FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                    AT
TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1995                                    (202) 616-2771
                                                         TDD (202) 514-1888

        PLAYMOBIL AGREES TO STOP FIXING RETAIL PRICES OF TOYS AFTER
      JUSTICE DEPARTMENT CHARGED THE PRACTICE ELIMINATED COMPETITION


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of Justice reached a
settlement today with Playmobil USA Inc., one of the nation's
largest specialty toy companies, that will stop the company from
fixing resale prices of its toys sold to retail stores.  
     Playmobil, whose parent company is Geobra Brandstatter
GmbH & Co. KG., of Germany, is one of the leading specialty toy
companies in the United States with annual sales of more than $18
million.
     Playmobil's popular small plastic figurines, vehicles and
buildings are sold in sets organized around themes such as the
Wild West, a Victorian doll house, a hospital or a pirate ship.
      Playmobil agreed to end its illegal price fixing efforts
after the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division charged that
the practices eliminated competition among retail stores.    
     The Department filed a civil antitrust suit and proposed
settlement in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., which
accused Playmobil USA, headquartered in Dayton, New Jersey, of
reaching agreements on retail price levels with certain dealers
and threatening others with termination in order to induce them
to cease discounting.  
     The Department stated that for the past several years the
company, pursuant to a written resale price policy, has regularly
published resale price ranges for all of its products.  In
enforcing the policy, Playmobil reached direct and express
agreements with a number of its dealers to follow published
prices, often only after specifically threatening the dealer with
termination as a result of complaints by other dealers.  The
complaint also alleged that Playmobil USA enforced adherence to
minimum resale prices at the request of dealers that sought to
end discounting by competing retailers.    
     According to the Department, these actions were violations
of the Sherman Act's prohibition on resale price maintenance
under applicable Supreme Court cases.
     This is the Administration's second case filed by the
Department of Justice involving vertical price fixing.
     "It is our responsibility to enforce the laws as enacted by
Congress and interpreted by the courts," said Anne K. Bingaman,
Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division. 
"Although we currently have fewer than 10 pending resale price
maintenance investigations, we will continue to act when
violations of law in this area are brought to our attention and
can be proved by the evidence necessary under the legal standards
set by the Supreme Court and the lower courts."
     The Playmobil matter was referred to the Justice Department
by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office, which worked
closely with the Department during the course of the
investigation.  Today, the State of Pennsylvania announced its
own settlement with Playmobil. 
     "This matter is another example of the increasing close
cooperation between the Department's Antitrust Division and state
antitrust officials," said Bingaman.
     If approved by the court, the proposed consent decree
between the Department and Playmobil would settle the suit and be
in effect for 10 years.  The settlement bars Playmobil from
entering into retail price agreements with its dealers and from
threatening to terminate dealers from discounting.  
     For a period of five years, the decree would prohibit
Playmobil from establishing a minimum advertised price policy
that withholds advertising rebates from a dealer who advertises
Playmobil products at a discount.  The five year prohibition
would permit Playmobil dealers to establish their pricing levels
in a market free from the taint of Playmobil's illegal price
coercion.
     Public comment on the proposed decree is invited within the
statutory 60-day comment period.  Interested persons may address
comments to Rebecca P. Dick, Chief, Civil Task Force 1, Antitrust
Division, U.S. Department of Justice, 1401 H. St., N.W.,
Washington, D.C.  20001.
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