Announced Actions for January 11, 2002

On January 3, 2002, the U.S. Solicitor General filed an amicus curiae brief on behalf of the United States and the Commission in the matter of Statoil ASA v. HeereMac V.O.F. in the Supreme Court of the United States recommending that the Court deny a petition for a writ of certiorari. In the case, the petitioner, a Norwegian oil company, was injured as a result of a worldwide conspiracy that had an anticompetitive on effect United States commerce. However, the petitioner's injury arose offshore, not as a result of domestic impact. The petitioner is seeking a reversal of a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision denying it standing to seek damages in a United States court.

The brief, which is available on the FTC Web site as a link to this press release, addresses the question of whether federal courts have jurisdiction under the Sherman Act and the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act of 1992 (FTAIA), 15 U.S.C. 1, 6a, over the claims of a foreign plaintiff that it has been injured by a conspiracy that has direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable anticompetitive effects on United States trade or commerce, but the claimed injury does not arise from those domestic effects.

The brief states, because appeals raising the same legal question are currently pending in five other courts of appeals, review by the U.S. Supreme Court would be premature at this time. In addition, the brief concludes the Court of Appeals' decision will not impair the United States' ongoing efforts to enforce the Sherman Act against international cartels and is correct in its interpretation of the FTAIA. The Commission vote to join the Solicitor General in filing the brief was 5-0. (FTC File No. P859907; staff contact is William Kovacic, FTC Office of the General Counsel, 202-326-3661.)

Publication of Federal Register notice:

The Commission has approved Cargill Dow, LLC's request for a new textile fiber generic name and definition. As explained in a Federal Register notice, which will be published shortly and posted on the FTC's Web site, the Commission has approved final amendments to Rule 7 of the FTC's Rules and Regulations Under the Textile Fiber Products Identification Act (Textile Rules), 16 C.F.R. Sec. 303.7, to designate a new generic fiber name and establish a new generic fiber definition for a fiber manufactured by Cargill Dow of Minnetonka, Minnesota. The amendments create a new subsection (y) to Rule 7 that establishes the name "PLA" for a fiber that Cargill Dow designates by the registered name "Natureworks." The fiber is synthetic, but is derived from naturally occurring sugars, such as those in corn or sugar beets.

The Commission vote to publish the Federal Register notice and place a copy on the public record was 5-0. (File No. P948404; staff contact is Neil J. Blickman, Bureau of Consumer Protection, 202-326-3038; see press release dated November 3, 2000.)

Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC's Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and also from the FTC's Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. Call toll-free: 1-877-FTC-HELP.