In the current economic environment, where tariffs are being discussed, proposed, or implemented, with potential impact on many industries, companies are feeling pressure to rethink or adjust their pricing strategies....more
6/4/2025
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
International Trade ,
Popular ,
Price Gouging ,
Price-Fixing ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariffs ,
Trump Administration ,
US Trade Policies
In the final days of the Biden administration, the FTC and DOJ jointly issued antitrust guidelines on business practices that impact workers that replace the 2016 Antitrust Guidance for Human Resource Professionals, which...more
2/3/2025
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Biden Administration ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employment Contract ,
False Statements ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Franchises ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Reform ,
No-Poaching ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Trump Administration ,
Unfair Competition ,
Wage-Fixing
The new year marks the transition from the Biden administration and its whole-of-government approach to antitrust enforcement, to the return of President Trump. To spearhead his administration’s antitrust enforcement efforts,...more
1/31/2025
/ Algorithms ,
Antitrust Division ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Cartels ,
Collaboration ,
Competition ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Dawn Raids ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Information Sharing ,
Mexican Economic Competition Commission (Cofece) ,
Popular ,
Procurement Collusion Strike Force ,
Technology Sector ,
Trump Administration ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ,
Whistleblowers
Antitrust enforcers and private plaintiffs over the past few years have pursued increasingly aggressive theories of liability based on information exchange and the use of algorithmic pricing and revenue management software....more
12/20/2024
/ Algorithms ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Information Sharing ,
Price-Fixing ,
Rental Property ,
Trump Administration
Judge Ada Brown in the Northern District of Texas has stayed the effective date of the FTC’s Non-Compete Rule and granted plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction against the Rule, effective July 3, 2024. The court found...more
On April 24, 2024, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) promulgated its final rule prohibiting non-competes for most workers in the United States (the “Final Rule”). The Final Rule raises several issues, including...more
5/2/2024
/ Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Franchises ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Nonprofits ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Selling a Business ,
Unfair Competition
On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (the “Commission”) voted to issue its final rule (the “Final Rule”) barring non-competes for most workers in the United States, with exceptions for non-competes entered into in...more
As anticipated, cartel enforcement is ramping up at the start of 2024 and investigations relating to artificial intelligence (AI) are taking center stage. Leadership of both the broader Department of Justice (DOJ) and the...more
4/4/2024
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Bid Rigging ,
Cartels ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Preservation ,
Dawn Raids ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) ,
Merger Controls ,
Mexican Economic Competition Commission (Cofece) ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Popular ,
Price-Fixing ,
Pricing ,
Software ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
On January 26, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (the “Division”) announced that both agencies are updating language in critical documents for civil and criminal...more
The third quarter of 2023 was eventful for both domestic and international cartel enforcers.
In the United States, the Department of Justice (DOJ) continues to revamp policies to sharpen its enforcement efforts. On...more
10/27/2023
/ Anticompetitive Behavior ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Bid Rigging ,
Cartels ,
Collusion ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Dawn Raids ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) ,
Fraud ,
Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) ,
Memorandum of Understanding ,
Mexican Economic Competition Commission (Cofece) ,
Military Contracts ,
Procurement Collusion Strike Force ,
Safe Harbors ,
Self-Reporting ,
Sherman Act ,
World Cup
At this mid-point of 2023, and now several months on from the ABA’s Spring Antitrust conference, there have been several notable developments concerning cartel enforcement, as new leadership settles in at the U.S. Department...more
7/12/2023
/ Abuse of Dominance ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Bid Rigging ,
Cartels ,
Collusion ,
Competition ,
Dawn Raids ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
EU ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Instant Messaging Apps ,
Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Military Contracts ,
No-Poaching ,
Olympics ,
Policy Statement ,
Popular ,
Price-Fixing ,
Procurement Collusion Strike Force ,
Red Bull ,
Wage-Fixing ,
Whistleblowers
Antitrust practitioners from around the world gathered in Washington, D.C. the week of March 27, 2023, for a series of industry meetings, centered around the American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section’s 71st Annual Spring...more
4/11/2023
/ Algorithms ,
Anti-Monopoly ,
Antitrust Division ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Cartels ,
Collusion ,
Competition ,
Consent Decrees ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Instant Messaging Apps ,
Mergers ,
Price-Fixing ,
Robinson-Patman Act ,
Sherman Act ,
Wage-Fixing
On February 2, 2023, the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division, Doha Mekki, announced that the DOJ was withdrawing three policy statements outlining safe...more
On January 4, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced settlements with three companies for their use of employee non-compete restrictions in alleged violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act. Specifically, the FTC...more
On January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a proposed rule broadly seeking to ban non-compete agreements with nearly all U.S. workers, with only limited exceptions. The proposed rule would:
•make it...more
In 2022, antitrust authorities around the world were pursuing more investigations, bringing new types of cases, and making policy changes to spark even more enforcement actions.
In the United States, the Department of...more
12/21/2022
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Bid Rigging ,
Canada ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dawn Raids ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Interlocking Directorate ,
Monopolization ,
No-Poaching ,
OECD ,
Procurement Collusion Strike Force ,
Sherman Act ,
Wage-Fixing
The end of 2021 continued to be a busy time for antitrust enforcers in the U.S. and around the world. Perhaps most notably, in November the Senate confirmed Jonathan Kanter to lead the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust...more
1/26/2022
/ Antitrust Division ,
Bid Rigging ,
Bids ,
Cartels ,
Collusion ,
Construction Contracts ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Dawn Raids ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Mistrial ,
Ocean Transportation System ,
Price-Fixing ,
Sherman Act ,
Supply Chain ,
Trading Plans ,
Tyson Foods ,
Wage-Fixing
“If adopted and implemented by the agencies, the measures [in Biden’s executive order] would amount to the toughest antitrust enforcement that we’ve seen in the U.S. in decades.”
The award-winning women partners of...more
On November 16, 2021, the Senate voted 68–29 to confirm Jonathan Kanter as the Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Kanter’s confirmation is significant because the...more
On July 9, 2021, President Biden signed a sweeping executive order (EO) creating a “whole-of-government competition policy” that directs more than a dozen federal agencies to work in concert with the Department of Justice...more
Are the stars aligning for antitrust reform? President Biden is filling key positions in the White House (Timothy Wu, National Economic Council) and reportedly at the FTC (Lina Khan, commissioner) with lawyers who have...more
On February 4, 2021, Democratic Senator and chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights Amy Klobuchar introduced the Competition and Antitrust Enforcement Reform Act of 2021 (the...more
The Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) recently announced its first-ever criminal wage-fixing prosecution. The DOJ likely intends this case to be a wake-up call to companies, executives, and HR...more
Despite the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the work of antitrust enforcers has continued largely uninterrupted in the second half of 2020. The Department of Justice Antitrust Division (the “Division”) has announced...more
11/3/2020
/ Bid Rigging ,
Confidential Information ,
Criminal Antitrust Litigation ,
Cross-Border ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
DPA ,
FBI ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Market Allocation Scheme ,
Price-Fixing
As the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak continues to unfold, antitrust enforcement agencies worldwide continue to adapt their policies and enforcement, balancing the need to be more permissive about corporations collaborating...more