Latest U.S. Justice Department Stories
The U.S. Justice Department is looking into possible violations of antitrust law within the optical disc drive industry, department spokeswoman Gina Talamona said on Tuesday.Although she declined to provide details about the investigation, or to disclose which companies are involved, Reuters reported that Sony, Hitachi and Toshiba have all acknowledged receiving subpoenas about the case.Optical disc drives are devices that read or write data onto media such as DVDs, CDs, and Blu-ray...
The U.S. Justice Department says it wants changes in a tentative agreement between Google Inc., and the authors of books it wants to put online. Google, of Mountain View, Calif., is seeking court approval for the deal, which it plans to use to create the world's largest digital library and bookstore. But Justice Department officials said Friday the agreement as it currently stands doesn't sufficiently protect the rights of authors and publishers, The New York Times reported. As presently...
Warns That Major Issues Including Lack of Privacy Guarantees Remain Problematic SANTA MONICA, Calif., Sept. 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Consumer Watchdog praised the U.S. Justice Department for objecting to the proposed Google Books settlement in a brief the department filed in U.S. District Court tonight. The nonpartisan, nonprofit consumer group had asked the Justice Department to intervene in the case on antitrust grounds last April. Justice announced it was investigating in July....
WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Any plan offered by Google meant to overcome objections to the proposed Google Books settlement must include a "binding agreement with the full force of law," Consumer Watchdog told the U.S. Justice Department today. Justice has until Friday to file its position on the books settlement with the court. In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and Assistant Attorney General For Antitrust Christine Varney, the nonprofit, nonpartisan consumer...
The U.S. Justice Department said UBS has agreed to reveal names of U.S. depositors suspected of hiding assets from the IRS in the Swiss bank. The parties have initialed agreements, Justice Department attorney Stuart Gibson said Wednesday. While the Swiss government and UBS officials have been negotiating on the disclosure issue, many U.S. depositors have approached the Internal Revenue Service asking for leniency in their cases, anticipating the bank would be forced to reveal names, The New...
More time is needed to iron out an agreement between the United States and Swiss banker UBS AG over access to accounts of suspected tax cheats, officials say. In a conference call Friday with U.S. District Judge Alan Gold in Miami, U.S. Justice Department attorney Stuart Gibson said negotiations between the Internal Revenue Service and UBS over secretive Swiss banking laws are still ongoing five weeks after they began, The Wall Street Journal reported. The IRS is seeking information on...
A Wall Street Journal report on Monday said the U.S. Justice Department has begun looking at big telecom companies such as AT&T and Verizon Communications to try to determine if they have abused their market power, Reuters reported.People familiar with the matter said the Antitrust Division's review was in its very early stages and was not yet a formal probe of any specific company, the Journal reported.However, a probe could concern exclusive agreements between phone companies and...
The U.S. Justice Department has sent an official notice to Google Inc informing the internet giant that federal antitrust attorneys are investigating its settlement with publishers intended to make millions of books available for online readers.When reporter's asked Google's Chief Legal Officer David Drummond whether the company had received the civil equivalent of a subpoena, he replied: "Yeah, we did."According to a Wall Street Journal report on Tuesday, publisher Lagardere's...
The U.S. Justice Department Tuesday sued Capmark Finance Inc. in Los Angeles, accusing the lender of violating the False Claims Act. Justice officials allege the California company made false statements on U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development applications for federal mortgage insurance covering the acquisition of residential nursing homes. The applications involved the purchase of the Canoga Care Center, a residential nursing home facility in Canoga Park, Calif., and the Hudson...
The U.S. Justice Department plans to jettison the Bush administration's pro-defendant antitrust policies, department consultants said. The head of the department's antitrust division Christine Varney, is expected to outline the change of direction in two speeches this week, the first in front of the Center for American Progress on Monday and the second on Tuesday for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, The New York Times reported. In part, the policy shift reflects the Obama administration's...
