Commitments, Contingencies And Guarantees

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

Commitments, Contingencies And Guarantees [Abstract]

Commitments, Contingencies And Guarantees

NOTE 14.     COMMITMENTS, CONTINGENCIES AND GUARANTEES

As discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010, in January 2010, we received a letter from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission ("FTC"), stating that it was conducting an investigation to determine whether we or others have engaged in, or are engaging in, unfair methods of competition in violation of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act ("FTC Act") through pricing or marketing policies for companion animal veterinary products and services, including but not limited to exclusive dealing or tying arrangements with distributors or end-users of those products or services. The letter stated that the FTC has not concluded that we or anyone else has violated Section 5 of the FTC Act. In April 2010 and August 2011, we received subpoenas from the FTC requesting that we provide the FTC with documents and information relevant to this investigation. We are cooperating fully with the FTC in its investigation.

In November 2010, we received notification that the United Kingdom Office of Fair Trading ("OFT") was conducting an investigation to determine whether we had engaged in, or are engaging in, practices foreclosing the supply of companion animal diagnostic testing services in violation of the United Kingdom Competition Act of 1998.  We have provided the OFT with documents and information relevant to this investigation as requested and we are cooperating fully with the OFT on this matter.

We believe that our marketing and sales practices for companion animal veterinary products and services do not violate the antitrust laws of the U.S., U.K., or any other country. At this time, we cannot predict whether government investigations will lead to enforcement proceedings, or what the outcomes of those proceedings will be, including whether those outcomes will involve the payment of fines or penalties. As such, we have not recognized a loss contingency as potential losses related to either investigation are neither probable nor can they reasonably be estimated through the date of the filing of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

Other commitments, contingencies and guarantees at September 30, 2011 are consistent with those discussed in Note 14 to the consolidated financial statements in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010.