Federal Trade Commission/Department of Justice Hearings on Single-Firm Conduct to Continue on November 1

The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division today announced that the latest in a series of joint public hearings designed to examine the implications of single-firm conduct under the antitrust laws will take place on November 1, 2006, in Washington, DC. As previously announced, these hearings will examine whether and when specific types of single-firm conduct may violate Section 2 of the Sherman Act by harming competition and consumer welfare and when they are pro-competitive and lawful. The hearings will continue during the coming months.

The panel on November 1 will explore tying arrangements. The session will be held at the FTC Headquarters Building, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C., Room 432.

Further information is provided below:

Tying (9:30 A.M. to 1 P.M.):

David Evans is a Visiting Professor, Faculty of Laws, University College London and Vice Chairman of LECG Europe.

Robin Cooper Feldman is an Associate Professor of Law, Hastings College of the Law, University of California.

Mark Popofsky is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center and a Partner, Kaye Scholer LLP.

Donald J. Russell is a Partner, Robbins, Russell, Englert, Orseck, & Untereiner LLP.

Michael Waldman is the Charles H. Dyson Professor of Management and Professor of Economics, Cornell University.

Robert D. Willig is a Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, a Director of Competition Policy Associates, Inc., and a former Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Department of Justice, Antitrust Division.

The public and press are invited to attend all of the hearings. Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Interested parties may submit written comments to the FTC and the Antitrust Division.

Further information about these hearings will be posted on the FTC’s Web site, http://www.ftc.gov/os/sectiontwohearings/index.htm and the Antitrust Division’s Web site,
http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/public/hearings/single_firm/sfchearing.htm. Individuals seeking more information on the hearings should contact Patricia Schultheiss, FTC, at section2hearings2@ftc.gov, or Gail Kursh, Deputy Chief, Legal Policy Section, Antitrust Division, at singlefirmconduct@usdoj.gov.

The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop and avoid them. To file a complaint, or to get free information on any of 150 consumer topics, call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357), or use the complaint form at http://www.ftc.gov. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to thousands of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.