The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the U.S. Department of Justice have submitted a statement of interest to the Washington court in the McKenna Duffy vs. Yardi Systems case involving RENTMaximizer, a rental pricing software provider. The FTC alleges that pricing with data from such software constitutes price fixing. RENTMaximizer and similar software in the same group analyze a significant amount of rental data, advising property managers to set prices equal to successful previous rentals, using a database of millions of residential units.
FTC views this data sharing as akin to homeowners renting through the same agent and setting prices equally. Therefore, even if price data exchange is done through software, and landlords can deviate from the software’s recommendations, it still constitutes wrongdoing. The U.S. Department of Justice has previously taken legal action against online sellers who used software to match competitors’ prices and settled cases with admissions of guilt. Currently, there are cases on price-fixing of processed meat and preparations to tackle hotels and casinos as well.
TLDR: The FTC and DOJ are intervening in the McKenna Duffy vs. Yardi Systems case regarding RENTMaximizer software, alleging price fixing through data sharing. Previous legal actions against online sellers using similar software have ended with admissions of guilt. Cases on price-fixing in various industries are ongoing.
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