Tag Archives: DOJ

Is Big Chicken Cooked? DOJ Intervenes in Price-Fixing Investigation

Carl HittingerJeanne-Michele MarianiBy Carl Hittinger and Jeanne-Michele Mariani on Posted in Articles
Pork is the other white meat, beef is what’s for dinner, and chicken is now under investigation by the Department of Justice for possible antitrust violations. Looks like the DOJ is back in the criminal cartel investigation business. In June, the DOJ intervened in a class action antitrust lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court … Continue Reading

The FTC Is Looking You Up and Down(stream): Insights From the Acting Director of the Bureau of Competition on Antitrust Enforcement for Vertical Mergers

Bill DeVinneyBy Bill DeVinney on Posted in FTC, Merger
Since Assistant Attorney General Delrahim’s inaugural remarks on vertical mergers (covered here), the business press has been atwitter about the antitrust enforcement agencies’ views of those mergers. Bruce Hoffman, the acting director of the Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Competition, recently delivered a speech explaining that the FTC will continue to review vertical mergers as … Continue Reading

New Antitrust Division Chief Prioritizes Regulation of Standard Setting Organizations

Carl HittingerTyson HerroldBy Carl Hittinger and Tyson Herrold on Posted in Articles, Patents
As we discussed in our May 2017 article, the current head of the DOJ’s Antitrust Division, Makan Delrahim, brings considerable intellectual property experience to the division. Delrahim started his legal career at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative as deputy director for intellectual property rights. He later served on the Intellectual Property Task Force … Continue Reading

The Trump DOJ’s View on Merger Enforcement and Remedies Explained

Danyll FoixBy Danyll Foix on Posted in Merger Review
President Trump’s head of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, Makan Delrahim, recently explained that the division will cut back on behavioral commitments such as consent orders regulating conduct and will instead rely more on structural changes such as divestitures to remedy merger concerns. This could signal significant changes in how the DOJ resolves concerns … Continue Reading

Presidential Powers and Antitrust Politics: Part Three

Carl HittingerTyson HerroldBy Carl Hittinger and Tyson Herrold on Posted in Antitrust & Politics, Articles
In July and August, we discussed the president’s role in setting antitrust policy at the Department of Justice, Antitrust Division. Specifically, we pointed out that presidents routinely face competing domestic and foreign policy challenges that require a delicate balance and flexible approach to antitrust enforcement. For example, President John F. Kennedy directed the DOJ to … Continue Reading

The ‘Failing Firm’ Defense and How Not to Lose It, Article Explains

BakerHostetlerBy BakerHostetler on Posted in Articles, Merger, Merger Review
Law360 featured an insightful article today on a recently unsealed court opinion blocking the $367 million merger of rival nuclear waste processing companies. The court blocked the merger, while rejecting the parties’ argument that the deal should be approved because otherwise the acquired firm would collapse and the market would suffer. The merging companies did not … Continue Reading

Trump’s Pick for Department of Justice Antitrust Division Chief

Carl HittingerTyson HerroldBy Carl Hittinger and Tyson Herrold on Posted in Antitrust & Politics, Articles
Last month we discussed Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation hearings. Specifically, we noted the Senate Judiciary Committee’s failure to nail Gorsuch down on key antitrust issues, including issues he handled as an experienced antitrust lawyer and decided as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, which we also wrote … Continue Reading

“And they’re closing all the factories down”* — Going Dark During a Merger Review

By Jonathan Lewis on Posted in Merger, Merger Review
Demand in your industry has been declining for years, the decline is projected to continue for the foreseeable future, and you are one of the few cost-effective manufacturers around. You just inked a deal to buy a competing manufacturer, and you are working hard to get your deal cleared through the merger review process. But … Continue Reading

Clear Expectations: DOJ Outlines Tenets of an Effective Antitrust Compliance Program

Carl HittingerBy Carl Hittinger, George Stamboulidis and Erik Raven-Hansen on Posted in Antitrust Compliance
There has never been a greater emphasis on policing anticompetitive behavior worldwide. Dozens of countries have instituted effective and aggressive cartel enforcement programs following a trend of increased global enforcement, and criminal antitrust fines in the United States alone exceeded $1 billion in both 2013 and 2012. [1] Prison sentences up to 10 years have also been … Continue Reading

Are You Facing the Prospect of a Merger Investigation?

