Legal Library: Cases and Proceedings

The FTC required Pilot Corporation, owner of the largest travel center network in the United States, to sell 26 locations as part of a settlement that will replace the competition lost because of Pilot’s proposed $1.8 billion acquisition of Flying J Inc.’s travel center network. Pilot has agreed to sell the travel centers, which provide diesel, food, parking, and other amenities for truckers, to Love’s Travel Stops and Country Stores, the smallest national travel center operator, currently concentrated in the South. According to the FTC’s complaint, the deal would have reduced competition for certain long-haul trucking fleets for which Pilot and Flying J were the first and second best choices for diesel.

The Commission filed an administrative complaint against Intel Corp., the world’s leading computer chip maker, charging that the company had illegally used its dominant market position for a decade to stifle competition and strengthen its monopoly. The complaint alleged that Intel engaged in a course of conduct to shut out rivals’ competing microchips by cutting off their access to the marketplace. In particular, the complaint alleged that Intel unlawfully maintained its monopoly in relevant central processing unit, or CPU, markets, and sought to acquire a second monopoly in the relevant graphics markets, using a variety of unfair methods of competition. In August of 2010, Intel agreed to a settlement containing provisions that would undo the effects of Intel's past conduct, and prohibiting Intel from suppressing competition in the future.

Solvay settled antitrust concerns stemming from its proposed acquisition of Ausimont S.p.A. from Italenergia S.p.A., and agreed to divest its U.S. polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) operations and its interest in Alventia LLC, a joint venture which manufactures the main raw material for PVDF. According to the complaint, the proposed acquisition would lessen competition in two markets: the production and sale of all grades of PVDF; and the production and sale of melt-processible grades of PVDF.

Roaring Fork Valley Physicians, IPA, Inc., a Colorado physicians’ group, settled Commission charges of price-fixing by agreeing to halt its use of allegedly anticompetitive negotiating tactics against health insurers. The Commission charged Roaring Fork Valley Physicians I.P.A., Inc., which represents about 80 percent of the doctors in Garfield County, Colorado, with violating the FTC Act by orchestrating agreements among its members to set higher prices for medical services and to refuse to deal with insurers that did not meet its demands for higher rates.

The FTC challenged Hexion LLC's proposed acquisition of Huntsman Corp., and settled its charges with a proposed consent order which requiredthe divestiture of Hexion's specialty epoxy business, and prevented the sharing of sensitive and non-public information which could lead to coordination of prices. Huntsman and Hexion are both producers of high-performance and specialty chemicals used in the aerospace and alternative energy industries. Subsequently, Hexion LLC and Huntsman Corporation petitioned the Commission to reopen and set aside two orders related to their proposed merger because they terminated their planned merger; the Commission granted, in part, the petition but left in place provisions of the order requiring Hexion for three years to seek the Commission’s approval prior to any acquisition of Huntsman, or any merger or other combination with Huntsman.

The Commission challenged Getinge AB’s proposed $865 million acquisition of rival Datascope Corporation as anticompetitive in the market for endoscopic vessel harvesting devices (EVHs). EVHs are used during coronary artery bypass graft surgery where a vein is removed from a patients leg or arm to replace a damaged or blocked coronary artery. According to the Commission’s complaint, the acquisition as proposed would give Getinge nearly a 90% market share and the ability to unilaterally increase prices while reducing the likelihood of innovation. The Commission issued a consent order requiring that Datascope divest its EVH assets to Sorin Group USA within 10 days of consummating the transaction.

In November 2008, the Commission issued an administrative complaint charging that the acquisition of CCC Information Services by Mitchell International, a transaction valued at $1.4 billion, would be anticompetitive in the market for “estimatics”, a database system used by auto insurers and repair shops to generate repair estimates for consumers. According to the complaint, the transaction would also harm competition in the market for total loss valuation (TLV) systems, used to inform consumers when their vehicle has been totaled. The transaction would create a new entity with well over half of the market share for these systems, allowing for unilateral price increases, and facilitating coordination among the remaining smaller competitors in the market. The Commission concurrently authorized staff to file a complaint in Federal District Court. On March 9, 2009, the US District Court for the District of Columbia ordered a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order preventing the parties from consummating the transaction pending a full administrative trial on the merits. On March 13, 2009, since the respondents announced that they decided not to proceed with the proposed merger the Commission dismissed the Administrative Complaint.