The legal library gives you easy access to the FTC’s case information and other official legal, policy, and guidance documents.
20030939: DLJ Merchant Banking Partners, III L.P.; Kenneth R. Thomson
0309002 Informal Interpretation
Washington University Physician Network
A consent order prohibits a St. Louis, Missouri physicians’ organization from negotiating with third party payers on behalf of its member physicians and from refusing to deal with health insurance companies.
0308010 Informal Interpretation
0308009 Informal Interpretation
Opinion 03-1
0308008 Informal Interpretation
0308004 Informal Interpretation
0308005 Informal Interpretation
0308007 Informal Interpretation
20030833: Cypress Merchant Banking Partners II L.P.; J.W. Childs Equity Partners II, L.P.
20030814: Richard B. Cohen; Fleming Companies, Inc.
0307013 Informal Interpretation
Polygram Holding, Inc.; Decca Music Group Limited; UMG Recordings, Inc.; and Universal Music & Video Distribution Corp
The Commission issued an administrative complaint against Warner Communications, Inc., and several subsidiaries of Vivendi Universal S.A., charging them with illegally agreeing to fix prices for audio and video products featuring The Three Tenors. A settlement with Warner barred future agreements to fix prices or restrict advertising. After an administrative trial against Vivendi, an ALJ found that the agreement, while made in association with an otherwise legal joint venture between the companies, violated Section 5 of the FTC Act by illegally reducing competition in the U.S. market for the audio and video products cited. The Commission upheld the ruling of an administrative law judge and prohibited PolyGram from entering into any agreement with competitors to fix the prices or restrict the advertising of products they have produced independently. In July 2005, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed the Commission’s decision in Polygram Holding Inc., validating the Commission’s approach to analyzing horizontal conduct among competitors.
SPA Health Organization, d/b/a Southwest Physician Associates, In the Matter of
A physician group in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area settled charges that it collectively bargained on behalf of its members to negotiate fee schedules with third party payers and other health insurance companies. According to the complaint, issued with the consent order, these practices decreased competition and increased prices for the provision of medical services to area consumers.