NCAA vs. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma: A Win for Antitrust Law and College Football Fans
Under the old guard of the prior administration, private equity was repeatedly under fire for alleged “flip and strip” tactics that were supposedly “at odds with competition.” Now, with new enforcers in place, a different...more
U.S. antitrust regulators, particularly the Federal Trade Commission, have been stepping up scrutiny of private equity investments in healthcare. On March 5, the FTC, along with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S....more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced the launch of “an easily accessible online portal for the public to report health care...more
On December 18, 2023, the U.S. antitrust enforcers, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) (collectively, the “Agencies”), issued their final Merger Guidelines...more
In my earlier post in the Antitrust Advocate Blog, I noted recent setbacks that the Federal Trade Commission has experienced with respect to its regulatory authority. I then asked whether the FTC would suffer another...more
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana on Sept. 27, 2023, granted summary judgment against the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in its challenge to the acquisition of three hospitals in Louisiana pursuant...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been active in challenging hospital combinations. In June 2022, the FTC filed complaints to block two hospital transactions. Within weeks of the FTC's actions, both transactions were...more
Aggressive merger enforcement continued through the end of 2022, with the agencies having mixed results in the courts. With several high-profile investigations still pending, the expectation is for aggressive enforcement to...more
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) released a new Policy Statement of its enforcement priorities for Section 5 of the FTC Act, which makes unlawful “unfair methods of competition.” Since the passage of the FTC Act in 1914,...more
The Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice has focused attention recently on an oft-overlooked provision of U.S. antitrust law prohibiting “interlocking directorates.” This prohibition is found in Section 8 of the...more
On June 28, 2021, Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted Facebook’s motions to dismiss two parallel antitrust complaints filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and a group...more
Many foreshadowed that Democratic control of both the House and the Senate would lead to substantive reform of the U.S. antitrust laws. On February 4, 2021, Senator Klobuchar delivered on that prediction by introducing...more
The Sherman Act was passed in 1890. The Clayton Act in 1914. And they have hardly changed since. Last month, Senator Amy Klobuchar, the new chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition...more
Three recent antitrust merger reviews involving nascent competition demonstrate enforcers are paying close attention to acquisitions by industry leaders of emerging, but early-stage competitors. The US antitrust agencies have...more
Curver Luxembourg, SARL v. Home Expressions Inc., Appeal No. 2018-2214 (Fed. Cir. Sept. 12, 2019) In a significant case in the field of design patents, the Federal Circuit clarified the scope of design patent infringement...more
At both the state and federal level, antitrust enforcement agencies continue to pursue successful challenges to physician practice transactions. This article summarizes two recent enforcement actions, as well as a new state...more
After five years of growth through a series of acquisitions, the Washington State Attorney General’s office filed a lawsuit to thwart and unwind the most recent expansion efforts of Franciscan Health System (“CHI Franciscan”)...more
The American Bar Association’s 65th Antitrust Law Spring Meeting held at the end of March included a number of sessions with representatives from federal and state antitrust enforcement agencies. In the first article in a...more