Introduction A recent ruling condemning price discrimination for a popular eye drop brand is yet another reminder that companies cannot afford to ignore antitrust risk under the Robinson-Patman Act (RPA), a longstanding law...more
Anyone trying to score tickets to Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour is familiar with the political backlash following Ticketmaster’s inability to handle “unprecedented” demand for the concert series. The U.S. Department of Justice...more
In January of this year, the attorneys general of Tennessee and Virginia filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA). The lawsuit seeks to prevent the NCAA from enforcing...more
2/20/2024
/ Antitrust Litigation ,
College Athletes ,
Compensation ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Football ,
Name and Likeness ,
NCAA ,
Recruitment Policies ,
Student Athletes ,
Technology
The staff of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Bureau of Competition issued a statement on June 15, 2023, sternly criticizing the use of confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements that “impede” the FTC’s ability to conduct...more
7/11/2023
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Competition ,
Competition Authorities ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employees ,
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Interviews ,
NLRB ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
President Biden signed into law H.R. 2617, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 on December 29, 2022. This new legislation includes the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2022 (MFFMA), which amends the amounts and...more
2/3/2023
/ Antitrust Division ,
Biden Administration ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Fees ,
Foreign Subsidiaries ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
New Legislation ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently announced its annual adjustments to the pre-merger notification thresholds under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (the HSR Act) and interlocking directorate...more
Taylor Swift fans seeking to score tickets to the superstar’s highly anticipated “Eras” tour were outraged when Ticketmaster could not handle what it dubbed “unprecedented” demand. In response, Taylor Swift bemoaned, “It’s...more
Antitrust compliance programs that are tailored to a company’s culture, line of business, and competitive conditions have long been worth their weight in gold. But as 2022 draws to a close, a looming economic slowdown and an...more
11/16/2022
/ Antitrust Violations ,
Appeals ,
Class Action ,
Collusion ,
Compliance ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Price-Fixing ,
Settlement ,
Sherman Act ,
The Clayton Act ,
Wage-Fixing
A group of 11 professional golfers launched an antitrust suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against the PGA Tour, Inc. (the PGA Tour) on August 3, 2022...more
Continuing its prolific run of indictments, guilty pleas, and convictions, on July 13, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF or Strike Force) secured a guilty plea from a Texas...more
7/26/2022
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Bid Rigging ,
Convictions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Contractors ,
Fraudulent Procurement ,
Procurement Collusion Strike Force ,
Sherman Act ,
White Collar Crimes
A federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has held that an antitrust challenge to a “hiring restriction [that] prevented” plaintiff employees “from taking a better-paying position with a...more
7/6/2022
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fast-Food Industry ,
Franchise Agreements ,
Franchises ,
Hiring & Firing ,
No-Poaching
A proposed healthcare acquisition was abandoned following the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC or the Commission) unanimous vote to oppose the transaction. In the face of 5-0 FTC opposition, New Jersey providers RWJBarnabas...more
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted 5-0 to issue a complaint and accept a proposed order for public comment regarding private equity fund JAB Consumer Partners SCA SICAR’s (JAB) $1.1 billion acquisition of SAGE...more
6/24/2022
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Investigations ,
Mergers ,
Private Equity ,
Private Equity Funds
The Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) (the Agencies) announced the withdrawal of a 2019...more
The U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division (Antitrust Division) announced several significant updates to its Leniency Policy on April 4, 2022. Under that policy, the first company or individual to report a criminal...more
President Joe Biden issued Executive Order 14036 on Promoting Competition in the American Economy on July 9, 2021. Touting the advantages of an “open and competitive economy,” the executive order highlights how competitive...more
3/31/2022
/ Agricultural Sector ,
Airlines ,
Antitrust Division ,
Automotive Industry ,
Aviation Industry ,
Buyers ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Department of Transportation (DOT) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Executive Orders ,
Farmers ,
Federal Maritime Commission ,
Joe Biden ,
Railways ,
Suppliers ,
USDA
Over the last decade, academics, politicians, civil servants, business elites, and the European public have become concerned that lobbying in the European Union (EU) exacerbates issues of unequal access to political...more
On January 18, 2022, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division (the agencies) launched a joint public inquiry to modernize and strengthen merger enforcement. In...more