Last summer, on June 27, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), with the concurrence of the Department of Justice (DOJ), unveiled proposed new rules governing implementation of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act’s (HSR) premerger...more
Looking back at 2023 mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity, antitrust-related breakup fees continued to be an important tool in allocating antitrust risk between deal parties. These typically take the form of a “reverse”...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced 2024 adjustments to the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) thresholds. These thresholds determine which mergers and acquisitions may be required to be reported to United States federal...more
1/24/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Fees ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements ,
Size of Persons Test ,
Size of Transaction Test ,
Threshold Requirements
In the coming year, Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) Chair Lina Khan and Department of Justice (“DOJ”) Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division Jonathan Kanter are expected to continue to advance a more aggressive...more
1/23/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Cross-Border ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Horizontal Merger Guidelines ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Section 5 ,
Vertical Mergers
Recent trends in antitrust merger enforcement have brought into sharp focus the acquisition of nascent or potential competitors in the technology and life sciences sectors. These deals include so-called “killer acquisitions”...more
On December 18, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) (together, the “agencies”) jointly released their final revised 2023 Merger Guidelines, reflecting modest adjustments...more
12/22/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Draft Guidance ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Horizontal Merger Guidelines ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Vertical Mergers
On Nov. 7, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced it is disputing the listing of more than 100 patents in the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) “Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations,”...more
11/17/2023
/ Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Generic Drugs ,
Healthcare ,
Life Sciences ,
Orange Book ,
Patent Applications ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Technology
On March 22, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a request for information (RFI) seeking public comments on business practices in the cloud computing industry. The RFI focuses on three intertwined aspects of...more
3/30/2023
/ Cloud Computing ,
Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) ,
Competition ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Security ,
European Commission ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Investigations ,
Microsoft ,
Request For Information ,
Technology Sector
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced 2023 adjustments to the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) thresholds. These thresholds determine which mergers and acquisitions must be reported to United States federal antitrust agencies...more
On December 23, 2022, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 (the “Act”) with bipartisan support. In addition to numerous spending provisions totaling $1.7 trillion, the Act includes antitrust-related...more
On December 8, 2022, the same day that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) delivered its opening arguments to a federal judge in California in the FTC’s bid to halt Meta’s acquisition of virtual reality gaming company Within,...more
12/23/2022
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Big Tech ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Facebook ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Microsoft ,
Vertical Mergers ,
Video Games ,
Virtual Reality
The previous year in antitrust enforcement has been marked by rapid change. In many ways this foreshadows things to come in 2023, as antitrust enforcement agencies’ tough rhetoric continues to ramp up into real-world action....more
12/21/2022
/ Acquisitions ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Competition ,
Continuing Legal Education ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
Enforcement ,
Mergers ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Webinars
On July 9, 2021, just days into her tenure as Federal Trade Commission (FTC or Commission) Chair, Lina Khan led the Commission’s charge to rescind the agency’s 2015 policy statement (2015 Statement) on its approach to...more
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced last week that directors at several technology companies have resigned as a consequence of the agency’s renewed focus on overlapping board membership between...more
10/26/2022
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Big Tech ,
Board of Directors ,
Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Internal Investigations ,
Mergers ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Section 8 ,
Startups ,
Technology Sector ,
The Clayton Act
This morning the European Commission (EC) moved to unwind and block Illumina’s $7.1 billion acquisition of Grail. Illumina announced that it intends to appeal the decision. This development comes on the heels of Illumina’s...more
FTC Suit Aspires to Chill M&A-Based Growth by Larger Tech Firms -
Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan has consistently criticized past FTC leadership for being too lenient with Big Tech M&A activity, and for not...more
After months of partisan deadlock, this week Georgetown law professor and privacy scholar Alvaro M. Bedoya was confirmed by the Senate to serve as a member of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Bedoya’s confirmation gives...more
In a departure from past enforcement priorities, the Federal Trade Commission has challenged three vertical mergers over the past year, leading the parties to abandon two of the three deals...more
The Federal Trade Commission announced its 2022 adjustments to the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) thresholds. These thresholds determine which mergers and acquisitions must be reported to United States federal antitrust agencies for...more
Earlier this week, the Federal Trade Commission officially reinstated the practice of including “prior approval” requirements in consent orders settling merger investigation cases by the Commission (the 2021 Statement), the...more
On September 28, 2021, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a blog post outlining the agency’s plans to expand and purportedly strengthen its process for in-depth investigations of transactions (known as “Second...more
On September 10, 2021, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that Fortnite developer Epic Games (Epic) failed to adequately prove its antitrust allegations relating to...more