Attorneys for State of Utah and Contact Lens Manufacturers Parry in Appeals Court

"Utah state attorneys have asked an appeals court to clear the way for a contentious law that bans price fixing by contact lens makers and could have wide-ranging implications for the $4 billion industry," reports the Standard Examiner. "The Utah Attorney General’s Office argued in court documents that the law banning minimum prices set by the country’s biggest contact lens makers is an antitrust measure designed to increase competition and help customers.State attorneys asked the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver to lift an injunction blocking the law Tuesday. They were joined by the discount retailers Costco and Utah-based 1-800 Contacts. Suing to block the law are lens makers Alcon Laboratories, Johnson & Johnson, and Bausch & Lomb. They say minimum price are good for customers and eye doctors, and the law was written specifically to benefit 1-800 Contacts." Read more.

Fight against Unilateral Pricing Policies of Contact Lenses Grows

"Costco and online sellers like 1-800 Contacts would love to sell you cheaper contact lenses. But in recent years, the country’s biggest contact manufacturers have instituted minimum prices for their products that make it impossible for retailers to offer them at lower price points," reports Time magazine. "In testimony before Congress last summer, the Consumers Union declared such policies 'uncompetitive' and tantamount to price fixing: 'Consumers are denied more affordable alternatives. They pay more than they need to, and sellers who would like to make those affordable alternatives available are denied the opportunity to do so.'" Read more.

Costco Accuses Johnson & Johnson of Forcing Customers to Pay Higher Prices for Contact Lenses

"Costco Wholesale Corp. has accused Johnson & Johnson’s Vision Care Inc. of causing the retailer’s customers to pay higher prices for the eye company’s contact lenses," reports the Wall Street Journal. "Costco in March filed a complaint against Johnson & Johnson, which revealed the suit late Friday in its quarterly report to the Securities and Exchange Commission." Read more.

While J&J and Costco Duke It Out in California, Costco Sides with Utah about Contact Lens Pricing

"Johnson & Johnson’s contact lens unit on Friday urged a California federal judge to toss Costco Wholesale Corp.’s antitrust suit alleging J&J drives up prices by cutting off retailers that sell its lenses at a discount, arguing its unilateral pricing policies are 'entirely lawful,'" notes Law 360. "Cotsco’s suit is one of many related suits recently filed in California federal court over the allegedly anticompetitive pricing floor. The discount retailer has alleged that other contact retailers pressured Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Inc. to set an anticompetitive minimum retail." Read more.

"Warehouse store giant Costco is siding with the state of Utah in a lawsuit filed over a bill that bans price-fixing of contact lenses," reports Fox 13, the Fox affiliate in Salt Lake City. "In a motion filed Monday in federal court and obtained by Fox 13, Costco Wholesale seeks to intervene in a series of lawsuits filed by contact lens manufacturers against the state over Senate Bill 169, which was signed into law by Governor Gary Herbert last month. Court records show U.S. District Court Judge Dee Benson granted Costco’s motion to intervene. Former federal judge Paul Cassell is representing 1-800-CONTACTS, which is also siding with the state." Read more.

New Jersey and Oregon Fight Anti-Unilateral Pricing Programs for Contact Lenses

"Oregon has become a battleground," reports KGW.com. "'As more and more consumers figure out what's going on, they're going to be more and more outraged,' said Bryan Kohler, a lobbyist for 1-800 Contacts. The company is pushing legislation in Oregon that would stop contact lens makers from setting a minimum price on contacts. Over the past year and a half, all four major contact lens manufacturers enacted policies that restrict what retailers can charge for contact lenses. These new minimum pricing policies mean discounters like 1-800 Contacts and Costco can no longer sell contacts at a lower price than their competitors. Costco argues these new policies are anti-competitive because they limit buying choices for the roughly 39 million Americans who wear contacts." Read more.

In New Jersey, "putative class action suit filed in federal court in Newark accuses four manufacturers and a distributor of disposable contact lenses of conspiring to eliminate price competition by entering into illegal resale price maintenance agreements with retailers," reports a NJ Law Journal post. Read more.

These two states join a growing list of states looking to ban unilateral pricing programs, such as Idaho, Illinois, and California. and Utah, which has already signed a ban into law.