The re-election of former President Donald J. Trump is poised to significantly alter the landscape of antitrust enforcement, particularly within the energy and chemical industries. While the incoming administration has yet to...more
1/16/2025
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Bid Rigging ,
Biden Administration ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Emergency Response ,
Energy Sector ,
Enforcement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
Monopolization ,
Natural Disasters ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Oil & Gas ,
Presidential Appointments ,
Renewable Energy ,
Statutory Authority ,
Trump Administration
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has revised the thresholds that govern pre-merger notification requirements under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (“HSR Act”), and Section 8 of the...more
1/14/2025
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Directors ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Requirements ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Interlocking Directorate ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Section 8 ,
The Clayton Act
On Friday, January 10, 2025, the Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable, American Investment Council, and Longview Chamber of Commerce filed a complaint in the Eastern District of Texas against the Federal Trade Commission...more
1/14/2025
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Regulatory Requirements
The incoming Trump administration suggests a potential return to more traditional levels of antitrust enforcement for energy industry mergers and a departure from novel theories of harm seen under current Federal Trade...more
1/8/2025
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Biden Administration ,
Competition ,
Corporate Governance ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Emerging Technologies ,
Energy Sector ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Oil & Gas ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
The Clayton Act ,
Trump Administration
On August 20, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas entered a final judgment (“Order”) setting aside, on a nationwide basis, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) final rule (“Rule”) prohibiting...more
8/22/2024
/ Competition ,
Confidential Information ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants
For companies in the energy and chemical sectors, the potential for antitrust scrutiny is an ever-present concern. The next round of enforcement inquiries is never further away than the next jump in commodity prices or the...more
1/15/2024
/ Antitrust Division ,
Collusion ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Divestiture ,
Energy Commissions ,
Energy Sector ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Interlocking Directorate ,
Mergers ,
Oversight Committee ,
Private Equity
Participants in the renewable energy industry should be aware of antitrust and competition rules because renewable energy is no longer a nascent field. Europe generated almost 40% of its electricity from renewable sources in...more
11/13/2023
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Bid Rigging ,
Boycotts ,
CFIUS ,
Competition ,
Corporate Financing Rule ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FERC ,
Filed-Rate Doctrine ,
FIRRMA ,
Green Energy ,
Gun-Jumping ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Hedging ,
Institutional Investors ,
Interlocking Directorate ,
Investors ,
ISOs ,
Merger Controls ,
Price-Fixing ,
Renewable Energy ,
Restructuring
On September 18, 2023 the UK Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) published its initial report regarding competition and consumer protection issues implicated by artificial intelligence (“AI”) foundation models (the “CMA...more
On June 29, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) Bureau of Competition and Office of Technology published a joint blog post that provided deeper insight into the FTC’s focus on competition in generative artificial...more
The European Commission (the “EC”) recently adopted new guidelines that outline the antitrust assessment of agreements between competitors related to environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) initiatives, including...more
On May 24, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) announced that it is establishing a new office, the Office of Competition and Innovation, as part of a broader initiative to promote competition in the...more
On March 9, 2022, President Joe Biden issued an Executive Order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets that directs federal officials to consider the effects of “distributed ledger technology,” popularly known...more
In a recent exchange of letters with the White House, the chair of the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) signaled her intent to ramp up antitrust enforcement in the oil and gas industry. The move comes as part of a broader...more
9/7/2021
/ Acquisition Agreements ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Biden Administration ,
Competition ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Gas Prices ,
Infrastructure ,
Merger Agreements ,
Oil & Gas ,
Oil Prices ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Unfair Competition
On March 16, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced its plans to initiate an international working group that will “identify concrete and actionable steps to review and update the analysis of pharmaceutical...more