Well.. if you agree to do something illegal in secret then this is "collusion."
Price fixing is a defined crime. So if your agreement is to fix prices between competitors in secret then you are "colluding."
The extension here is that if your agreement is to use similar pricing information sources, property availability lists, or algorithmic components, that this is a form of price fixing, and is thus also illegal, and so you "colluded" by forming this agreement.
The FTC's position is that the agreement itself is illegal. They additionally suggest that even if some of the competitors sometimes "cheat" on the agreement, that doesn't prevent the formation of the agreement itself from being a crime.
This all seems pretty straight forward. They committed a crime. There was no reason to form an agreement. Had they not done that, there would be no case, and no obvious intent. As it is, their intent was clear, to break the law at the public's expense.
This, by the way, is why we have ANSI and IEEE and ITU and all kinds of other "open" standards groups. If you don't do it in secret then much legal burden is immediately lifted from you.
Price fixing is a defined crime. So if your agreement is to fix prices between competitors in secret then you are "colluding."
The extension here is that if your agreement is to use similar pricing information sources, property availability lists, or algorithmic components, that this is a form of price fixing, and is thus also illegal, and so you "colluded" by forming this agreement.
The FTC's position is that the agreement itself is illegal. They additionally suggest that even if some of the competitors sometimes "cheat" on the agreement, that doesn't prevent the formation of the agreement itself from being a crime.
This all seems pretty straight forward. They committed a crime. There was no reason to form an agreement. Had they not done that, there would be no case, and no obvious intent. As it is, their intent was clear, to break the law at the public's expense.
This, by the way, is why we have ANSI and IEEE and ITU and all kinds of other "open" standards groups. If you don't do it in secret then much legal burden is immediately lifted from you.