December 17, 2001

In this issue:
Merger review: how much rivals’ input?
Economists: beware scanner data
aai urges Noerr-Pennington review
Music industry marketing to kids
Senate MS hearing a rules victim
Nestle, Verizon advertising problems
Hearst disgorges $19 million
E.C. tackles merger reform
Baseball’s antitrust exemption – again
Canada may toughen competition law
States propose MS Office auction
Echostar/DirecTV merger hearings
SunTrust/Huntington divestitures
Calendar

Merger watch

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, …

December 3, 2001

In this issue:
Microsoft: Senate, court hearings
Did EC give Aventis an SOO?
Bid-riggers beware new UK law
A “safe” cigarette? No.
Baseball’s antitrust exemption … again
Wells Fargo to divest branch banks
Calendar
Monsanto counters antitrust suit
African nations’ competition policies
Satellite TV merger hearings coming
Court tweaks MasterCard/Visa order
Qwest, NuSkin, airline FOIA answers
Rig GM parts bids, go to jail?
People

Second Request hardball

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 …

November 5, 2001

In this issue:
Leary, James on E.U. merger law
Childrens privacy rule extension
McCormick slotting fees case survives
Sungard plays the WTC card
Waste Management order change
Another bid-rigger goes to jail
SCTLA petition comments asked
International Competition Network
Senate eyeing satellite TV deal
Genl. Dynamics kisses deal goodbye
Medical groups settle boycott case
U.S. v. Microsoft: a government dive?
2 FTC post-consummation challenges
Calendar

Merger watch: a tie goes to the buyer

For the second time in three months, an evenly divided FTC has failed to agree on the legality of a major corporate merger, allowing the transaction to proceed …

October 8, 2001

In this issue:
FTC electricity competition study
Privacy, office supply workshops
DOJ: SBC not ready for long distance
Merger watch: P.I.s under development
Rx drug/generics trial set
Another COPPA case
Calendar
Muris: we dont need new privacy law
HSR Gun-jumping charged
Closed investigations
Porn peddlers set up escrow fund
10 Commandments for Microsoft fix
New AOL-TW applications
People, Employment

District court says Boston Scientific violated FTC merger order

A U.S. district court has entered summary judgment for the FTC and the Justice Dept. in a case alleging that Boston Scientific Corp. has violated an FTC consent order designed to ensure competition …

September 24, 2001

In this issue:
More state action, Noerr cases
HSR fees may fall short for first time
Broadband competition in Australia
Antitrust Division watch
$1 million fine in scrap metal bid-rig
Jail time for 3 food execs
Criminal defense lawyers ask change
Microsoft, DOJ agree to disagree
Health care fraud and the elderly
Japanese exec indicted in color cartel
Railroad “tactile tile” bid-rig charged
NFU wants competition in Farm Bill
Airlines’ antitrust exemption?
Calendar

Merger watch

“Clearance of this particular merger should not be viewed as a signal
that the Commission’s merger enforcement standards have changed.”

FTC officials have said repeatedly over the …

September 10, 2001

In this issue:
Generic Rx study progresses
GAO: FTC needs franchise help
The Microsoft saga continues
Antitrust Business Review Letters
Privacy: don’t mess with the judge
Slotting fees and Nestle/Ralston
Calendar
FTC staff advisory opinions
DOJ drops 3D-DTM merger probe
Kohl/DeWine eye airline venture
FTC electricity study headed to Hill
James’ new merger review program
Judge enjoins Rx “discount card”
People
Employment

Merger watch

When four Federal Trade commissioners met on August 1 to decide the fate of PepsiCo’s acquisition of Quaker Oats Co., the only representative of Bush Administration antitrust policy participating in the discussion was Deputy Competition Bureau Director …

July 30, 2001

In this issue:
Pharmacists sue PBMs & HHS
Some HSR staff opinions
Senators warn WTO off antitrust
3 states charge stamp collector rip-off
United/USAir merger goes poof
People
Calendar
Hatch frets over interim HSR rules
E.C. proposes cartel amnesty policy
Microsoft watc
FTC charges a 3 Tenors price-fix
NOPEC to return in the fall
From B2B to P2P
Editorial: demonizing trial lawyers

Merger Watch

Despite an avowed agency preference for fix-it-first, buyer-in-hand merger settlements, the FTC will allow Chevrons acquisition of Texaco to close while Chevron looks around for a buyer for Texacos U.S. assets, FTC:WATCH has learned.

