judiciary Committee at a May 25 hearing. Also, the agency...

Amazon.com privacy practices escape FTC.
June 4, 2001... The Commission has decided not to sue Amazon.com for allegedly deceptive privacy policy statements, outgoing FTC Consumer Protection Bureau Chief Joan Z. Bernstein informed Junkbusters President Jason Catlett and Electronic Privacy...

FTC staff to DOE: don't keep cards too close to your chest.
June 4, 2001... Slow down, the FTC has cautioned the U.S. Energy Dept.'s Energy Information Administration concerning EIA's proposal "to expand confidential treatment of data that it collects pursuant to its statutory mandate to manage a centralized,...

No rice rule, FTC says.
June 4, 2001... It's no dice on rice. The Commissioners have voted unanimously to deny a petition requesting a rule trade regulation for the advertising and marketing of basmati and jasmine rice. Last year, the Research Foundation for Science,...

FTC to Congress: act quickly to tackle online fraud.
June 4, 2001... Here's news: the e-commerce boom is a gold mine for online charlatans, FTC Consumer Protection Bureau Marketing Practices Associate Director Eileen Harrington testified before the House Commerce, Trade & Consumer Protection Subcommittee on...

TRUSTe earns "Safe Harbor" status.
June 4, 2001... The FTC has approved TRUSTe, an Internet privacy seal program, as a "safe harbor" program under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). This is the third safe harbor application approved by the Commission; the Children's...

J'appeal.
June 4, 2001... J'appeal: Trans Union Corp. has asked the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit for an en banc rehearing of its appeal of an April decision barring it from selling target marketing lists for purposes not listed in the Fair Credit Reporting...

Telemarketing.(new Indiana laws concerning telemarketing)(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... Telemarketing: the Indiana legislature has unanimously approved HB 1222, legislation that "Requires the consumer protection division of the office of the attorney general to publish a listing of telephone numbers of persons who do not wish to...

AAI urges per se drug patent ruling.(American Antitrust Institute )(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... AAI urges per se drug patent ruling: An American Antitrust Institute amicus brief in the 6th Circuit's hearing on the Cardizem appeal urges approval of the district court's holding that an agreement by a patent holder to pay a generic drug...

Groups attack RJ Reynolds cigarette ads.
June 4, 2001... Groups attack RJ Reynolds cigarette ads: The American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association and the Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids have renewed calls for the FTC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to order R.J. Reynolds...

Quote.
June 4, 2001... Quote: "I wish that I could... report that journalism has been born again and all is well. But I cannot do that. "It continues at times to embarrass me, to annoy me, anger me even occasionally. The causes of my concern are out there for...

DOJ OKs Verizon's bid to offer long distance in Connecticut.
June 4, 2001... The chances that Verizon's request under Section 271 of the Telecommunications Act will be approved by the FCC significantly increased on May 25 when DOJ filed comments saying that it would not oppose the application. The decision was...

"The Fly On The Wall Has Been Bugged" Cartel Enforcement -- Caught in the Act.
June 4, 2001... "Who among us has never wished that they could be a fly on the wall to a conversation? There are simply times when it would be great to really know who said what to whom. I can tell you that, as a prosecutor, you get this feeling all the...

DOJ Official briefs Senate Ag Subcommittee on Market Concentration in Agriculture Biz.
June 4, 2001... The Antitrust Division is awaiting confirmation of a new Assistant Attorney General, so official policy statements are on hold, Acting Assistant Attorney General John M. Nannes told members of the Senate Appropriations Committee's Agriculture...

Gateway and Juno agree to state Internet service fees clearly.
June 4, 2001... Internet Service providers Juno and Gateway have agreed not to misrepresent the prices of their Internet services and reimburse eligible consumers, settling FTC charges that they falsely advertised some services as free. The FTC charges...

Another credit card protector looks for job.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... A federal district court in Arizona ordered Courtney Ann Wiggs, principal of Source One Publications not to plug dodgy credit card protection schemes and to pay $200,000 bond before telemarketing again to resolve FTC charges that her...

Court enjoins travel telemarketers.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... A federal district court ordered California-based travel company not to misrepresent vacation packages, pay $20,000 into a fund for consumer redress and post a $200,000 bond before telemarketing again to resolve FTC charges that the...

FTC seeks civil penalties against brake company for violating 1995 order.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... The Justice Dept. has filed suit at the FTC's request asking a U. S. district court to: (a) stop the allegedly deceptive claims of an aftermarket brake marketer; (b) award civil penalties for alleged violations of a 1995 FTC order; and (c)...

'How to' book publisher gets advice on how not to violate federal laws.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... If a proposed consent decree is accepted, a publisher of "how-to" books will pay $200,000 in civil penalties to resolve FTC allegations that it enticed consumers to accept "free trial" book offers and then enrolled them in book clubs that...

The following orders are final:.
June 4, 2001... DTE Energy Co. and MCN Energy File No. 001-0067 Contact: Dennis F. Johnson, 202-326-2712 Hewlett-Packard Company. File No. 002-3220 Contact: Michael Ostheimer, 202-326-2699 Commissioner Orson Swindle issued a separate...

Calendar.
June 4, 2001... June 6 - "Hospital Merger Retrospective: Review of Grand Rapids, Michigan Hospital Merger," a brown bag seminar sponsored by the ABA Antitrust Section's Health Care Industry Committee; with Saint Louis University Law Prof. Thomas L. Greaney,...

George Mason University Professor Timothy J. Muris.
June 4, 2001... George Mason University Professor Timothy J. Muris was poised to assume the role of FTC Chairman this week, after he received unanimous Senate Commerce Committee Clearance prior to the Memorial Day weekend. FTC Commissioner Orson Swindle, the...

The FTC's farewell bash for outgoing FTC Chairman Robert Pitofsky.
June 4, 2001... The FTC's farewell bash for outgoing FTC Chairman Robert Pitofsky has been postponed from May 31 to June 6.

FTC Competition Bureau Chief Molly Boast.
June 4, 2001... FTC Competition Bureau Chief Molly Boast resigned last week, but will stay on as acting bureau director until June 8, to ensure a smooth transition for Joe Simons, a veteran of both the Antitrust Division and the FTC where between 1987 and...

Incoming General Counsel Bill Kovacic.
June 4, 2001... Incoming General Counsel Bill Kovacic tells FTC: WATCH that "former FTC General Counsels Debra Valentine and Stephen Calkins set a very high benchmark to follow."

According to Steven E. Landsburg.(campaign finance reform)(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... According to Steven E. Landsburg, writing in slate.com, Yale Law professor Ian Ayres and former FTC Economics Bureau Director Jeremy Bulow (now at Stanford) have devised a method "to reform campaign finance by turning conventional wisdom on...

Former FTC credit practices attorney Lewis H. Goldfarb.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2001... Former FTC credit practices attorney Lewis H. Goldfarb has joined Hogan and Hartson. Between the FTC and Hogan and Hartson, Goldfarb successfully defended FTC: WATCH in a libel suit and served as Vice President and Associate General Counsel...