Legal Library: Cases and Proceedings

The Commission charged a group of optometrists in Puerto Rico with violating the FTC Act by orchestrating agreements among members of the Colegio de Optometras to refuse, or threaten to refuse, to accept vision and health care contracts except on collectively agreed-upon terms. Two leaders of the group were also charged with facilitating the agreement by urging members not to participate in the vision network. The Commission’s consent order settling these charges bars the group and the two leaders from engaging in such conduct, while allowing them to undertake certain kinds of joint contracting arrangements by which physician participants control costs and improve quality by managing the provision of services. FTC staff worked with the Office of Monopolistic Affairs of Puerto Rico’s Department of Justice on this case.

Valassis, a leading producer of free-standing newspaper inserts in the United States, has settled charges that it violated Section 5 of the FTC Act by attempting to collude with News America Marketing, its only rival, to eliminate competition between the two companies. During a conference call with industry analysts, a Valassis executive invited NewsAmerica to join in a scheme to allocate customers and fix prices in order to end an ongoing price war between the two companies. Under the consent order settling the FTC’s complaint, Valassis is barred from engaging in or inviting collusive agreements with other publishers or attempting to collude with its competitors.

General Electric was permitted to acquire InVision Technologies, Inc. with conditions that it divest InVision's YXLON x-ray nondestructive testing and inspection equipment to a Commission approved acquirer. According to the complaint issued with the consent order, the two firms are direct competitors in a highly concentrated market. The consent order protects competition in the United States market for specialized x-ray testing and inspection including standard x-ray cabinets; x-ray systems equipped with automated defect recognition software; and high-energy x-ray generators.

The consent order, designed to preserve competition in the market for the manufacture and sale of mobile radio frequency automatic meter reading technologies for electric utilities in the United States, permitted Itron's $255 million acquisition of Schlumberger Electricity, Inc. The consent order requires Itron to grant a royalty-free, perpetual, and irrevocable license to Hunt Technologies, Inc., creating an effective competitor in this market that allows utility companies and others to gather electric consumption data automatically and remotely from electricity meters.

The New Hampshire Motor Transport Association settled charges that it filed tariffs on behalf of its 400 members containing rules  that called for automatic increases in intrastate rates during the summer months, conduct that was not protected by the state action doctrine because it was not actively supervised by the state. In addition, the organization agreed to void its collectively filed tariffs current in effect in New Hampshire, ensuring that future tarriff provisions would be filed individually.

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.

A consent order settled charges that FMC and Asahi Chemical Industry Co. Ltd. of Japan entered into a conspiracy to divide the world market for microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), a binder used in making pharmaceutical tablets, into two territories. According to the complaint, FMC allegedly agreed not to sell the pharmaceutical to customers in Japan or East Asia without Asahi Chemical's consent, while Asahi Chemical agreed not to sell the pharmaceutical to customers in North America or Europe without the consent of FMC. The final order prohibits such behavior in the future and restricts FMC from acting as the U.S. distributor for any competing manufacturer of microcrystalline cellulose (including Asahi Chemical) for 10 years. In addition, for five years, FMC is prohibited from distributing in the United States any other product manufactured by Asahi Chemical.

Siemens settled charges relating to its proposed $9 billion acquisition of Atecs Mannesmann AG, a subsidiary of Vodafone. The consent order requires, among other things, the divestiture of Vodafone's Mannesmann Dematic Postal Automation business to Northrop Grumman Corporation. Siemens and Vodafone, through its Dematic subsidiary, are the two leading suppliers of postal automation systems in the world.

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.

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.

An administrative complaint charged that Intel Corporation used its monopoly power to deny three companies continuing access to technical information necessary to develop computer systems based on Intel microprocessors. A consent order (August 3, 1999) prohibits Intel, among other things, from withholding certain advance technical information from a customer as a means of intellectual property licenses. The order protects Intel's rights to withhold its information or microprocessors for legitimate business reasons.

Under a settlement with the FTC, ABB agreed to divest the Analytical Division of Elsag Bailey Process Automation N.V. to Siemens Corporation to address FTC concerns that the acquisition of Elsag would substantially reduce competition in the market for process gas chromatographs and process mass spectrometers, analytical instruments used to measure the chemical composition of a gas or liquid used in petrochemical refining, pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturing, and pulp and paper processing.