During their last week in office, and over the vigorous dissent of Republican FTC commissioners, Biden administration antitrust officials unveil new guidelines intended to replace the 2016 Antitrust Guidance for Human...more
1/22/2025
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employees ,
Employment Contract ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Franchises ,
Independent Contractors ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants
2024 was a significant year for merger enforcement worldwide. In the United States, the Biden administration continued the aggressive approach reflected in the revamped Merger Guidelines issued in December 2023. In Europe,...more
The Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") unanimously issued a final rule expanding the requirements of premerger filings under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements ("HSR") Act of 1976. The HSR Act requires parties to...more
10/15/2024
/ Acquisition Agreements ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Corporate Sales Transactions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Merger Agreements ,
Merger Controls ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements ,
Premerger Notifications
The Development: China's Supreme People's Court ("SPC") recently released a Judicial Interpretation of Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Civil Dispute Cases Arising from Monopolistic Conduct...more
7/18/2024
/ Anti-Monopoly ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
China ,
Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Judicial Interpretation ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Risk Assessment
The Background: The Australian Federal Treasurer recently announced sweeping reforms to Australia's merger review regime. These reforms will overhaul the current merger review regime in Australia to introduce mandatory filing...more
China doubled its merger notification thresholds effective on January 26, 2024.
China's State Council recently published new merger control notification thresholds doubling the previous China revenue thresholds in an...more
As expected, the final guidelines expand the types of transactions that may receive heightened scrutiny or result in a merger challenge....more
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division (“DOJ”) recently introduced proposed revisions to the existing merger guidelines. The new draft guidelines, if enacted in a form similar...more
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division (“DOJ”) have proposed to expand dramatically the scope and burden of preparing a merger filing in the United States. The proposed changes...more
7/26/2023
/ Acquisition Agreements ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Corporate Sales Transactions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Merger Agreements ,
Merger Controls ,
NPRM ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements
The European Parliament ("EP") and Council formally adopted the Digital Markets Act ("DMA") in July 2022, imposing new behavioral obligations on large digital platforms qualifying as "gatekeepers." The final agreement...more
The EU General Court ("GC") annulled the European Commission's €1.06 billion antitrust fine imposed on Intel in 2009 for allegedly abusing its dominant position in x86 Central Processing Units ("CPUs") by offering loyalty...more
1/27/2022
/ Abuse of Dominance ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Customer-Loyalty Programs ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Intel ,
Technology Sector
Saudi Arabia competition authority blocks its first transaction under the Kingdom's 2019 Competition Law.
The Saudi Arabian General Authority for Competition ("GAC") announced this week that its board had blocked Delivery...more
What Is the FTC's New "Prior Approval" Policy? At the end of an FTC investigation into the competitive impact of a merger, the agency may (i) take no action (allowing the parties to close), (ii) challenge the transaction...more
11/4/2021
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Sales Transactions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Merger Controls ,
Policy Management ,
Policy Statement ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Approval ,
Regulatory Reform
Expansion of FTC's Interpretation of Its Antitrust Enforcement Authority -The Commission majority has reinvigorated a longstanding but dormant debate about the bounds of the FTC's authority under Section 5 of the FTC Act....more
President Biden recently signed an Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy (the "Order") outlining 72 initiatives by more than a dozen federal agencies to combat "excessive" corporate consolidation...more
The Development: The Bundestag, the German legislature, amended Germany's antitrust laws to include special competition rules for digital platform "companies with overwhelming importance for competition across multiple...more
The Development: The U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") and a divided Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") released the final version of their Vertical Merger Guidelines, the first revision in more than 35 years. The Guidelines...more
7/15/2020
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Defense Strategies ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Diagonal Mergers ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Guidelines ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Supply Chain ,
Vertical Mergers
Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") and Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") issued draft Vertical Merger Guidelines. Vertical mergers combine two or more companies operating at different levels of a supply chain...more
1/24/2020
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Comment Period ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Draft Guidance ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Horizontal Merger Guidelines ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Public Comment ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Vertical Mergers