Jeffry Duffy

Federal Trade Commission’s Historic Attempt to Drive a Mack Truck Through the Sherman Act

By Carl Hittinger, Jeffry Duffy, Tyson Herrold and Justin Kadoura on November 21, 2022 Posted in Alert

Key Takeaways The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a historic statement, setting out a new framework for assessing “standalone” claims of “unfair methods of competition” that can be brought by the FTC alone under Section 5 of the FTC Act and that do not independently violate the Sherman, Clayton or Robinson-Patman acts. Although the FTC’s … Continue Reading

West Virginia v. EPA and ‘Major Questions’ Facing the Competition Agencies

By Jeffry Duffy on July 19, 2022 Posted in Antitrust Litigation

The U.S. Supreme Court’s June 30 decision in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency[1] will reverberate throughout the administrative state, inviting challenges to agency actions on major policy issues – including those in the competition arena – that Congress has not directly addressed in legislation.… Continue Reading

FTC Brushes Aside AG, Regulators to Attack Local Hospital Merger

By Carl Hittinger and Jeffry Duffy on December 17, 2015 Posted in Healthcare, Merger

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) continued its relentless focus on combinations in the healthcare industry last month when it filed an administrative complaint challenging a merger of two West Virginia hospitals, In the Matter of Cabell Huntington Hospital (FTC Docket No. 9366). Given the FTC’s recent successes in thwarting other healthcare mergers it saw as … Continue Reading

Product Hopping and Antitrust: Mylan Court Dismisses Claims on Summary Judgment, Citing Need to Avoid Chilling Pharmaceutical Innovation

By Jeffry Duffy on May 29, 2015 Posted in Antitrust Litigation, Patents, Sherman Act 1, Sherman Act 2

A recent summary judgment opinion from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania breaks new ground in the developing antitrust law on “product hopping” claims. “Product hopping” refers to the practice of changing the form or dosage of a branded drug without changing its underlying composition. Though drug manufacturers often make such changes for legitimate business reasons, … Continue Reading

Symposium Advances Debate Over FTC’s Section 5 Enforcement Powers

By Carl Hittinger and Jeffry Duffy on April 6, 2015 Posted in Articles, BakerHostetler, Events, Sherman Act 5

What is an “unfair method of competition” for purposes of the Federal Trade Commission’s enforcement powers? For more than 100 years, lawyers, economists and other experts—as well as courts—have debated that question, trying to determine exactly what conduct Congress meant to prohibit, beyond conduct already condemned by the antitrust laws, when it enacted Section 5 … Continue Reading

FTC Aggressively Pressing ‘Antitrust Trumps IP’ Theme

By Carl Hittinger and Jeffry Duffy on December 8, 2014 Posted in Antitrust Litigation, Articles, Patents

The Federal Trade Commission has recently brought its considerable institutional weight to bear in two developing areas at the intersection of unfair competition and intellectual property law. Continuing its crusade against “reverse-payment” patent infringement settlements in the pharmaceuticals sector, the FTC is promoting—especially in the Third Circuit—a maximalist interpretation of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 … Continue Reading