Antitrust & Trade Regulation, Commercial Law & Contracts

Demystifying European Antitrust Law

by Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati on 5/17/2013

In the first of a series of WSGR Alerts, the firm's Brussels attorneys outline the European Commission's proposed changes to the antitrust rules on licensing patents, software, know-how, and other intellectual property....more

FTC confirms continued commitment to vigorous enforcement in letter to CFPB

by Barbara S. Mishkin | Ballard Spahr LLP on 5/16/2013

In its annual letter to the CFPB on its 2012 administrative and enforcement activities related to Regulations B (ECOA), E (Electronic Fund Transfers), Z (TILA) and M (Consumer Leasing), the FTC stressed that it is “committed...more

United States Supreme Court Victory for St. Louis-Based Monsanto

by Williams Venker & Sanders on 5/16/2013

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion, has held in favor of Monsanto on a patent infringement suit arising from the St. Louis-based company's Roundup Ready soybean seeds. Monsanto invented and patented a genetic...more

FTC Rules that “Randomized Clinical Trial” Evidence is Necessary to Support Advertising Claims for Juice Beverage and Related...

by J. Michael Keyes, Suzan Onel | K&L Gates LLP on 5/15/2013

I. Introduction - If you represent food and beverage manufacturers who advertise their products, you will want to be familiar with In the Matter of POM Wonderful LLC, a recent decision by the Federal Trade Commission...more

FCC Clarifies Companies' Liability for Third-Party Marketer TCPA Violations

by Ronald London | Davis Wright Tremaine LLP on 5/15/2013

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued a long-awaited declaratory ruling governing when a company is liable under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), and FCC telemarketing and autodialing rules, for...more

July 1 COPPA Compliance Deadline is Approaching

by Julia Siripurapu | Mintz Levin - Privacy & Security on 5/15/2013

Today, the FTC sent more than ninety (90) “educational” letters to domestic and foreign businesses whose Web sites and online services (including mobile apps) appear to collect personal information from children that are 12...more

FTC Annual Letter to the CFPB

by Brian J. Hurh | Davis Wright Tremaine LLP on 5/15/2013

The FTC recently released its annual letter to the CFPB on recent FTC enforcement actions related to the Truth in Lending Act, the Consumer Leasing Act, the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act....more

NC Governor Signs Law Banning Most Favored Nations Provisions in Health Care Contracts

by Jonathan Lewis, Lee Simowitz | BakerHostetler on 5/14/2013

Despite opposition and Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina’s claim that it “has not used ‘most favored nation’ clauses in [its] new contracts and in fact [they are] not part of our strategy to use those clauses on...more

FTC Denies Requests to Extend Effective Date for COPPA Rule Revisions

by Ronald London | Davis Wright Tremaine LLP on 5/14/2013

The FTC has voted to retain the July 1, 2013 effective date for the revisions to its Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA Rule), shortly after issuing revised “Frequently Asked Questions” (FAQs) to aid compliance...more

California Court of Appeal Allows Injunction Under Unfair Competition Law To Prevent Horizontal Competitor From Diverting Business...

by Thomas Nevins | Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP on 5/14/2013

For many years, California’s Unfair Competition Law had no traditional standing requirements. But since the passage of Proposition 64 in 2004, standing has been required, and standing continues to be litigated regularly. In...more

OCC, FDIC Announce Overdraft Enforcement Actions

by BuckleySandler LLP on 5/13/2013

On April 30, the OCC and the FDIC announced parallel enforcement actions against a national bank and an affiliated state bank to resolve allegations that the institutions violated Section 5 of the FTC Act in their marketing...more

The Compliance Stepchild: Antitrust

by Michael Volkov on 5/13/2013

Let’s try and put this all in perspective. Last fiscal year, the Antitrust Division collected over $1 billion in criminal fines and sent a number of senior executives to prison. ...more

