Created: 10/19/2009 7:07:14 AM 
NEW YORK (AP) -- The federal government is reportedly investigating whether Toys R Us Inc. has improperly acted to discourage discounting and prop up the prices consumers pay on baby products.
The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday that the Federal Trade Commission is examining whether the nation's biggest toy store chain violated an 11-year-old FTC order that it avoid anticompetitive tactics that could stifle competition and keep prices high.
The newspaper cited unidentified people familiar with the matter and added that it was unclear whether the probe would result in any enforcement action.
The newspaper says Toys R Us consented to the FTC order in 1998, after an administrative law judge ruled that it had illegally exercised its market power with toy makers by threatening to stop selling toys also being sold by the discount retailers.
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