Legal Library: Cases and Proceedings

On June 4, 1999 an administrative law judge dismissed charges against VISX, a key developer of laser eye surgery equipment and technology, known as photorefractive keratectomy (PRK). According to the 1998 administrative complaint., VISX and Summit Technology, the only two firms legally able to market equipment for PRK, placed their competing patents in a patent pool and shared the proceeds each and every time a Summit or VISX laser was used. The administrative law judge also dismissed charges that VISX acquired a key patent by inequitable conduct and fraud on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, ruling that complaint counsel failed to present evidence that an act of fraud was committed since information was not willfully withheld from the patent office. A final order settled the price fixing allegations in the 1998 complaint. On February 7, 2001, the Commission dismissed its complaint after the U.S. patent and Trademark Office issued a Reexamination Certificate of U.S. Patent No. 5,108,388.

Tyco settled antitrust concerns relating to its acquisition of Mallinckrodt, Inc. Tyco agreed to divest its endotracheal tube business to Hudson RCI.

The consent order settles antitrust concerns stemming from the acquisition of ADT Automotive Holdings, Inc., the nation's third largest operator of wholesale motor vehicle auctions, by Manheim Auctions, the nation's leading operator of auctions.  The complaint alleged that the proposed acquisition would substantially reduce competition among wholesale auction services in six geographic markets.  In addition, the complaint alleges that Manheim's 1996 acquisition of its only rival in Phoenix resulted in a merger to monopoly in that market.  The order requires Manheim to divest nine auctions in Kansas City, Missouri; Denver and Colorado Springs, Colorado; Atlanta, Georgia; San Francisco, California; Seattle, Washington; Tampa, Orlando and Daytona Beach, Florida; and Phoenix, Arizona.

Conso International Corporation, owner of the Simplicity brand of home sewing patterns, abandoned its proposed acquisition of McCall Pattern Company after the Commission filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The complaint charged that the acquisition would reduce the number of United States sewing pattern designers and producers from three to two, creating a firm with more than 75% of the domestic unit sales of domestic home sewing patterns.

Service Corporation International divested the LaGrone Funeral Home, acquired in 1994, to settle charges that the acquisition gave Service Corporation a monopoly in the provision of funeral services in Roswell, New Mexico. The order also requires Service Corporation, for ten years, to obtain prior Commission approval before acquiring any funeral home serving Chaves County, New Mexico.

Final order settles allegations that Intel's acquisition of Digital Equipment Corporation's assets could endanger the continuing and future development of the Alpha microprocessor, a direct competitor of Intel's Pentium line of computer system components. The order requires Digital to license the Alpha technology to Advanced Micro Devices and to Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. or to other Commission-approved companies to manufacture Digital's microprocessor devices.