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U.S. Department of Justice Seal and Letterhead
  January 19, 1993


SUMMARY OF ANTITRUST ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS
FOR PUBLIC RELEASE
FOR MONDAY, JAN. 11, 1993 THROUGH FRIDAY, JAN. 15, 1993


1/11/93 U.S. v. Trucks & Parts of Tampa, Inc. and Bruce D. Goldenberg
Criminal No.: l:93-CR-012 (N.D. Ga.)

One-count information was filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, Georgia, charging Trucks & Parts of Tampa, Inc. and its president and former vice president, Bruce D. Goldenberg, of Tampa, Florida, with rigging bids, in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act, for the purchase of used trucks at a public auction in Dekalb County in October 1989.

1/13/93 Department of Justice Issues a Business Review Letter

In a letter from John W. Clark, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division, to Donald I. Baker, an attorney for AirPlus, the Department announced that it does not intend to challenge the proposal by AirPlus to expand its credit card program to merchants in the United States and to allow United States' airlines to become card-issuing members of AirPlus. AirPlus is a credit card issued by airlines that may be used to purchase air transportation, hotel, car rental, and other travel-related services. AirPlus recruits merchants to accept the cards as payment for such goods and services. AirPlus wishes to expand from its present European base to a worldwide scope, with a regional organization to cover North and South America. Nine international airlines currently are participants in the program: Aer Lingus, Alitalia, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Lufthansa, Sabena and Swissair.

1/14/93 Department of Justice Issues Business Review Letter

In a letter from J. Mark Gidley, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division, to Stuart M. Pape, Esquire, the Department announced that it does not intend to challenge a proposal by the leading smokeless tobacco producers in the United States to form a research joint venture to develop uniform analytical methods for measuring the nicotine and moisture content of smokeless tobacco products. Smokeless tobacco products include various types of chewing tobacco and snuff such as loose leaf, plug, twist, and moist or dry snuff. The research joint venture was formed in response to the enactment of the Comprehensive Smokeless Tobacco Health Education Act of 1986, which requires producers of smokeless tobacco products to file reports as to the nicotine content of their products and to a request by the Department of Health and Human Services that the companies develop uniform testing methods to report the nicotine and moisture content of their products. Gidley stated that participation in the venture is unlikely to be anticompetitive because the information to be exchanged among the venture participants will be solely of a technical nature and will not relate to marketing, product prices, sales, product development, product costs, or other similar information that would risk raising concerns under the antitrust laws. Participants in the joint venture include United States Tobacco Company, The Pinkerton Tobacco Company, National Tobacco Company, Conwood Company, R.C. Owen, Helme Tobacco Company and House of Windsor.

1/14/93 Department of Justice Issues Business Review Letter

In a letter from J. Mark Gidley, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division, to George Velez, Esquire, General Motors Corporation Legal Staff, the Department announced that it does not intend to challenge the implementation of an Auto Shippers' Efficiency Committee which will operate as a Committee of the Multilevel Railcar Pool. The purpose of the committee will be to allow shippers to meet to exchange information about railroad car construction, maintenance and operating procedures and to formulate joint recommendations designed to improve the efficiency of the Multilevel Railcar Pool. The Multilevel Railcar Pool is a group of 20 railroads which pool multilevel rail cars used to transport motor vehicles and use a central distribution team to control the distribution of those rail cars. The pool, which is authorized by the Interstate Commerce Commission, was designed to reduce inefficient back-hauling of empty rail cars.


Copies of legal filings are available from the Legal Procedure Unit, Antitrust Division, Room 3233, Telephone No.: 514-2481.

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