First EC Fines Imposed for Labour Market and Minority Shareholder Infringements - On 2 June 2025, the European Commission (EC) announced fines on Delivery Hero and Glovo for infringing EU competition law. This is the...more
For decades, California enforcers and politicians have argued for state-level antitrust enforcement activity at a level commensurate with California’s $4.1 trillion economy, the largest state economy in the United States....more
The firm is pleased to distribute the European Antitrust Bimonthly Bulletin, which breaks down the major antitrust developments in Europe in the past two months into concise and actionable takeaways....more
The California Law Revision Commission (CLRC or Commission) staff on January 13, 2025 published its recommendations to the Commission regarding potential reforms to the state’s existing antitrust laws....more
European Commission (EC) Unconditionally Approves Nvidia's Acquisition of Run:ai - On December 20, 2024, the EC unconditionally approved Nvidia's acquisition of Run:ai. Run:ai develops software that helps customers...more
To date, 2024 has not yet seen the type of mega-merger (Pfizer/Seagen) or level of agency enforcement (Sanofi/Maze or Amgen/Horizon) as 2023. But two notable investigations — one still active — show the Federal Trade...more
On 3 September 2024, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that the European Commission (Commission) cannot encourage or accept referrals for below-threshold deals from national competition authorities if those...more
The Minister of Finance recently introduced Bill C-56 to implement certain proposals announced by the Prime Minister designed to lower prices and “make life more affordable” for Canadians. The bill provides details of the...more
The U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division (DOJ), and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (and together, the “Agencies”) have released long-anticipated draft merger guidelines (the “2023 Draft Guidelines”) that...more
On 16 March 2023, the ECJ published its judgment in Towercast (C-449/21), confirming that Article 102 TFEU (which prohibits abuses of a dominant market position) may apply to transactions which fall below national and EU...more
In Short - The Development: The Court of Justice of the European Union ("ECJ") held that national competition authorities ("NCA") may investigate and block an M&A transaction that violates Article 102 of the Treaty on the...more
The long-awaited European Court of Justice's judgment in Towercast confirmed that national competition authorities (and national courts) can apply abuse of dominance rules to mergers that did not trigger EU and national...more
In our super-connected age, we are inundated with information. It can be difficult to select what is really relevant to one’s business. The purpose of this Review is to provide legal counsel and their teams easy...more
As we enter 2023, the European Commission is redoubling its efforts to scrutinise transactions on a variety of bases. The focus has been on the digital sector for some time, but the impact of the Commission’s expanding...more
Europe’s first legislative proposal addressing the digital economy and related competition issues is one step closer to becoming a reality: In September 2020, the German government approved the highly anticipated 10th...more
The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published “Guidance on the Functions of the CMA Under the Withdrawal Agreement” (Guidance), which sets out the regulator’s approach to merger and competition cases during...more
McDermott’s Annual European Competition Review summarizes key developments in European competition rules. During the previous year, several new regulations, notices and guidelines were issued by the European Commission. There...more
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's new competition regime has gone into effect with potentially significant implications for businesses which are active in the Kingdom and those considering transactions with a Saudi component. The...more
Big Tech as well as other global companies will likely have to modify their business models - Japan’s growing e-Commerce market continues to benefit both businesses, which are able to reach more customers and reduce...more
On April 4, 2019, the European Commission published a report1 prepared by three special advisers (the Advisers) appointed by EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager to explore how EU competition policy should evolve in...more
The Competition Bureau (Bureau) recently released updated Abuse of Dominance Enforcement Guidelines (AOD Guidelines), which provide insight into the Bureau’s approach to abuse of dominance matters, and Intellectual Property...more
Republican administrations historically have taken a less interventionist approach to antitrust enforcement than their Democratic counterparts, but many of President Donald Trump’s policy positions have not tracked...more
On 8 November 2016, the “Autorité de la concurrence” (French competition authority) provided a stark warning about the dangers of early implementation of a transaction prior to merger control clearance. This is one type of...more
The Philippine Competition Commission has implemented compulsory merger control, while other Philippine antitrust provisions await full application. The world’s 12th most populous nation joins the global antitrust...more
Only a few weeks ago, EU Competition Commissioner Vestager said in a speech, “We continue to look carefully at this issue, but we haven’t found a competition [antitrust] problem yet”. She was referring to antitrust issues...more