FTC eases Nine West price-fix order

The Federal Trade Commission has granted, in part, a petition from Nine West Group Inc., to modify a 2000 FTC order prohibiting the women”™s footwear company from fixing retail prices with dealers.

Nine West, a subdivision of Jones Apparel Group, is based in White Plains.

The modified order allows Nine West to engage in resale price maintenance (RPM) agreements with dealers and requires the company to provide periodic reports on its use of RPM agreements so the FTC can analyze the effects of such agreements on competition.

Under the 2000 order, Nine West agreed to settle FTC charges that it engaged in retail price fixing with certain dealers in violation of federal antitrust laws. At the same time, Nine West settled separate agreements with various states for violations of state antitrust laws. This modification does not affect those state orders, an FTC statement said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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According to the FTC, the company”™s conduct deprived consumers of the benefits of competition, and prices to consumers of Nine West products increased. The order banned Nine West, for a 20-year period, from threatening or penalizing dealers that sell below the company”™s designated retail prices.

In October 2007, Nine West Footwear Corp., successor to Nine West Group Inc., filed a petition contending that the ruling changed the law governing RPM agreements, and asked the FTC to set aside its prohibitions as no longer necessary or appropriate. The petition was placed on the public record for comment for 30 days. Two comments were received, one from the American Antitrust Institute and one from a number of state attorneys general, requesting that the commission deny the petition, which it did not.