Announced Actions for May 3, 1996

The Federal Trade Commission today announced the following action. The FTC staff contact is Ann Malester, 202-326-2682.

Consent agreements given final approval: Following a public comment period, the Commission has made final a consent agreement with the following entities. The Commission action makes the orders binding on the respondents.

• Hughes Danbury Optical Systems, Inc. (Danbury, Connecticut), Hughes Electronics Corporation, (Los Angeles, California), and their parent company, General Motors Corporation (Detroit, Michigan), settling allegations that the acquisition by Hughes Danbury Optical Systems of the Itek Optical Systems Division of Litton Industries, Inc. (Lexington, Massachusetts) could raise prices or reduce investments in technology and quality for “deformable mirrors,” a critical component of an Air Force anti-missile program (the Airborne Laser program). Itek has an exclusive contract to provide deformable mirrors to one of two teams (the Boeing team) competing for the Air Force’s Airborne Laser program; Hughes is a member of the other team (the Rockwell team). Xinetics, Inc. has an exclusive contract with Hughes to provide deformable mirrors to the Rockwell team. The consent order prohibits Hughes from enforcing the exclusivity provision in the Xinetics contract, thereby ensuring that the Boeing team has a source for deformable mirrors other than Itek, once Itek is owned by Hughes. The order also prohibits the respondents from accessing proprietary information from Itek regarding the Boeing team’s ABL technical design or the cost of its adaptive optics system (see Feb. 9, 1996 news release for more information about the consent agreement; Docket No. C-3652; Commission vote 5-0 on April 30, 1996).

Copies of the documents referenced above are available from the FTC’s Public Reference Branch, Room 130, 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580; 202-326-2222; TTY for the hearing impaired 1-866-653-4261. To find out the latest news as it is announced, call the FTC NewsPhone recording at 202-326-2710. FTC news releases and other materials also are available on the Internet at the FTC’s World Wide Web site at: http://www.ftc.gov