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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Costco says a Utah law banning price-fixing for contact lenses would be good for customers.
The discount retailer filed court documents in Salt Lake City Monday supporting the law against attacks from three of the nation's largest contact lens manufacturers.
Costco argues price fixing by contact lens manufacturers forces them to charge higher prices and hurts competition. They're also fighting lens price minimums in a related California lawsuit.
The manufacturers —Johnson & Johnson, Bausch & Lomb and Alcon_say the law was written to help Utah-based discount retailer 1-800-Contacts, and price minimums give doctors the freedom to recommend the best lenses.
Messages left with the Utah attorney general's office and an attorney for 1-800-Contacts were not returned. The lawmaker who sponsored the law says she wrote it to help competition, not the company.
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