On April 23, the FTC issued its much-anticipated Final Rule banning worker non-competes. The Final Rule targets the Biden administration’s goal of reducing barriers to employee mobility....more
5/3/2024
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Biden Administration ,
Chamber of Commerce ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Contract Terms ,
Corporate Executives ,
Employment Contract ,
Exceptions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
FTC Act ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
OIRA ,
Regulatory History ,
Section 5
On March 5, President Joe Biden launched the Strike Force on Unfair and Illegal Pricing (Strike Force) for the purpose of implementing policies in his July 9, 2021 Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American...more
On Jan. 22, the FTC announced the 2024 filing thresholds under the HSR Act, as well as the 2024 filing fees. The new thresholds will be published in the Federal Register in the coming days....more
1/24/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Fees ,
Filing Requirements ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
Section 8 ,
Size of Persons Test ,
Size of Transaction Test ,
The Clayton Act ,
Threshold Requirements
On Dec. 18, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) jointly issued new merger guidelines (Guidelines), finalizing draft guidelines published in July and replacing the 2010 Horizontal Merger...more
On Oct. 30, the White House issued Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence (Executive Order). In the wide-ranging Executive Order, the White House provides a road...more
In spring 2022, the Department of Justice (the DOJ) announced its intention to aggressively pursue monopolization cases. While the DOJ is continuing its aggressive prosecution of criminal cases, it is also now utilizing...more
10/16/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Anti-Monopoly ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Memorandum of Understanding ,
Mergers ,
Monopolization ,
Sherman Act
On July 19, 2023, the FTC and the DOJ (collectively, the agencies) jointly released new draft merger guidelines. The agencies assert that the proposed guidelines will help them better assess the impact of proposed mergers...more
On June 27, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a press release[1] announcing proposed changes to reporting requirements under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (the HSR Act). Under...more
6/30/2023
/ Comment Period ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Merger Reviews ,
Mergers ,
NPRM ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Required Forms ,
Rulemaking Process
Panelists echoed a familiar tune at the 2023 ABA Antitrust Spring Meeting’s “Views from the Bench”: Judges wish antitrust lawyers and their expert witnesses would do a better job of explaining and narrowing down the factual...more
We recently wrote about the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC or the Commission) controversial new Proposed Rule that would largely ban non-compete agreements between employers and “workers.” The Proposed Rule would ban not...more
On Jan. 25, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the 2023 filing thresholds under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (the HSR Act). The notice also...more
On Jan. 5, the Federal Trade Commission voted 3-1 to propose a new rule under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act that would largely ban non-compete agreements between employers and employees. If passed, the...more
1/9/2023
/ Employment Contract ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
NPRM ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Section 5 ,
Unfair Competition
Following its repudiation of its prior enforcement regime in July 2021, the FTC on Nov. 10 issued a Statement Regarding the Scope of “Unfair Methods of Competition” Under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act...more
Key Takeaways -
..U.S. v. Nathan Nephi Zito is the first criminal monopolization case in more than 40 years, reversing the Antitrust Division’s practice of pursuing monopolization cases only civilly.
..The elements...more
In October 2022, the Federal Trade Commission issued a Public Comment opposing a Certificate of Public Advantage (COPA) for the merger of State University of New York Upstate Medical University (SUNY Upstate) and Crouse...more
Seventeen of U.S. News & World Report’s top 25 universities in the nation recently lost their bid to dismiss allegations of an antitrust conspiracy to suppress student financial aid awards. The ruling by the U.S....more
For more than a century, minor league baseball and Major League Baseball (MLB) have thrived in a symbiotic relationship. Minor league teams affiliate with major league teams for financial support and access to major league...more
On May 23, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), at the prompting of President Joe Biden, announced that it will launch a civil investigation into the ongoing shortage of baby formula throughout the country. The FTC is...more
Almost one year has passed since the Supreme Court’s unanimous antitrust decision in NCAA v. Alston. That well-publicized decision affirmed the District Court’s rejection of the NCAA’s limits on education-related compensation...more
4/27/2022
/ Alston v NCAA ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
College Athletes ,
Employment Contract ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Franchise Agreements ,
Name and Likeness ,
NCAA ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Price-Fixing ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Rule-of-Reason Analysis ,
Student Athletes
On July 9, 2021, President Biden issued the Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy. According to the fact sheet that accompanied the order, competition in the U.S. economy is in dire straits....more
On June 21, 2021, in NCAA v. Alston, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) rules limiting education-related compensation that colleges and universities can provide...more
On October 20, 2020, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and 11 state attorneys general filed an antitrust complaint against Google, alleging Google violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act by unlawfully maintaining monopolies in...more
On June 23, we hosted a webinar on the failing firm defense, focusing on defining the defense and offering tips on complying with it. We also tried to demonstrate that, sometimes, the antitrust agencies will not demand strict...more
COVID-19 already has had a significant impact on the food industry. Companies at all levels of the food supply chain long have been the focus of antitrust investigations and litigation, partly because there are relatively few...more
On June 1, 2020, the Criminal Division (the “Criminal Division”) of the Department of Justice (the “DOJ” or “Department”) issued revised guidance (the “June 2020 Guidance”) about how it will evaluate corporate compliance...more