Washington State

Office of the Attorney General

Attorney General

Bob Ferguson

SEATTLE -- Attorney General Rob McKenna today released the final results from the state’s year-long investigation into gas prices. The investigation, which included an in-depth analysis of factors influencing prices at the pump, found variations across Washington communities are due to the cost of obtaining and transporting fuel to stations and local competition – not illegal price manipulation. Increasing worldwide demand for oil and an inability for regional refineries to meet local supply demands are the primary contributors to erratically climbing prices, experts added.
SEATTLE – Six small businesses in Washington state that lost phone and Internet services when their telecommunications provider, NorVergence, Inc., went bankrupt in 2004 will not have to pay the full amount due on their rental contracts, the Washington State Attorney General’s Office announced today.
SEATTLE - Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna today expressed concerns over the recently announced online advertising alliance between Google Inc. and Yahoo! Inc.
The Washington Attorney General’s Antitrust Division has received several inquiries and concerns regarding the new “print on demand” or “POD” policy recently implemented by Amazon.com.
SEATTLE – A Washington-based company that sells search-engine optimization services to small businesses is prohibited from selling or advertising them to new customers and must permit cancellation of existing contracts, according to a settlement announced today by Attorney General Rob McKenna. Internet Advancement, of Redmond, which also does business as 4GreatBuys.com, was accused of misrepresenting its ability to provide top search-engine rankings and increase Web traffic, even after being sued by the state.
PASCO – Procurador Rob McKenna, que viajará a Pasco este fin de semana, dijo que él cree que la Exposición de Negocio y Consumidor Latino viene en un tiempo importante.
PASCO – Attorney General Rob McKenna, who will travel to Pasco this weekend, said he believes a first-of-its kind Latino Business & Consumer Expo comes at an important time.
OLYMPIA – Attorney General Rob McKenna announced that he and 10 other attorneys general sent a letter today to the Federal Communications Commission expressing their concerns about the proposed merger of satellite giants Sirius and XM.
SEATTLE – The Washington Attorney General’s Office is accusing a Scottsdale, Ariz., man of coercing consumers to buy software to block computer pop-ups by first bombarding them with ads for pornography and Viagra. In a civil lawsuit filed today in King County Superior Court in Seattle, the state alleges that consumers who downloaded the software were further victimized when the program caused their computers to stealthily blast messages to other PCs at a rate of one every two seconds.
SEATTLE – Attorney General Rob McKenna today announced that he and attorneys general from 19 states have filed a civil complaint against the manufacturer and marketers of TriCor, a drug prescribed to lower cholesterol. The states’ complaint filed today in U.S. District Court in Delaware accuses Abbott Laboratories, based in Illinois; Fournier  Industrie Et Sante, of France; and subsidiary Laboratoires Fournier, S.A., with violating federal antitrust laws by delaying the availability of a cheaper generic versions of the medicine. The suit also alleges the defendants violated Washington consumer protection and antitrust laws.

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