…

July 16, 2001

Merger watch: jingo bells

“Jingo – One who vociferously supports one’s country, especially one who supports a belligerent foreign policy” – The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition; 2000

Question: What do the following mergers have in common?

* Glaxo (UK) / Wellcome (UK) – divestiture of migraine headache medicine research and development assets required.

* Ciba-Geigy (Swiss) / Sandoz (Swiss) – Licensing for gene therapy products, divestiture of flea control business required.

* Oerlikon-Buhrle Holding AG …

July 2, 2001

In this issue:
Microsoft appeal: the spin is in
Wyden, Robertson denounce big oil
Merger watch
Gemstar unworried by DOJ scrutiny
Monti discounts discord reports
U.S. jail time for Akzo exec
Calendar
HSR 2nd Request rule change
Microsoft watch
Closed FTC investigations
Justice appeals American Airlines
Kohl/DeWine antitrust agenda
Canada/U.S. cement cooperation
People, Employment

FTC advances where FDA retreats

Two weeks ago, as one of his first public acts, FTC Chairman Timothy Muris appeared at a press conference to promote and support a series of consent agreements with firms and individuals accused of using the Internet to market quack health remedies.

…

June 18, 2001

In this issue:

Broadband bill stumbles in committee
Leary also wants auto dealer study
aai column: MDP in U.K
Kohl & DeWine ponder E.U. regs
GLBA emergency stay asked
Credit, fiber investigations closed
Muris’ first press conference
Leary calls for clear predation standards
Merger watch
An antitrust rule? Don’t think so
Senate antitrust agenda
FTC: trouble with Canadian scams
DOJ sues to block prototyping deal
Calendar, People

Mergers: divergence from convergence?

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 …

June 4, 2001

In this issue:
Hatch asks about Rx patent challenges
FTC cautions DOE on disclosure
Online fraud: FTC urges speedy action
TRUSTe earns safe harbor status
Pharmacists prod Hill on RxHub
Gateway, Juno settle charge charges
Calendar
Amazon.com escapes FTC action
Trans Union, IRSG fight on
Indiana really dislikes telemarketers
Groups ask FTC tobacco ad scrutin
Rice Rule? No dice.
Cartel enforcement: a fly on the wall
People

Politics and antitrust

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 …

May 14, 2001

Third April court win rounds out Pitofskys term

An April 30 federal district court decision granting the FTCs cross-motion for summary judgment on its Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act rules marked the third time in one month that the courts had backed contentious agency decisions.

On April 13, the D.C. Circuit sustained the FTCs adjudicative order barring Trans Union from selling target marketing lists for purposes not listed in the Fair Credit Reporting Act, concluding several years of litigation and upholding the Constitutionality of the Fair Credit …

April 30, 2001

In this issue:
Back to the politics of the 1980′s?
FTC says music industry uncooperative
FTC promises state electric study
Staff recommends McCormick charges
Broadband competition legislation
DOJ loses airlines’ pricing case
Calendar
Senate wants BP/ARCO HSR filings
Merger Watch
Swindle dubious on global antitrust
Improved! Canada’s antitrust web site
OMB clears generix Rx subpoenas
Smokeless tobacco case settled
People

Appeals court sustains FTC challenge to baby food merger to duopoly

“Although we recognize that, post-hearing, the FTC may accept the rebuttal arguments proffered by the appellees, including their efficiencies defense, and permit the merger to proceed, we conclude …

April 16, 2001

In this issue:
Notes from Antitrust Spring Meeting
DeWine, Kohl reintroduce NOPEC
Correction of last issue lead story
FTC, Antitrust Division budgets rise
aai column: is Microsoft home free?
Paul Crampton’s Report from Canada
Siemens’ Vodaphone divestitures
Revising HSR regs – status
Mergers overwhelm nonmerger cases
Microsoft and James nomination
DOJ slotting fee economics study
FTC amends 20+ prectice Rules
FTC charges 3 more Rx generics deals
People
Employment

Correction: in No. 563, on page 1, we erroneously ascribed a forthcoming FTC HSR Complaint. The defendant is First DataBank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hearst Corp.

