Antitrust

complaints

Ticketmaster Is Evil And Must Die

Ticketmaster is an evil monopoly that steals cash from defenseless consumers. They are infinitely more evil than their hated 30% surcharge would suggest, and they must be destroyed. More »

9:30 AM on Sun Oct 12 2008
By Carey
54,458 views, 149 comments

text messaging

Congress Asks Wireless Carriers To Justify Text Message Rate Increases

This week, Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI) asked the top wireless carriers—AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and T-Mobile—to explain why they doubled the cost of sending text messages over the past 3 years. They have until October 6th to respond.

The similar price increases, coming at similar times, Kohl said, "is hardly consistent with the vigorous price competition we hope to see in a competitive marketplace."

More »

1:54 PM on Wed Sep 10 2008
By Chris Walters
9,388 views, 123 comments

Most discussed Colage: Why does the cost to the companies matter? Does anyone care that it costs 30 cents to make a $4 more »

twc

Man Files Antitrust Suit Against Time Warner Over Forced Cable Box Rentals

Matthew Meeds of Fairway, Kansas, doesn't want to pay Time Warner Cable a monthly rental fee for his cable box—he'd rather own one outright. He's filed suit against the cable provider and its parent company, Time Warner, Inc., accusing them of establishing an illegal tying arrangement by making the box rental a condition of the subscription agreement. He's seeking class-action status for all TWC premium customers in Kansas. More »

12:26 PM on Wed Aug 13 2008
By Chris Walters
10,216 views, 61 comments

Latest by InThrees: @full.tang.halo: I actually thought about the XBox360, but then realized it doesn't really count. The XBox360 is sold at a loss, more »

class action settlements

Settlement In BA-VA Price-Fixing Class Action

You're entitled to a small refund if you bought tickets for a long haul flight on British Airways or Virgin Atlantic between August 11, 2004 and March 23, 2006. The amount is $7-$34 per flight taken. This is the settlement in a class action lawsuit contending the two airlines colluded to fix the price of fuel surcharges. More info at airpassengerrefund.com. [via RickSeaney]

12:44 PM on Wed Aug 6 2008
By Ben Popken
1,472 views, 7 comments

Latest by oneliketadow: Without clicking to see the terms, I'd like to posit a guess: 1) $50 Million to some lawyers 2) Neither airline admits more »

grocery shrink ray

Grocery Shrink Ray Hits Faultless Spray Starch

Mark says he's found fault with Faultless spray starch. The bottle shrunk by two ounces and is being sold for the same price, another victim of the Grocery Shrink Ray. Compare the products here and here. What's interesting is that when he called his mom, she said she had a different brand of starch spray. It too had shrunk by two ounces. Could manufacturers be colluding together to all decrease their products by the same amount at the same time? I've heard of price-fixing, but what about the legality of size-fixing? In any event, Mark emailed customer service about the new package. Their cheery reply, inside... More »

5:43 PM on Wed Jul 16 2008
By Ben Popken
3,562 views, 36 comments

Latest by hoverkind: Sorry for the double post; I thought the first didn't go through. more »

class action

Today Is The Last Day To Join The DeBeers Diamond Class-Action Settlement

If you bought a diamond between January 1, 1994 and March 31, 2006, today is the last day to join the DeBeers class action settlement. It doesn't matter whether or not the diamond was bought from DeBeers, the diamond could have been bought from anywhere. The lawsuit contends that DeBeers uses its monopoly over most of the world's diamond mines to artificially inflate the price of diamonds and engages in other anti-competitive behaviors as well. It's expected that around $135,432,500 will be divided amongst all the eligible consumers. You can file claims online here.

(Thanks to Michael!)
(Photo: clagnut)

10:37 AM on Mon May 19 2008
By Ben Popken
5,569 views, 35 comments

Latest by Tonguetied: Well I submitted my online claim months ago and have not received word one or penny one back on this. more »

printers

Customer Files Class-Action Suit Against HP & Staples, Charging Printer Ink Price Collusion

Ranjit Bedi, a Californian, has filed a lawsuit against Hewlett-Packard and Staples in a U.S. District Court in Boston, accusing the two companies of colluding to prevent the sale of third-party ink cartridges in Staples stores. Bedi is accusing HP of paying Staples over $100 million to get it to stop selling lower-priced ink refills, but none of the news sources we found supply any evidence to support that figure, so we hope Bedi has more than just a gut feeling about this. More »

8:40 PM on Wed Dec 19 2007
By Chris Walters
2,797 views, 42 comments

Latest by John from Huntersville: My HP color (78) cartridge has been warning me that it's low on ink for 3 months now. It more »

conflict of interest

Consumer Groups Ask FTC Head To Recuse Herself

Two consumer groups have asked Deborah Platt Majoras, the chair of the FTC, to recuse herself from the antitrust review of Google's purchase of Doubleclick. Majoras is married to a partner at Jones Day law firm, which represents Doubleclick. More »

5:28 PM on Thu Dec 13 2007
By Chris Walters
1,524 views, 6 comments

internet

Google Says It's Looking Into New Privacy Technologies

Google is looking into new ways to protect the privacy of its huge number of users, says their chief legal officer. These include "crumbled cookies," which spread a user's information out so that it's not connected to a single piece of code, and providing better information on the source of each ad that's served. More »

4:24 PM on Fri Sep 28 2007
By Chris Walters
685 views, 4 comments

Latest by KEHT: @magic8ball: Are u trying to tell us that u were not inclined to expose your privates to the "camera thingy" more »

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