Christine Varney, the new Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust, declared today that antitrust enforcers “cannot sit on the sidelines any longer,” and pledged to pursue a policy of “more vigorous antitrust enforcement in this challenging era.”[1] The key takeaways for business are that under Varney?s leadership there will be:

*Greater scrutiny of conduct by companies with market leading positions, particularly conduct designed to harm competitors.

*Greater scrutiny of IP licensing, distribution and other conduct involving upstream and downstream business partners.

*A willingness to consider new theories of anticompetitive effects, and to become an advocate for stronger antitrust enforcement in the courts, agencies and Congress.

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