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To: Bald Man from Mars who wrote (7883)	10/7/1998 2:42:00 PM
From: BitWizrd	Respond to of 8545

Catch this one yet? WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department announced Wednesday that it filed suit against Visa USA and MasterCard International, the two largest U.S. credit card networks, accusing them of unfairly limiting competition. It said the antitrust lawsuit challenges the joint control of both networks by the same groups of banks, and the rules adopted by both giant credit card associations that prohibit their member banks from offering the credit cards of their rivals. "Visa's and MasterCard's anti-competitive behavior has stifled competition between these two dominant networks and has thwarted competition from smaller networks," U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno said in announcing the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in New York City. Visa and MasterCard, which account for about 75 percent of all credit card purchases nationwide, are owned, governed and operated by their member banks. The civil lawsuit charged that Visa and MasterCard violated federal antitrust laws by placing authority for their competitive decisions in the hands of banks that have significant financial interests in both networks. The lawsuit also seeks to have the two associations remove their rules that prohibit their member banks from offering cards of competitors, such as American Express and Discover.