Announced Action for September 13, 2005

Commission authorization of the staff to file joint amicus brief: The Commission has authorized the staff of the Office of General Counsel to file a joint amicus brief with the U.S. Department of Justice in Texaco v. Dagher, Nos. 04-805, 04-814 (U.S. S. Ct.). In the brief, which can be found as a link to this press release on the FTC’s Web site, the agencies urge the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decision holding that it could be a per se violation of the Sherman Act for two parent entities of a joint venture to direct it to equalize prices for the two brands of gasoline sold by the joint venture, in which the joint venture effectively merged the parents’ downstream operations and terminated their prior competition with respect to the refining and sale of gasoline.

The Commission authorizing the staff to file the joint brief was 3-0, with Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras recused. (FTC File No. P051203; the staff contact is John F. Daly, Office of General Counsel, 202-326-2244; see press release dated May 31, 2005.)

Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and also from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. Call toll-free: 1-877-FTC-HELP.