The Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division — for the third time in the span of a year — recently failed to convince a jury that alleged agreements to fix or stabilize labor markets should be punished criminally. It...more
On November 10, 2022, the FTC issued a Policy Statement Regarding the Scope of Unfair Methods of Competition Under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act that revisited the Commission’s decades-long enforcement...more
In October, the Department of Justice Antitrust Division announced its first criminal attempted monopolization charges in more than 40 years. In the case, U.S. v. Zito, Nathan Nephi Zito, the owner of a Montana paving...more
12/1/2022
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Division ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Guilty Pleas ,
Monopolization ,
Section 2 ,
Sherman Act
As the Biden Administration enters its second year, the White House and antitrust enforcers at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) continue to focus on the intersection between antitrust and...more
More than four years after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) jointly released the Antitrust Guidance for Human Resource Professionals in 2016 (Antitrust Guidance), the DOJ has...more
2/22/2021
/ Antitrust Conspiracies ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Indictments ,
No-Poaching ,
Sherman Act ,
Wage-Fixing
On August 11, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decisively reversed the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC or Commission) controversial district court win challenging Qualcomm’s licensing practices. In...more
8/18/2020
/ Anticompetitive Behavior ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Appeals ,
Cell Phones ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FRAND ,
FTC Act ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
IP License ,
Lack of Evidence ,
Monopolization ,
OEM ,
Patent Royalties ,
Qualcomm ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Sherman Act ,
Standard Essential Patents
Federal district courts around the country continue to grapple with how to analyze “no-poach” agreements — whereby two or more companies agree not to hire or recruit each other’s workers — under the antitrust laws. Beginning...more
5/2/2020
/ Antitrust Violations ,
Defense Contracts ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discovery ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Contractors ,
Franchisee ,
Franchisors ,
Hub-and-Spoke Conspiracy ,
No-Poaching ,
Per Se Rule ,
Popular ,
Restraint of Trade ,
Rule-of-Reason Analysis ,
Sherman Act ,
Standard of Review
Legal battles over the antitrust treatment of no-poach agreements continue to escalate with new district court decisions and new pronouncements from two “titans” of antitrust policy, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the...more
6/10/2019
/ AAI ,
American Antitrust Institute ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Dominos ,
Fast-Food Industry ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Franchisee ,
Franchisors ,
Hub-and-Spoke Conspiracy ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
No-Poaching ,
Per Se Rule ,
Quick Look Analysis ,
Rule-of-Reason Analysis ,
Sherman Act ,
Vertical Restraints
Evolving antitrust treatment of so-called “no-poach” agreements continues to offer important guidance for company counsel and human resources professionals. Over the past two years, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has...more
2/12/2019
/ Antitrust Violations ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Penalties ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fast-Food Industry ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Franchisee ,
Franchises ,
Franchisors ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Horizontal Restraint ,
Hub-and-Spoke Conspiracy ,
No-Poaching ,
Pleading Standards ,
Rule-of-Reason Analysis ,
Sherman Act ,
Universities
In recent weeks, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson has continued to expand his efforts to eradicate the use of no-poach agreements by employers. The targets of his investigation are companies that have included...more
10/18/2018
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Fast-Food Industry ,
Former Employee ,
Franchise Agreements ,
Franchisee ,
Franchisors ,
Hiring & Firing ,
No-Poaching ,
Sherman Act ,
State Attorneys General ,
State Labor Laws
Fifteen months after the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced its intention to criminally pursue no-poaching agreements — in which competitors agree not to recruit or hire each other’s employees —...more
4/25/2018
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Criminal Antitrust Litigation ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
No-Hire/No-Solicitation Agreements ,
No-Poaching ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Rule-of-Reason Analysis ,
Sherman Act ,
Technology Sector
Last week, in In re: Processed Egg Products Antitrust Litigation, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued a decision holding that purchasers of processed egg products have standing to seek damages from egg...more
2/9/2018
/ Agricultural Sector ,
Antitrust Conspiracies ,
Appeals ,
Apportionment ,
Damages ,
Price-Fixing ,
Reversal ,
Sherman Act ,
Standing ,
Summary Judgment ,
Supply Contracts