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WHO: Robert Pitofsky, Chairman, Â鶹´«Ã½ Trade Commission Joseph E. Stiglitz, Chairman, Council of Economic Advisors Lewis E. Platt, Chairman and CEO, Hewlett-Packard Co. Sanford M. Litvack, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief of Corporate Operations, The Walt Disney Co. Ryal R. Poppa, Chairman, President and CEO, StorageTek Kenneth W. Dam, Professor, University of Chicago Law School James F. Rill, Collier, Shannon, Rill & Scott; former Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust, Department of Justice

WHAT: Â鶹´«Ã½ Trade Commission Hearings on Global and Innovation-Based Competition

WHEN: Thursday, October 12 (Opening Day)

• 9:00 a.m. - 9:45 a.m. U.S. Competitiveness in a Global Economy Pitofsky and Stiglitz

• 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Do Antitrust Laws Impede the Ability of U.S. Firms to Compete? Platt, Litvack and Poppa

• 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Are Changes in Antitrust Â鶹´«Ã½ Needed To Respond to Global and Innovation-Based Competition? Dam and Rill

WHERE: FTC Building 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Room 432

The Â鶹´«Ã½ Trade Commission is a law enforcement agency empowered to protect U.S. consumers' interests. The FTC enforces more than thirty different laws that protect consumers against unfair, deceptive, or fraudulent marketing practices and ensure consumers that business actions do not restrain competition.

The hearings are structured to bring together experienced individuals from U.S. businesses, consumer organizations, the legal and economics communities and other law enforcement agencies to share personal insights regarding the effectiveness of antitrust and consumer protection laws in the current global marketplace.

According to Chairman Pitofsky, the purpose of the hearings is "to evaluate whether all aspects of antitrust and consumer protection policies are up-to-date in today's world. If there are adjustments that need to be made to better protect consumers or to better ensure that antitrust does not unnecessarily impede the ability of U.S. businesses to compete globally, an important source of that information will be those individuals who confront competition questions every day."

The hearings will be held several days a week for the next ten weeks. Topics related to auto, textile, steel, pharmaceutical, defense, computer, health care and financial and information services industries will be discussed. In addition, four days of the hearings will be dedicated to a consideration of consumer protection issues such as interactive television, future telephone and payment technologies, telemarketing fraud and marketing in cyberspace.

All hearings are open to the public.

FOR A COMPLETE SCHEDULE OF UPCOMING HEARING DATES, TOPICS AND DETAILS REGARDING PRESS OPPORTUNITIES CONTACT: MURFY ALEXANDER, FTC PUBLIC AFFAIRS,

202-326-2718.