Behind the curtain: closed investigations

On the theory …

March 26, 2001

IN THIS ISSUE:
Another antitrust commission
Consumerists want $100 million
Antitrust economics: the inside skinny
FTC again suggests FDCPA rewrite
Anchor pays $600K price-fix fine
Website cramming settlement
Employment
Senate airline merger maneuvers
E-commerce, profiling workshops
Cartelists: whom do you trust?
Gas/electric convergence merger deal
Divestiture investigation closed
People

Customer Service: 202-478-0260 * e-mail: ftcwatch@usa.net

Consummated software merger to be challenged;
slotting fee case stuck in black hole

The FTC is preparing to challenge a healthcare software merger involving First Data Corp. and J.B. Laughrey, Inc. after letting it pass without conditions, FTC:WATCH has learned.

According to informed sources, …

March 12, 2001

In this issue:
HSR filings up in Jan., down in Feb.
DeWine, Kohl bill to limit airport slots
Pitofsky: no gasoline $$ collusion
Pitofsky: antitrust/intellectual property
DOJ:WATCH: airline JV, bank merger
Online privacy and security
Calendar
“Technical” antitrust changes
FTC staff opinion letter: insulation
aai column: global antitrust
James nomination hearings: not yet
Help with international mergers
FTC anxiety forestalls gum bid
Supplement: FTC merger record

Up periscope!

A change of administrations in Washington, D.C., particularly a change of which party controls the executive branch, is always an opportunity for special interests to try to insinuate themselves into policy decisions, directly …

February 26, 2001

In this issue:
Baby food merger in appeals court
No cert. in Cal. Dental, either
Tauzin wants gasoline price briefing
Merger watch
Electricity deregulation study coming
Internet privacy
FTC closes laser eye surgery case
No cert. in CSU v. Xerox
aai column: slotting fee barons warned
AirTran wants D.C. slots
Microsoft fears free software
Bristol-Myers Squibb price petition
DOJ rejects Verizon long distance bid
Calendar

Next issue: March 12, 2001

Anticipating Bush II

As an evenly-divided U.S. Senate prepares to advise and consent on Bush Administration versionssub-cabinet appointments, the Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committees will be called upon to begin the process …

January 29, 2001

In this issue:
ABA antitrust transition report
AOL/Time Warner compliance report
Online privacy initiatives
B2B issue
ADR Roundtable scheduled
Airline B2B, merger antitrust issues
Grand jury indicts Japanese execs
HSR new rules worksheet
Economics & innovation seminar
New Section 8 threshholds
Merger watch
California energy crisis, studies
Hoechst, Andrx settle with FTC staff
Sharp to pay for upgrades

Ashcroft on antitrust: to be prudent, he’ll have to check with the experts

Not that they’re suspicious, but the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee asked attorney general nominee former Sen. John Ashcroft 343 questions following the “live” hearings on his …

January 15, 2001

Abortion and antitrust

In Antitrust, Tim Robbins plays Gary Winston, the lank-haired C.E.O. of a giant software company called NURV, who has made a fortune flooding the market with inferior copies of competitors products and finds himself the target of a Justice Department investigation. – New York Times film review by A. O. Scott, January 12

Who would have predicted even a few months ago that Hollywood would bring to your friendly, neighborhood multiplex a motion picture not only based on the Sherman Act, but also …

February 12, 2001

IN THIS ISSUE:
Generic Rx study, round 2
Global Competition Initiative born
Media self-reg exemption proposed
Web billing firm wins freeze reprieve
Column: California’s electrical storm
Antitrust Division clears 3 mergers
Calendar
ABA antitrust advice to Bush II
Senators skeptical of airline mergers
Stearns to focus on megamergers
Merger watch
Hill looks into California electricity
FTC clears 3 mergers, bets on Internet
People

Next issue: Monday, February 26, 2001

Justice urges Supreme Court to deny cert in CSU;
Petitioner notes FTC’s absence from brief

On January 19, the last day of the Clinton administration, the former Solicitor General Seth Waxman and a number …