Announced last September, the deal has been extended a number of times as the FTC probes its implications. Last week the commission voted 4-1 to reject the merger, setting the stage for the court fight. The preliminary injunction hearing is a key step in most antitrust cases. Previous district court decisions about whether to grant the injunction often have determined the fate of FTC challenges. Neither would speculate about what would happen if the issues aren't resolved by then.
Antitrust experts say it is an unusual case.
The FTC has not brought many cases in the retail industry, said Caswell Hobbs, an antitrust lawyer with Morgan, Lewis and Bockius in Washington, because it was considered so competitive. Two things set the case apart, said Hobbs, former director of the FTC's office of policy, planning and evaluation. One is that the office superstore phenomenon is fairly new. The other is the wealth of pricing information available from the stores because of sophisticated computer tracking systems. And that's what can be used to predict pricing trends.