Legal Library: Cases and Proceedings

An association of household goods movers agreed to settle FTC charges that it violated the antitrust laws by engaging in the collective filing of tariffs on behalf of its members who compete in the provision of moving services in the state of Alabama. The conduct is not protected by the state action doctrine because it was not actively supervised by the state. Under terms of a final consent order, Alabama Trucking Association, Inc. agreed to stop filing tariffs containing collective intrastate rates and to void collectively filed tariffs currently in effect in Alabama.

In an administrative complaint issued on July 8, 2003, the Commission charged that the association composed of competing household goods movers filed collective rates for intrastate moving services in the state of Mississippi. According to the complaint, these activities were not protected under the state action doctrine because they were not actively supervised by the state. Under terms of a final consent order the Movers Conference agreed to stop filing tariffs containing collective intrastate rates.

Consent order requires divestiture of Baxter's Autoplex product line of Factor VIII inhibitors used in the treatment for hemophilia and the licensing of Immuno International AG's fibrin sealant, a biologic product in development to be used to control bleeding in surgical procedures. According to the complaint issued with the final order, the acquisition of Immuno International would tend to create a monopoly and increase Baxter's ability to unilaterally raise prices in the market for the research, manufacture and sale of biologic products derived from human blood plasma.

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.

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.

Shell Oil Company was allowed to complete its $1.8 billion acquisition of Pennzoil-Quaker State Company but required to divest certain assets to maintain healthy competition in the refining and marketing of Group II paraffinic base oil in the United States and Canada. Under terms of the consent order, Ski1 and Pennzoil must divest its 50 percent interest in Excel Paralubes (a base oil refinery in Westlake, Louisiana) and freeze Pennzoil's right to obtain additional Group II supply under a contract with ExxonMobil at approximately current levels (up to 6,500 barrels of base oil per day)

A New Mexico physician organization settled charges that it and its members entered into agreements to fix prices and to refuse to deal with third party payers and other health care plans except on collectively agreed-upon terms.

MSC settled charges that its 1999 acquisitions of Universal Analytics, Inc. and Computerized Structural Analysis & Research Corp. eliminated competition between the three firms in the development and application of engineering software. The administrative complaint issued October 2001, alleged that the two acquisitions would eliminate competition for advanced versions of Nastran, an engineering simulation software program used throughout the aerospace and automotive industries. The consent order required MSC to divest at least one clone copy of its current advance Nastran through royalty-free perpetual, non-exclusive licenses to one or two acquirers approved by the Commission.

Under the terms of a consent order, The Institute of Store Planners must remove from its Code of Ethics any provision that prohibits its members from providing their services for free and any provision that prohibits competition with other members for work on the basis of price. According to the complaint, these rules unreasonably restrained price and nonprice competition among the members, depriving consumers of the benefits of competition among store planners. Its members provide architectural store design and store and merchandise planning to retail stores.