The American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section’s annual Spring Meeting concluded on April 12. The annual Spring Meeting featured updates from federal, state and international antitrust enforcers and extensive discussion...more
4/15/2024
/ American Bar Association (ABA) ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Biden Administration ,
Competition ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
FDIC ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
No-Poaching ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Robinson-Patman Act ,
Settlement ,
Sherman Act ,
The Clayton Act
The American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section’s annual Spring Meeting is underway in Washington, DC. The annual Spring Meeting features updates from federal, state and international antitrust enforcers and extensive...more
4/12/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
American Bar Association (ABA) ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Buyers ,
Corporate Governance ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Healthcare ,
Mergers ,
Popular ,
Private Equity ,
Proposed Rules ,
Remedies ,
Section 8
UNITED STATES -
Wilson Resigns as FTC Commissioner -
On February 14, the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) lone Republican commissioner, Christine Wilson, announced that she was resigning. Wilson explained her decision...more
4/21/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
American Bar Association (ABA) ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Foreign Subsidies ,
Healthcare ,
Horizontal Mergers ,
Investigations ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Private Equity ,
Settlement Agreements ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld a jury verdict finding a dietary supplement company liable for misappropriating another company’s research and development (R&D) related to broccoli-seed extract. Caudill...more
JANUARY – MARCH 2022: HIGHLIGHTS -
UNITED STATES -
• The US antitrust agencies continue with their aggressive merger enforcement posture. The agencies challenged four transactions this quarter, including multiple...more
5/6/2022
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Investigations ,
Merger Controls ,
Merger Remedies ,
Mergers ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
WHAT HAPPENED -
- On back-to-back days this month, defendants charged and prosecuted by the US Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (the DOJ) were acquitted on all Sherman Act charges in first-of-their-kind criminal...more
4/26/2022
/ Antitrust Division ,
Bid Rigging ,
Compliance Monitoring ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Investigations ,
Market Allocation Scheme ,
No-Poaching ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Sherman Act ,
Wage-Fixing
On April 7 and 8, 2022, the American Bar Association’s Antitrust Law Section wrapped up its annual Spring Meeting. The event featured updates and remarks from several antitrust enforcers, including FTC Chair Lina Khan and US...more
4/12/2022
/ Acquisitions ,
American Bar Association (ABA) ,
Antitrust Division ,
Biden Administration ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
FTCA Section 13(b) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements
This week, the American Bar Association’s Antitrust Law Section kicked off its annual Spring Meeting in Washington, DC, which features updates from the antitrust enforcers and substantive discussions on today’s most pressing...more
4/8/2022
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Cartels ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Healthcare ,
Horizontal Merger Guidelines ,
Mergers ,
No-Poaching ,
The Clayton Act ,
Vertical Mergers ,
Wage-Fixing
The US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division (Division) has continued to actively investigate and pursue alleged criminal violations of antitrust laws and collusive activity in government procurement. US Attorney...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a jury verdict finding that a standard essential patent (SEP) owner did not breach its commitment to license its SEPs on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND)...more
In the United States, despite requesting additional time to review pending mergers, the US antitrust agencies have continued their work through the COVID-19 pandemic. The Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade...more
9/3/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Customers ,
Deadlines ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Investigations ,
Mergers ,
Remote Depositions ,
Remote Hearings ,
Settlement Agreements ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ,
UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) ,
Videoconference
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated a district court decision that found Qualcomm’s patent licensing practices violate antitrust laws and reversed a permanent, worldwide injunction against several of...more
8/27/2020
/ Appeals ,
Certiorari ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FRAND ,
IP License ,
OEM ,
Patents ,
Permanent Injunctions ,
Reversal ,
Standard Essential Patents ,
Vacated
DOJ is open to companies collaborating outside of the presence of government to find creative solutions to combat COVID-19 as long as they commit to adequate antitrust safeguards...more
The DOJ Antitrust Division’s recent challenge to the United Technologies/Raytheon merger highlights a few key considerations for antitrust reviews of aerospace and defense industry transactions. The case is a useful...more
The Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) was active in 2019. At the beginning of 2019, the DOJ was preparing for trial in six matters and had 91 pending grand jury investigations. Throughout 2019, the DOJ made...more
Last month, the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released updated Vertical Merger Guidelines in draft form. These guidelines provide a useful resource for aerospace and defense...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is considering a rulemaking to address the use of non-compete provisions in employment contracts. On January 9, 2020, the FTC held a day-long workshop to start a public conversation on...more
The US antitrust regulators continue to challenge consummated transactions. On January 3, 2020, the FTC filed an administrative complaint against Axon Enterprise, Inc., challenging its consummated acquisition of VieVu, a...more
1/20/2020
/ Acquisitions ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements
WHAT HAPPENED:
• On September 4, 2019, the US Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (DOJ) sued to block Novelis Inc.’s proposed $2.6 billion acquisition of Aleris Corporation.
• DOJ alleged that the transaction would...more
10/14/2019
/ ABS ,
Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitrators ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Divestiture ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Mergers
Standard-essential patent holders and implementers may face uncertainty regarding licensing practices following a May 23 Texas court ruling. In the ruling, a Texas federal judge reached a conclusion different from a recent...more
6/4/2019
/ Declaratory Judgments ,
FRAND ,
FTC Act ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
IP License ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Royalties ,
Patents ,
Qualcomm ,
Smartphones ,
Standard Essential Patents
Yesterday, a California federal judge ruled in favor of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in its suit against Qualcomm in a much-anticipated decision, concluding that Qualcomm violated the FTC Act by maintaining its monopoly...more
UNITED STATES: JANUARY - MARCH 2019 UPDATE -
In the first quarter of 2019, vertical merger enforcement continued to be a hot topic for the US antitrust agencies. The Court of Appeals upheld the district court’s decision in...more
5/14/2019
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Foreign Direct Investment ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
New Guidance ,
Threshold Requirements ,
Vertical Mergers
A game of “hot potato” between the US Courts of Appeals for the Federal and Fifth Circuits has been resolved, ending a disagreement over the scope of the Federal Circuit’s jurisdiction. After a patent infringement defendant...more
On February 15, a Texas federal jury found that Ericsson did not breach its obligation to offer HTC licenses to its standard-essential patents (SEPs) on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms. The verdict ended...more
2/25/2019
/ Breach of Contract ,
Ericsson ,
FRAND ,
HTC ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
IP License ,
Jury Verdicts ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Royalties ,
Patents ,
Royalties ,
Standard Essential Patents
On January 28, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had accepted a proposed settlement with office supply distributors Staples and Essendant in connection with Staples’ proposed $482.7 million acquisition...more