But the great 2013 northeastern snowstorm has brought the issues of fair competition and unsavory practices to the fore, where they will remain long after the ice melts.
The federal government may ask questions about whether wireless carriers are impeding competition through various practices, such as locking up popular phones with exclusive deals that can make it tough for software developers to break through to a mass market.
The issue is whether the collaboration that makes up the BCS is necessary and whether that collaboration has improved competition compared to past practices.
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Market competition can shape fishing practices to make them more ethical and fair only if information is permitted to flow freely to those with the power to use it.
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Those laws are meant to encourage competition and prevent unfair trade practices.
Google Inc. has agreed to change some of its business practices to resolve Federal Trade Commission concerns that those practices could stifle competition in the markets for popular devices such as smart phones, tablets and gaming consoles, as well as the market for online search advertising.
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It encourages competition and investigates anti-competitive practices in industry, while remedying trading practices which are against consumer interests.
Regulators should only act when they believe that firms are engaging in practices that will reduce competition, in ways that could raise prices or suppress innovation.
Antitrust laws are meant to encourage competition within industries and promote fair business practices.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission alleged that such practices were meant to boost Visa's revenue.
The re-write has focussed on two key areas - under what circumstances contracts can be handed out without competition and to what extent anti-competitive practices are allowed.
Its trade commissioner, Sir Leon Brittan, would like all the organisation's members to commit themselves to introducing effective competition laws, covering mergers, monopolies and restrictive business practices.
Tiffany and Company alleges trademark infringement, counterfeiting, unfair competition, injury to business reputation, false advertising and deceptive business practices.
Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who has been highly critical of Microsoft's business practices and who has chaired hearings on high-tech competition.
These traits in turn are fostered by three practices: incentives for enterprise, empowerment of innovation champions, internal competition.
"We are gratified that Judge Whyte reinstated the preliminary injunctive relief needed to redress this injury to competition, and that he did so after finding that Microsoft's business practices had been unfair, " said Sun general counsel Michael Morris in a statement.
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In December Italy's competition watchdog fined Auditel, which compiles the ratings which guide ad spending, for practices which may give an unfair advantage to Mediaset and RAI.
You might think that the invisible hand of market competition would have solved these problems, that the prospect of higher income from improved practices would have encouraged change.
Schering-Plough faces legal investigations into its disclosure and pricing practices, a dismal relationship with the Food and Drug Administration and cutthroat competition on its best-selling drug, a treatment for hepatitis C called Peg-Intron.
The judge in the American government's antitrust trial of the software behemoth ruled not only that it used its monopoly power to stifle competition and innovation in the computer industry, but also that Microsoft's business practices during the 1990s harmed consumers.
The Bronner's suit cites "unfair business practices" as the reason that the market is saturated with earth-friendly competition, and not enough real earth-friendly product.
Businessmen in Europe too frequently prefer sweet deals to outright competition, and here, too, Super Mario has been active in busting up Old World practices.
Meatpacking companies have responded to international competition by shifting their operations from old industrial cities, with their heavily unionised workforces and restrictive practices, to rural areas and small towns.
It has faced competition from generic versions of its treatments and the U.S. government has investigated its accounting practices, leading it to miss filing dates for its financial results that in turn caused it to technically default on its borrowings.
Other claims in the suit included unfair competition and false designation of origin under federal trademark law, as well as trademark infringement, unfair trade practices, and injury to business reputation under Texas law.
In January, the US Federal Trade Commission ended its anti-trust investigation and won a pledge from Google to end some practices, such as scraping data from websites to help target adverts, that had triggered the competition probe.
Next month, European Union regulators, led by Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia, will announce their plans for pursuing an antitrust investigation into Google's broad business practices, particularly accusations by a number of companies including Microsoft, Travelocity, Expedia and Kayak that it has abused its dominant position in search.
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