On May 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) jointly announced a request for members of the public to provide information that the agencies can use “to identify...more
6/3/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
Popular ,
Private Equity ,
Private Equity Firms ,
Request For Information
In this episode of our “Fierce Competition” podcast, European antitrust/competition co-head Ingrid Vandenborre, partner Julia York and counsel Michael Sheerin dissect the Illumina-Grail merger challenge, which spanned three...more
On December 18, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) released the final 2023 Merger Guidelines (the Guidelines). While the final version of the Guidelines reflects...more
12/22/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Draft Guidance ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Horizontal Merger Guidelines ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Vertical Mergers
As part of the Biden administration’s avowedly aggressive approach to antitrust enforcement, it has challenged a number of high-profile mergers in court over the past two and a half years. While the track record of the...more
11/14/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Biden Administration ,
Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Domestic Dealmaking ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Investment ,
Investors ,
Mergers ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Remedies ,
UK
Boards routinely confront an array of difficult issues. In this issue of The Informed Board, we tackle four of the thorniest and most topical:
- How to preserve the integrity of a deal process where a key fiduciary (say,...more
11/9/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Board of Directors ,
Corporate Governance ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Information Sharing ,
Internal Investigations ,
Investment ,
Investors ,
IRS ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Partnerships ,
Shareholders ,
Wealth Tax
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) released a draft of proposed new merger guidelines today, 18 months after FTC Chair Lina Khan and Assistant Attorney General...more
In the latest setback in the Department Justice Antitrust Division’s (DOJ) attempts to prosecute “no-poach” agreements criminally, a federal judge acquitted from the bench all six defendant employees of aerospace engineering...more
In October, the Department of Justice Antitrust Division announced its first criminal attempted monopolization charges in more than 40 years. In the case, U.S. v. Zito, Nathan Nephi Zito, the owner of a Montana paving...more
12/1/2022
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Division ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Guilty Pleas ,
Monopolization ,
Section 2 ,
Sherman Act
As the Biden Administration enters its second year, the White House and antitrust enforcers at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) continue to focus on the intersection between antitrust and...more
In a September 22, 2021, memorandum to staff, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan formally laid out her “Vision and Priorities for the FTC,” reaffirming her calls for broad antitrust enforcement organized around...more
Over the course of his first six months in office, President Joe Biden has signaled a clear commitment to reinvigorate antitrust enforcement. On July 9, 2021, he took his most specific and comprehensive action on the subject...more
On June 28, 2021, Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted Facebook’s motions to dismiss two parallel antitrust complaints filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and a group...more
7/12/2021
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Facebook ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Instagram ,
Laches ,
Monopolization ,
Sherman Act ,
Social Media ,
The Clayton Act ,
WhatsApp
As anticipated, on June 15, 2021, the U.S. Senate confirmed Lina Khan’s appointment to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Unexpectedly, within hours of her confirmation, President Joe Biden named her FTC chair. Ms. Khan...more
On August 11, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decisively reversed the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC or Commission) controversial district court win challenging Qualcomm’s licensing practices. In...more
8/18/2020
/ Anticompetitive Behavior ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Appeals ,
Cell Phones ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FRAND ,
FTC Act ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
IP License ,
Lack of Evidence ,
Monopolization ,
OEM ,
Patent Royalties ,
Qualcomm ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Sherman Act ,
Standard Essential Patents
On April 22, 2020, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals vacated and remanded an order certifying a class of direct purchaser plaintiffs in In re: Lamictal Direct Purchaser Antitrust Litigation, holding that the district court...more
4/30/2020
/ Antitrust Injuries ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Appeals ,
Burden of Proof ,
Class Certification ,
Delays ,
Direct Purchasers ,
FRCP 23 ,
FRCP 23(b)(3) ,
Generic Drugs ,
Manufacturers ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Predominance Requirement ,
Remand ,
Reverse Payment Settlement Agreements ,
Vacated ,
Wholesale
On February 25, 2019, in FTC v. Shire ViroPharma, Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit confirmed that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) cannot plead its way into federal court via Section 13(b) of the FTC...more
3/2/2019
/ Administrative Proceedings ,
Administrative Remedies ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Appeals ,
Disgorgement ,
Dismissals ,
Federal Pleading Requirements ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Generic Drugs ,
Illegal Profits ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Remedies ,
Restitution ,
Unfair Competition
The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Federal Trade Commission v. Actavis, Inc. triggered a flurry of judicial activity in relation to pharmaceutical patent settlements allegedly involving reverse payments from patent...more
U.S. and European antitrust agencies had similar enforcement priorities last year, a trend we expect to continue in 2014. Nonmerger enforcement will continue to focus on intellectual property, financial services and...more
1/30/2014
/ Anticompetitive Agreements ,
Antitrust Conspiracies ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Class Action ,
Comcast v. Behrend ,
Conspiracies ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FRAND ,
FTC v Actavis ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Trolls ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
SCOTUS ,
Standard Essential Patents