Antitrust Lawyer Blog

A seller of discount health and prescription drug cards and its telemarketer will pay civil penalties of $300,000 and $50,000, respectively, to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they have been violating the Do Not Call (DNC) provisions of the Commission’s Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), and will be prohibited from similar conduct in the future,…

The Federal Trade Commission today told the Senate Judiciary Committee that as the Committee considers legislation to amend the Communications Act, it should preserve the FTC's existing authority to protect consumers and maintain competition in the broadband services industry. Delivering the FTC testimony, Commissioner William E. Kovacic said the agency believes it has jurisdiction over…

The Federal Trade Commission today announced a set of final judgments and orders settling charges against two Florida-based principals and the corporations they ran for misleading consumers into believing they could earn up to $3,000 per week stuffing envelopes at home. While the consumers – many of whom had responded to misleading e-mail spam messages…

On June 8, it was reported that the Chinese State Council had approved draft legislation of the so-called Antimonopoly Law. This legislation aims to provide a free and fair competitive environment to all enterprises. The new law, which is expected to be passed in March 2007, contains articles regulating monopoly agreements, abuse of dominant market…

On June 8, the DOJ granted antitrust approval to the $13.4 billion merger between French telecommunications equipment maker, Alcatel SA and U.S. based Lucent Technologies Inc. The deal is expected to close later this year.

The companies behind the popular Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas video game have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they failed to disclose important information about the game's content to consumers. According to the FTC, the companies, in advertising the Entertainment Software Rating Board (“ESRB”) rating for the game, did not tell consumers…

The Stanley Works, a U.S. toolmaker, will pay a $205,000 civil penalty to settle Federal Trade Commission charges it falsely claimed its Zero Degree ratchets were Made in the USA. The claims allegedly violated a 1999 FTC order issued against the company to resolve earlier allegations that it had made false Made in the USA…

On June 7, a federal grand jury in Portland, Oregon returned an indictment against Trevor Smith, a former Raisio Chemicals Northwest Inc. sales executive, charging him with two counts of filing false federal income tax returns in 1999 and 2000, understating his income by more than $332,000. The understated income consisted of payments he allegedly…

On June 6, the Federal Trade Commission authorized the filing of a joint amicus brief with the U.S. Department of Justice in the case of Latino Quimica-Amtex S.A. v. Atofina, et al., No. 05-5754-CV (2d Cir.). The case involves an international price-fixing conspiracy by manufacturers of two chemicals, sodium monochloroacetate and monochloroacetic acid, which are…

On June 2, Euronext and the New York Stock Exchange announced a merger that would create the world's largest stock exchange, and the first cross-Atlantic bourse. At the same time, Deutche B