Vision-Ease Lens Sues Transitions Optical on Eyeglass Antitrust Claims

Vision-Ease Lens Inc., a unit of IEAP X LP, sued PPG Industries Inc.’s Transitions Optical Inc. and accused it of monopolizing the market for eyeglass lenses that darken when exposed to sunlight.

Transitions, based in Pinellas Park, Florida, controls more than 85 percent of the light-responsive lens market, IEAP contends in a July 27 complaint in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware.

In response to competition, Transitions adopted “a general policy not to deal with any lens manufacturer that sold or promoted a competing photochromic lens,” and tried, but failed, to get Vision-Ease to take a license for its technology, according to court papers.

Vision Ease seeks a jury trial and alleges Transitions’ actions increase lens prices, deter competition, reduce innovation and reduce consumer choice.

“The Vision-Ease case seems to us to be lacking in merit, and we expect to defend it vigorously,” a Transitions spokesman, Dan McLean, said in an e-mailed statement.

Transitions agreed in March to stop alleged anticompetitive practices under a settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The Delaware lawsuit filed by IEAP, also known as Insight Equity, seeks unspecified actual and punitive damages.

The FTC said the special lenses in 2008 had about $630 million in wholesale sales.

Pittsburgh-based PPG rose 16 cents to $69 at 2:41 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have risen about 18 percent this year.

The case is Insight Equity v. Transitions Optical, 10CV635, U.S. District Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).

To contact the reporter on this story: Phil Milford in Wilmington, Delaware, at pmilford@bloomberg.net.

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