November 19, 2001

Advertising: business calls in the Feds

Maybe its the economy. Until recently, national advertising enforcement actions at the FTC have been rare. Most of the agencys consumer protection work has been concentrated on an almost endless stream of Internet quick bucks schemes.

But in the last few weeks, the business communitys self-regulation mechanism has referred three cases to the agency for investigation, self-regulation having proven ineffective.

The Council of Better Business Bureaus National Advertising Division sent its file on Global Vision Products, Inc. to the FTC in …

Monday, December 18

Waiting for Bush

Hardly had five members of the U.S. Supreme Court in effect awarded the presidency to George W. Bush citing the equal protection clause in the Constitution than jockeying to influence federal competition policy began.

Among the first developments was a report that Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.), anticipating his ascension to chairmanship of the House Commerce Committee, was planning to introduce legislation to bar the FTC from negotiating settlements with merging firms. Tauzin’s idea, it was said, was to require the FTC …

December 4, 2000

Commissioners for life?

The terms of four members of the FTC will expire on the 25th of September during the next four years: Chairman Robert Pitofsky, (D-2001); Sheila F. Anthony (D-2002); Mozelle W. Thompson (D-2003); Orson Swindle (R-2004). (Commissioner Thomas B. Leary’s (Republican) term will expire in September 2005.)

They will expire, that is, if successors are nominated and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Section 1 of the FTC Act provides that “upon the expiration of his term of office, a commissioner shall continue to serve …

November 20, 2000

FTC Staff divided over high-profile slotting fees case

More than a year ago, in October, 1999, a senior FTC antitrust official described for a Congressional hearing an FTC investigation of supermarket shelf-space payments that could lead to charges of anticompetitive activity. At that time, the investigation had been ongoing for several years. The target: McCormick & Co., distributor of brand name consumer spices including the McCormick, Schilling, Golden Dipt, OLD BAY and Produce Partners brands.

Several months later, the FTC brought a narrow Robinson-Patman …

November 6, 2000 (2000-19)

American BioScience objects to FTC subpoena for “privileged” documents

In early September, the FTC filed an amicus brief in a U.S. District Court in California that was considering a proposed settlement of litigation between American BioScience, Inc. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. The brief asked the court to delay acceptance so the FTC could investigate the settlement for anticompetitive terms, specifically the agency’s suspicions that the settlement would make it harder for a generic maker to market its version of the anti-cancer drug Taxol (paclitaxel). …