October 2014

From the antitrust mailbag: manufacturer-imposed requirements

By: Alan Friedman, Bureau of Competition | Oct 22, 2014 12:54PM

Here’s another common question we receive from retailers: A manufacturer is placing restrictions on the way I price its products. I think this is anticompetitive. Is it a violation of the antitrust laws for a manufacturer to tell me what price to charge?

In most situations, a manufacturer’s requirements imposed on retailers are legal, so long as they are limited to the sale of that supplier’s products. Such requirements are usually legal because they may make that manufacturer’s products more desirable as compared to the products of competing manufacturers.

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The Clayton Act: 100 years and counting

By: Debbie Feinstein, Bureau of Competition | Oct 15, 2014 10:37AM

One hundred years ago today, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Clayton Act, just weeks after signing the Federal Trade Commission Act. Together, these statutes gave the federal government new tools to deal with the growing threat of the trusts: a bipartisan five-member Commission to police against “unfair methods of competition,” and a new law designed to stop certain business combinations and conduct before they caused widespread harm.

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Promoting healthy competition in health IT markets

By: Tara Isa Koslov, Office of Policy Planning, Markus Meier, Bureau of Competition and David R. Schmidt, Bureau of Economics | Oct 7, 2014 10:30AM

The FTC has been a consistent proponent of competition in health care markets, utilizing our full range of study, advocacy, and enforcement tools. We are equally proud of our track record in promoting innovation and responding to new technological developments throughout our 100-year history.

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