On February 1, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced the annual changes to the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act notification thresholds.
The FTC is required by law to revise the jurisdictional thresholds...more
The Korean-War era Defense Production Act ("DPA")1 has already loomed large in the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent press reports suggest that it may be invoked even more broadly in the coming weeks and...more
Egypt is getting closer to adopting a new merger control regime that would transform the system from a post-closing to a pre-closing filing regime. The Egyptian Council of Ministers has approved a draft proposal to amend...more
Competition regulators have shown their ability to act quickly and decisively in order to help allay the worst impacts of the coronavirus outbreak. Could these responses provide a template for achieving environmental and...more
9/22/2020
/ Collaboration ,
Competition ,
Competition Authorities ,
Consumers ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Environmental Policies ,
European Commission ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Germany ,
Grocery Stores ,
Health Care Providers ,
Netherlands ,
No-Action Letters ,
Operators of Essential Services ,
Public Safety ,
Sustainability ,
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ,
United Nations
The Egyptian Competition Authority recently published the first Egyptian guidelines on the process for obtaining amnesty or leniency from criminal prosecution for antitrust cartel violations, signaling the agency's intent to...more
8/3/2020
/ Amnesty ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Cartels ,
Competition Authorities ,
Confidential Information ,
Criminal Antitrust Litigation ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Egypt ,
New Guidance ,
Risk Assessment ,
Whistleblowers
On April 4, 2020, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice issued its first Business Review Letter under the DOJ-FTC joint expedited COVID-19 competitor collaboration review procedures, blessing several medical...more
4/23/2020
/ Absolute Immunity ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Business Review Letters ,
Collaboration ,
Competition ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Medical Devices ,
Medical Research ,
Medical Supplies ,
No-Action Letters ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs
Bankruptcy can provide important advantages to companies considering M&A activity today. M&A purchases of bankrupt companies obviously often feature significantly depressed valuations and a small universe of potentially...more
On March 27, 2020, the President signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act. The purpose of the CARES Act is to provide emergency assistance and health care response for individuals, families, and...more
4/6/2020
/ CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Medicaid ,
Medical Devices ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Part D ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Relief Measures ,
Supply Chain ,
Virus Testing
On Friday, March 27, 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to approve the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) submitted by the Senate, and President Trump just signed the bill.The bill...more
4/3/2020
/ Airlines ,
Automotive Industry ,
CARES Act ,
Credit Reporting Agencies ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Loans ,
Mortgages ,
Private Equity ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Student Loans ,
Tax Credits ,
Tax Deferral
This alert describes the surprisingly broad antitrust defense – against federal and state antitrust actions – that Congress created in Section 708 of the Defense Production Act of 1950.
Recent media attention on the...more
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security ("CARES") Act provides no modifications to, or relief from, the US antitrust laws (specifically, the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1-38; Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. § 12-27; and...more
On March 27, 2020, the President signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The purpose of the CARES Act is to provide emergency assistance and health care response for individuals, families, and...more
The COVID-19 outbreak has led to changes in how the US and other competition agencies around the world look at competitor collaborations. Despite these policy announcements, antitrust compliance is still a priority, and...more
3/27/2020
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Collaboration ,
Competition ,
Compliance ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
European Commission ,
European Competition Network (ECN) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Joint Purchasing Programs ,
State of Emergency ,
Supply Chain
On January 28, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced the annual changes to the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act notification thresholds....more
1/29/2020
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Business Valuations ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Fees ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Size of Persons Test ,
Size of Transaction Test ,
Threshold Requirements
In BritNed v ABB, the English Court of Appeal substantially reduced the UK's first award of damages in a so-called cartel damages claim brought for breach of European competition law. In so doing, the Court rejected calls for...more
11/11/2019
/ Antitrust Violations ,
Appeals ,
Breach of Competition Law ,
Burden of Proof ,
Calculation of Damages ,
Cartels ,
Compensatory Damages ,
Compound Interest ,
Damage Caps ,
Damages ,
Electricity ,
European Commission ,
Infringement ,
Lost Profits ,
Power Grid ,
Punitive Damages ,
Remittitur ,
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) ,
UK
On October 7, 2019, California became the first state to enact legislation—Assembly Bill 824 ("AB 824")—rendering certain pharmaceutical patent litigation settlement agreements presumptively anticompetitive. This alert...more
10/18/2019
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Burden-Shifting ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Damages ,
Erie Doctrine ,
FTC v Actavis ,
Generic Drugs ,
Hatch-Waxman ,
Judicial Review ,
Patent Litigation ,
Pay-For-Delay ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Popular ,
Rebuttable Presumptions ,
Retroactive Application ,
Reverse Payment Settlement Agreements ,
Rule-of-Reason Analysis ,
State Legislatures
New Rules Governing Expanded Class Action Lawsuits in Italy to Take Effect on April 19, 2020 -
The old thinking that class actions are only a threat in the US is history. The latest European example is Italy, where on...more
On February 15, 2019, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced the annual changes to the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act notification thresholds.
The FTC is required by law to revise the jurisdictional thresholds annually,...more