Even before the COVID-19 crisis, artificial intelligence and algorithms, particularly in the context of pricing, were a focus of the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. With the...more
COVID-19 has disrupted supply and demand for public health products and other essential goods and services. In response to surging demand, prices for many of these items have increased sharply. These increases have drawn...more
The US Department of Justice Antitrust Division and Federal Trade Commission issued a joint statement on Tuesday, March 24, making clear to the public that “firms, including competitors, can engage in procompetitive...more
Antitrust FAQs for Merging Parties -
What modifications have the FTC and DOJ made for transactions reportable under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act? Will timing to receive HSR clearance be impacted?...more
Basic threshold $94 million effective February 27 -
Filing thresholds under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act will increase 4.4%, effective February 27, 2020, based on the change in the US gross national product during 2019. The...more
1/30/2020
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Fees ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Size of Persons Test ,
Size of Transaction Test ,
Threshold Requirements
In the wake of record-setting volume and value metrics in 2018, practitioners eyed the 2019 deal market with healthy skepticism. Despite a slight downward tick in momentum and overall deal statistics, 2019 remained a robust,...more
2019 was a banner year for billion-dollar life sciences M&A transactions. A wave of big-ticket transactions by global pharmaceutical companies drove life sciences M&A activity to its fourth-largest year on record in 2019,...more
The Federal Trade Commission has promised vigorous antitrust enforcement in life sciences industries, with Chairman Joe Simons promising a "robust program to identify and stop anticompetitive conduct, especially in the...more
Basic threshold now $90 million -
Filing thresholds under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act will increase in mid-March by approximately 6.6%, based on the change in the US gross national product. The most critical threshold, which...more
As 2019 kicks off, the Cooley antitrust group highlights 10 recent developments and trends corporate counsel should be aware of – from the US Supreme Court and lower courts, the Department of Justice and Federal Trade...more
1/10/2019
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FRAND ,
Mergers ,
Patents ,
Popular ,
Sherman Act ,
The Clayton Act ,
UK Brexit
High-tech antitrust enforcement is at the top of the Trump administration antitrust enforcement agenda, including challenges to mergers affecting technology platforms and the pharma and life sciences industries. Statements by...more
1. Trump’s appointments set the antitrust agenda for 2018 -
Almost a year into the Trump Administration, leadership at the Department of Justice Antitrust Division is now set. The Senate confirmed Makan Delrahim as...more
1/25/2018
/ Antitrust Division ,
Cartels ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
IP License ,
No-Poaching ,
Ohio v American Express ,
Popular ,
Price-Fixing ,
Trump Administration ,
Vertical Mergers ,
Wage-Fixing
On January 19, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission announced its annual revisions to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ("HSR") jurisdictional thresholds, increasing key thresholds approximately 3.3% to reflect changes in the gross...more
1/25/2017
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Fees ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Interlocking Directorate ,
Mergers ,
Reporting Requirements ,
The Clayton Act ,
Threshold Requirements ,
Voting Securities
1. Transition to a Trump Administration is top of the agenda -
President-elect Donald Trump's DOJ and FTC transition team appointments and public short list of candidates to run the agencies indicate that antitrust...more
1/12/2017
/ Antitrust Division ,
Big Data ,
CFIUS ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Mergers ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Trump Administration ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ,
Wage-Fixing
Last month, the FTC and DOJ issued a set of antitrust guidelines addressing certain employment and compensation practices that are most likely to occur in the high-tech and healthcare industries where highly-skilled employees...more
On October 20, 2016, the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) jointly released important guidance aimed at informing human resource (HR) professionals (and others...more
The Department of Justice Antitrust Division announced on July 12 that ValueAct Capital agreed to pay a record $11 million civil penalty to settle claims that ValueAct purchased over $2.5 billion in Halliburton and Baker...more
Failure to comply with the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 ("HSR Act") is about to get a lot more expensive.
Effective August 1, 2016, the maximum civil penalty for noncompliance with the premerger...more
Filing thresholds under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act will increase by about 2.5%, effective February 25, 2016, raising the level that a transaction's value must exceed to trigger a filing from $76.3 million to $78.2...more
Attention in the US during 2016 will be on the presidential campaign, and the election in November will bring a change in the "antitrust guard" at the top of the DOJ and FTC – even if a Democrat wins – that will drive the...more
1/12/2016
/ China ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Penalties ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disgorgement ,
Drug Pricing ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FRAND ,
Mergers ,
MOFCOM ,
Patent Assertion Entities ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Popular ,
Price-Fixing ,
Standard Essential Patents ,
Technology Sector
On Friday, October 30, 2015, the Federal Trade Commission conducted a workshop in Washington, DC on lead generation practices, with a specific consumer protection focus on activities in the higher education sector including...more
While acquisitions of up to 10% of the voting interest in a target that are made "solely for the purpose of investment" are in many circumstances exempt from Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) reporting requirements, even when the value...more
8/27/2015
/ Acquisitions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Investment Portfolios ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Size of Transaction Test ,
Threshold Requirements ,
Voting Securities ,
Yahoo!
Filing thresholds under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act will increase by about half a percent (0.5%) effective February 20, 2015. The new, higher thresholds apply to all transactions closing on or after that date but before...more