U.S., Canada & Mexico Officials Reaffirm Antitrust Ties

The heads of the antitrust agencies of the United States, Canada, and Mexico – Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz, Acting Assistant Attorney General Sharis A. Pozen of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, Canadian Commissioner of Competition Melanie Aitken, and President Eduardo Perez Motta of the Mexican Federal Competition Commission – met today to […]

FTC Obtains $500,000 Penalty For Pre-Merger Reporting Act Violations

Brian L. Roberts, the Chief Executive Officer of Comcast Corporation, has agreed to pay a $500,000 penalty to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that he violated the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvement Act (HSR Act) in connection with his acquisitions of Comcast stock between 2007 and 2009. The FTC alleged that Roberts failed to file required notices […]

FTC Warns That Rapid Expansion of Internet Domain Name System Could Leave Consumers More Vulnerable to Online Fraud

The Federal Trade Commission today sent a letter to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization that oversees Internet domain names, expressing concern that the organization’s plan to dramatically expand the domain name system could leave consumers more vulnerable to online fraud and undermine law enforcers’ ability to track down online […]

Telemarketer to Pay $500,000 Civil Penalty for Thwarting Consumers’ Requests to be Placed On Its Clients’ Do Not Call Lists

An Illinois-based telemarketing firm will pay $500,000 to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it interfered with consumers’ requests to be placed on company-specific do not call lists and transmitted deceptive Caller ID names. As part of its efforts to prevent unwanted telemarketing calls, the FTC alleged that Americall Group, Inc. violated the FTC’s Telemarketing […]

FTC Challenges Graco Inc.’s Proposed Acquisition of Rival ITW Finishing LLC

Seeking to maintain competition in markets for key industrial finishing equipment, the Federal Trade Commission challenged Graco Inc.’s proposed $650 million acquisition of ITW Finishing LLC from Illinois Tool Works Inc., a rival producer of equipment used to apply paints and other liquid finishes to a variety of manufactured goods. According to the FTC, the […]

FTC Settlement Requires “U.S. Homeowners Relief” Defendants to Pay Millions, Bans Them from Debt and Mortgage Relief Business

Six defendants have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they participated in a fraudulent mortgage modification and foreclosure relief scheme.  The settlement orders require five defendants to pay back millions in ill-gotten gains, and permanently ban all six from selling any mortgage assistance or debt relief products.  The settlements with the U.S. Homeowners […]

Lane Labs Found in Contempt of Court Order Barring Deceptive Health Claims

A federal judge has ruled in favor of the Federal Trade Commission, finding supplement marketer Lane Labs-USA Inc., and its president Andrew Lane in contempt of a court order that bars them from making deceptive health claims.  In 2000, the FTC originally charged Lane Labs with making unsupported and false claims that BeneFin and Skin […]

FTC Approves Trustee’s Request for a 90-Day Extension of Deadline to Sell Tops Supermarket in Bath, New York; FTC’s 2011 Report Concludes U.S. Ethanol Market Remains Unconcentrated

FTC Approves Trustee’s Request for a 90-Day Extension of Deadline to Sell Tops Supermarket in Bath, New York The Federal Trade Commission has approved an application by the Divestiture Trustee in the Tops Markets matter, The Food Partners requesting a 90-day extension of the deadline to sell one former Penn Traffic supermarket located at 404 […]

FTC Protects Consumers by Requiring Valeant to Sell Three Prescription Drugs as Condition to Acquire Rival Dermatology Businesses from Sanofi and Johnson & Johnson

Protecting competition in the market for three topical dermatology drugs, the Federal Trade Commission has approved orders requiring Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. to divest three drugs used to treat different skin ailments, as conditions of acquiring Ortho Dermatologics, Inc. from Johnson & Johnson, and Dermik Laboratories, Inc. from Sanofi. Under the settlements, Valeant will sell […]

Statement by FTC Competition Bureau Director Richard FeinsteinRegarding U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Ruling in the Matter of Phoebe Putney

For Release December 9, 2011 The Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition, Richard Feinstein, issued the following statement regarding today’s ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in the Matter of Phoebe Putney Health System Inc., in which the FTC challenged Phoebe Putney’s proposed acquisition of rival Palmyra […]