Gilbert S. KeteltasJames A. ShererBy Jonathan Lewis, Gilbert S. Keteltas, Karin Scholz Jenson and James A. Sherer on Posted in Discovery, Government Investigations, Merger Review
If your organization is facing the prospect of a merger investigation and your lawyers haven’t raised the prospect of technology-assisted document review (“TAR”), then maybe you should be talking with someone else. What is TAR? TAR, a relatively new entrant into the world of litigation and investigations, is an iterative process in which human subject … Continue Reading

To Report, or Not to Report, Your Non-Reportable Transaction Is the Question

By Jonathan Lewis and Lee Simowitz on Posted in Government Investigations, Merger, Merger Review, Premerger Notification
Just because a proposed transaction does not have to be reported in advance to the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) or the Federal Trade Commission (“ FTC”) because it falls below the Hart-Scott-Rodino (“HSR”) Act size of transaction threshold (currently$75.9 million), you are not out of the woods.  The growing list of companies defending antitrust challenges … Continue Reading

So, You Want to Share Your Technical Cyber Threat Information with Your Neighbors?

Pamela Jones HarbourGerald J. FergusonTheodore J. Kobus IIIBy Jonathan Lewis, Pamela Jones Harbour, Gerald J. Ferguson and Theodore J. Kobus III on Posted in Data Privacy
Echoing guidance previously given to a nonprofit organization looking to exchange certain cybersecurity information, including exchanging actual real-time cyber threat and attack information, and others planning to exchange information concerning remediating the Y2K problems, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) recently released a joint “Antitrust Policy Statement on Sharing of Cybersecurity … Continue Reading

Sometimes Merger Fixes Are as Close as the End of Your Nose

By Jonathan Lewis and Lee Simowitz on Posted in Government Investigations, Merger, Merger Review
When it comes to negotiating merger remedies with federal antitrust enforcement agencies, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission each have guides or statements that may help.  But as good as their guidance may be, sometimes the fix for a merger is as close as the end of your nose. Back on July … Continue Reading

BakerHostetler Lawyers Publish Chapter on Antitrust Trends in U.S. Agribusiness

Danyll FoixBy Danyll Foix on Posted in Agriculture, BakerHostetler
The 2014 Antitrust Review of the Americas features a chapter, “‘United States: Private Antitrust Litigation,” authored by BakerHostetler Antitrust Chair Robert G. Abrams, Partner Gregory J. Commins Jr., and Partner and Editor of Antitrust Advocate Danyll W. Foix. They write, “The US agriculture and food market has become increasingly concentrated in several sectors and across multiple levels. … Continue Reading

Past as Prologue: Rebirth of the Merger Trial and the Bazaarvoice Case

By Lee Simowitz, Jonathan Lewis and Judy Gechman on Posted in Antitrust Litigation, Government Investigations, Merger, Merger Review, Premerger Notification, Sherman Act 7
For many years after its implementation, the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 seemed to sound the death knell of post-consummation merger trials.  By establishing a file-and-wait system rather than the old catch-me-if-you-can non-system, the Act enabled the antitrust enforcement agencies to prevent the consummation of potentially anticompetitive mergers until they completed their investigation, and … Continue Reading

Thresholds Do Matter – Choosing too Low a Threshold in an Ordinary Course of Business Provision Can Up Your Risk of “Gun Jumping”

