The Federal Trade Commission apparently is turning a closer eye to distribution and information-sharing agreements that could amount to collusion and price fixing, as three companies recently learned the hard way.
Last month, the FTC filed complaints against three of the largest U.S. pipe-fitting suppliers—McWane, Star Pipe Products, and Sigma—alleging that starting in 2008 the companies conspired with one another to fix prices for ductile iron pipe fittings, used in municipal water systems.
The charges reflect the “heightened enforcement efforts of the current FTC,” says Peter Guryan, a partner in the antitrust department of law firm Fried Frank.
The FTC brought the ...