On August 16, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a motion in limine in its challenge to Kroger’s $24.6 billion acquisition of Albertsons alleging that Albertsons executives intentionally deleted text...more
The Southern District of New York took the extraordinary step of granting competitor Fubo’s effort to preliminarily enjoin the launch of “Venu Sports,” a sports-streaming joint venture between Disney, Fox, and Warner Brothers...more
The "European Antitrust Bimonthly Bulletin" breaks down the major antitrust developments in Europe during the past two months into concise and actionable takeaways....more
11/6/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Cartels ,
Competition ,
Competition Authorities ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Mergers ,
Microsoft ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Sustainability ,
Turkey ,
UK
As the September 30, 2023, deadline for U.S. Congress to enact appropriations to fund the federal government approaches, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) have issued contingency plans...more
The "European Antitrust Bimonthly Bulletin" (EABB) breaks down the major antitrust developments in Europe in the past two months into concise and actionable takeaways. ...more
The two U.S. antitrust authorities—the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (collectively, the “Agencies”)—have jointly proposed new Draft Merger Guidelines to replace...more
The "European Antitrust Bimonthly Bulletin" (EABB) breaks down the major antitrust developments in Europe in the past two months into concise and actionable takeaways....more
On May 17, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) challenged Amgen Inc.’s (Amgen) proposed acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics plc (Horizon). The complaint is significant in three respects....more
On February 2, 2023, Doha Mekki, Principal Deputy Attorney General (DAAG) for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division, announced the agency’s withdrawal of three enforcement policy statements related to...more
2/7/2023
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Data Privacy ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Joint Venture ,
Mergers ,
Personal Information ,
Sherman Act
On January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted 3-1 to propose the Noncompete Clause Rule (the rule), which would ban essentially all noncompete clauses that employers impose on their employees and other workers....more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed an administrative complaint to block Microsoft Corporation’s (Microsoft’s) nearly $70 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Activision), the largest video game acquisition...more
12/13/2022
/ Acquisitions ,
Administrative Complaints ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Gaming ,
Microsoft ,
Online Gaming
In what might be a further expansion of antitrust enforcement of interlocking directorates, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a policy statement announcing that it now interprets Section 5 of the FTC Act to grant it...more
11/15/2022
/ Board of Directors ,
Competition ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Interlocking Directorate ,
Section 5 ,
Sherman Act ,
The Clayton Act ,
Unfair Competition ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
On October 25, 2022, the European Commission (EC) published additional guidance on cartel leniency applications, in the form of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). The FAQs do not change the standard for leniency applications...more
On October 12, 2022, the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) was published in the Official Journal of the European Union, giving clarity as to when the new rules will apply. The DMA will enter into force on November 1, 2022, and it...more
The Federal Trade Commission's (FTC's) in-house administrative law judge (ALJ) has handed the FTC a loss in its suit to reverse the completed acquisition of GRAIL, Inc. by Illumina, Inc. This is the FTC's second high-profile...more
This month, important amendments to the Chinese Anti-Monopoly Law (AML) came into force. Implementing regulations are now being finalized which will provide further detail on each set of changes.1 The Chinese antitrust...more
On July 28, 2022, the Attorney General of the State of New York (NYOAG) flexed its antitrust muscle and brought suit against CVS Health in Manhattan state court. The NYOAG accuses CVS of violating the Donnelly Act, New York's...more
The European General Court (GC) has affirmed a EUR 28 million (USD 32 million) fine against Canon for gun-jumping in connection with Canon's 2019 acquisition of Toshiba's medical device business (TMSC). The GC's decision...more
In anticipation of its new powers to regulate the largest digital platforms, the EU is planning to open a San Francisco base to engage with these companies, which are based mostly in Silicon Valley and the broader Bay Area....more
On April 20, 2022, the UK government announced its intention to introduce new powers for the UK's antitrust and consumer protection regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). These include an expansion of the...more
The European Union (EU) will soon be handed sweeping new rules to regulate the conduct of the largest digital platforms with the long-awaited Digital Markets Act (DMA). Following 15 months of intense negotiations on...more
3/31/2022
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Digital Marketplace ,
Digital Markets Strategy ,
EU ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Popular ,
Targeted Digital Advertising ,
Technology Sector
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has lost the first round of its challenge to Altria Group, Inc.’s (Altria) $12.8 billion acquisition of a 35 percent stake in JUUL Labs, Inc. (JLI). On February 17, 2022, an agency...more
The EU Parliament and the EU Council recently adopted their respective versions of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA), which intend to create new antitrust-related (DMA) and regulatory (DSA) rules...more
The FTC's case against Facebook will be allowed to proceed now that the district court has held its Amended Complaint plausibly alleged violations of Section 2 of the Sherman Act related to Facebook's acquisition of Instagram...more
1/19/2022
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Big Tech ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Facebook ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Instagram ,
Monopolization ,
Sherman Act ,
Social Media ,
WhatsApp
On December 2, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed an administrative complaint against the chip supplier NVIDIA challenging its acquisition of its chip design provider, and leading open-licensing powerhouse, ARM....more