FTC’s revised COPPA rules go into effect July 1, 2013

by Thompson Coburn LLP on 5/9/2013

On May 6, 2013, the FTC unanimously decided that the revised Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) will go into effect on July 1, 2013, as announced last December. Several industry organizations had asked the...more

More Evidence that California May No Longer Follow the Per Se Rule in Vertical Pricing Fixing Cases

by Howard Ullman on 5/9/2013

In Kaewsawang v. Sara Lee Fresh, Inc., Case No. BC360109 (Cal. Los Angeles Superior Ct. May 6, 2013), the trial court dismissed a challenge to Sara Lee’s pricing practices brought under California’s state antitrust law, the...more

CFPB, FTC Announce Roundtable On Data Integrity In Debt Collection

by BuckleySandler LLP on 5/8/2013

On May 1, the FTC and the CFPB announced a roundtable to “examine the flow of consumer data throughout the debt collection process” and discuss (i) the amount of documentation and other information currently available to...more

DOJ Announces Changes to Antitrust Division’s “Carve Out” Practice

by Erik Raven-Hansen | BakerHostetler on 5/7/2013

On April 12, 2013, the Department of Justice announced changes to the Antitrust Division’s carve out practices concerning negotiations with companies that plead guilty to criminal antitrust violations. These changes were...more

FTC on COPPA: No Delay

by Mintz Levin - Privacy & Security on 5/7/2013

This afternoon, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) unanimously rejected requests from industry organizations to delay the July 1 date for compliance with the amendments to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)....more

Criminal Antitrust Update - April 2013

by Andrew Friedman, Hannibal G. Williams II Kemerer | Patton Boggs LLP on 5/6/2013

INDUSTRY SCORECARD - E-books: Macmillan has become the latest and final major e-book publisher to resolve price-fixing allegations by the DOJ Antitrust Division (the “Division”)...more

CFPB/FTC target debt collection data in June 6 roundtable

by Alan S. Kaplinsky | Ballard Spahr LLP on 5/6/2013

The CFPB and FTC have announced that they will co-host a roundtable on June 6, 2013 in Washington, D.C. to examine the flow of consumer data throughout the debt collection process. Titled “Life of a Debt: Data Integrity in...more

Insurance Antitrust Legal News - May 2013 • Volume 2, Number 3

by James M. Burns | Dickinson Wright on 5/2/2013

In This Issue: - STATE EFFORTS TO RESTRICT HEALTH INSURER USE OF “MOST FAVORED NATION” CLAUSES IN PROVIDER CONTRACTS CONTINUE TO MULTIPLY: Over the last several years, several states have considered legislation...more

Previously Banned Fees Charged to Consumers Now Permissible for Visa and MasterCard Transactions

by Patrick Horan | Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP on 5/1/2013

In November 2012, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York preliminarily approved a settlement agreement in the In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation. As a result,...more

FTC Updates COPPA FAQs

by BuckleySandler LLP on 4/30/2013

On April 25, the FTC issued updated FAQs on the recently amended Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule. ...more

Most Favored Nation ("MFN") Pricing Draws Scrutiny as Potential Anticompetitive Practice

by James McKeown | Foley & Lardner LLP on 4/29/2013

An interesting and growing debate in the antitrust arena is whether most favored nation (“MFN”) pricing provisions are pro-competitive or anticompetitive. For many years, MFN provisions have been considered a fairly...more

Glencore’s Long March to Take Over Xstrata

by Rebecca Campbell, Patrick Ma, John Tivey | White & Case LLP on 4/29/2013

At long last, Glencore has overcome the final regulatory hurdle and secured the approval of China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) to acquire the 66 percent of Xstrata that it does not already own. But not before agreeing to...more

DOJ Narrows "Carve Out" Practice Regarding Corporate Plea Agreements

by William M. Regan | Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP on 4/26/2013

Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer in charge of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division recently announced changes to the division’s “carve-out practice” regarding corporate plea agreements. The changes aim to...more

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Antitrust & Trade Regulation › Commercial Law & Contracts