By Jonathan Lewis and Judy Gechman on Posted in Government Investigations, Merger Review, Premerger Notification
Soon after someone settles “gun jumping” charges, client alerts with informative titles like “DOJ Settlement Resolves ‘Gun Jumping’ Charges” start flying around.  These “alerts” usually recite facts alleged in the complaint, say ordinary course of business provisions are typically fine, but consult an antitrust lawyer to make sure yours are okay.  But few (if any) … Continue Reading

US Airways and American Airlines Have a Potential Friend in FTC Commissioner Wright

By Jonathan Lewis on Posted in Merger, Merger Review, Sherman Act 7
In their answer to the government’s complaint challenging their proposed merger, US Airways and American Airlines (the “Airlines”) tout the “immense benefits to the traveling public” that the combined “US Airways and American Airlines will offer” with “more and better travel options for passengers through an improved domestic and international network, something that neither carrier … Continue Reading

Fix My Merger – Lessons from FTC Bureau Director Feinstein on the Use of Consent Orders to Remedy Anticompetitive Mergers

By Jonathan Lewis and Lee Simowitz on Posted in Government Investigations, Merger Review, Premerger Notification
In her first speech since becoming Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition, Deborah Feinstein highlighted five benefits arising from addressing antitrust violations through consent orders and dispelled a number of “persistent myths” about their use. While emphasizing the FTC “employs a rigorous case-by-case approach to law enforcement decisions,” Director Feinstein explained that … Continue Reading

FTC Investigations of Technology Transactions – Am I at Risk?

By Jonathan Lewis and Lee Simowitz on Posted in Government Investigations, Merger, Merger Review, Premerger Notification, Uncategorized
A recent article in the Antitrust Law Journal, “A Survey of Evidence Leading to Second Requests at the FTC,” by Darren S. Tucker, a FTC attorney advisor who reviewed non-public information on decisions to investigate proposed transactions for the period August 2008 to August 2012, sheds light on the types of evidence the FTC staff … Continue Reading

FTC Investigations of Pharma and Medical Device Transactions – Am I at Risk?

By Jonathan Lewis and Lee Simowitz on Posted in Healthcare, Merger, Merger Review, Premerger Notification
A recent article in the Antitrust Law Journal titled “A Survey of Evidence Leading to Second Requests at the FTC,” by Darren S. Tucker, an attorney advisor to a FTC Commissioner who reviewed non-public information on the decisions to investigate proposed transactions for the period August 2008 to August 2012, sheds light on the types … Continue Reading

FTC Investigations of Energy and Chemical Transactions – Am I at Risk?

By Jonathan Lewis and Lee Simowitz on Posted in Government Investigations, Merger, Merger Review, Premerger Notification
A recent article in the Antitrust Law Journal, “A Survey of Evidence Leading to Second Requests at the FTC,” by Darren S. Tucker, an attorney advisor to a FTC Commissioner who reviewed non-public information on the decisions to investigate proposed transactions for the period August 2008 to August 2012, gives insight on the types of … Continue Reading

Will the FTC Investigate My Provider Healthcare Transaction?

By Jonathan Lewis and Lee Simowitz on Posted in Government Investigations, Healthcare, Merger, Merger Review, Premerger Notification
A recent article in the Antitrust Law Journal, “A Survey of Evidence Leading to Second Requests at the FTC,” by Darren S. Tucker, an attorney advisor to a FTC Commissioner who reviewed non-public information on the decisions to investigate proposed transactions for the period August 2008 to August 2012, sheds light on the types of … Continue Reading

FTC Seeks to Undo Another Small, Completed Transaction

Danyll FoixBy Danyll Foix on Posted in FTC Act, Merger, Merger Review, Premerger Notification
This week, the FTC announced a proposed consent agreement to alter another completed transaction that was too small to be reported under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (“HSR Act”). The FTC’s complaint alleged that Solera Holdings Inc. and Actual Systems of America, Inc., through their subsidiaries, were competing providers of yard management systems software (“YMS”) used by automotive recycling … Continue Reading
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