“Merger review is about to get thornier. While the FTC and DOJ have been tightening the merger review process incrementally over the course of the Biden administration, the newly proposed HSR rule changes represent a...more
On the heels of the historic proposed changes to the Hart‑Scott‑Rodino (“HSR”) merger review process, the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission released the 2023 Draft Merger...more
The FTC and SEC have their own administrative dispute resolution regime, presided over by their own administrative judges (“ALJs”). Until now, those regimes were virtually immune from attack on a constitutional basis, because...more
In the latest of a string of losses for antitrust enforcers, the Northern District of California resoundingly denied the FTC’s bid to enjoin the Microsoft-Activision merger, allowing the deal to proceed a week in advance of...more
On June 29, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would dramatically expand HSR reporting requirements. The historic changes fundamentally alter the HSR reporting landscape,...more
7/12/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Limited Partnerships ,
Mergers ,
Non-Controlling Interests ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Reporting Requirements ,
White Papers
On June 15, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition issued a statement on the relationship between voluntary interviews with the agency and contractual provisions that require or limit the disclosure of...more
The seventh Webinar in the “Age of AI” series focused on the risk factors at the intersection of litigation and AI. The presenters started with a brief background on AI and the practice of law and shifted to guidance in...more
In an unsigned per curiam opinion yesterday in Gonzalez v. Google, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the Ninth Circuit’s judgment— which had held that plaintiffs’ complaint was barred by Section 230 of the Communications Decency...more
As this year’s roundtable of enforcers demonstrated, big business is probably antitrust enforcers’ greatest fear. Spring in Washington means Cherry blossoms and antitrust. And last week, 3,700 antitrust lawyers and government...more
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act was originally thought of as "force for securing decency on the Internet," as the late Judge Robert A. Katzmann of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit explained in a...more
The Supreme Court heard oral argument last week in cases that will have extensive implications for online platforms, and, more broadly, for internet speech across the board. Gonzalez v. Google, in particular, may result in a...more
The DOJ continued its transformation of long-standing antitrust policy on February 3rd, withdrawing a slate of long-standing antitrust policy statements addressing healthcare markets and providers. The three guidance...more
On January 11, 2023, Elizabeth Wilkins, the FTC’s Director of the Office of Policy Planning, spoke to the Capitol Forum about the FTC’s proposed rule to ban non-compete agreements. This conversation was the most significant...more
Antitrust and tech is in the legal news almost daily, and often multiple times a day. Here are a few recent developments with notable implications that may have flown under the radar: 1) renewed focus on gig economy issues;...more
“We continue to see interest across the health care M&A vertical and buyers need to be ready to move quickly when attractive assets come on the market. The current environment rewards potential acquirers who are willing to...more
10/19/2022
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Carve Out Provisions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Industry Consolidation ,
Risk Assessment ,
State Regulators ,
Valuation ,
Vertical Mergers
Over the past year, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has increasingly been hot on the heels of suspected anti-competitive labor violations. To date, the DOJ has brought a few actions against employers across industries...more
It used to be privacy was largely the domain of constitutional law and patient health care law: the Fourth Amendment, and then the Fourteenth Amendment, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)....more
The FTC has announced penalties in two separate enforcement actions totaling almost $2 million for alleged violations of the HSR Act. The matters: U.S. v. Clarence L. Werner c/o Werner Enterprises, Inc.; and U.S. v. Biglari...more
2021 will be remembered in antitrust law. Not since the 1970s has there been so much chatter over the fundamental purposes of antitrust policy, or such potential for actual sea change.
Originally published in Law360 -...more
1/5/2022
/ Acquisition Agreements ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Consent Decrees ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Merger Agreements ,
Merger Controls ,
Merger Reviews ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Sherman Act ,
Vertical Mergers ,
Warning Letters
With a rash of changes since Chair Lina Khan took command, the Federal Trade Commission is proving the maxim that the only certainty is uncertainty.
Its new policy of issuing warning letters to deals that have...more
As the saying goes, “the only thing for certain, is nothing is certain.” With a rash of changes since Chairperson Lina Kahn took command, the FTC is certainly proving that maxim true. Seeking to transform the historically...more
Online platforms that allow users to post content face a constant choice: to remove or to not remove, to police or not to police.
Shakespearean allusions aside, platforms generally want user engagement — to reach as many...more
8/13/2021
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Civil Liability ,
Communications Decency Act ,
Online Platforms ,
PACT Act ,
Section 230 ,
Social Media ,
User-Generated Content ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites
After a bit of hiatus on aggressively challenging vertical mergers, regulators both here in the United States and abroad have resumed initiated actions to challenge vertical mergers. Traditionally a difficult lift for the...more
“Mark my words: Change is coming. Laws are coming.” That was the warning David Cicilline (D-RI) – the House Judiciary Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law Subcommittee Chairman – gave on February 25th at the first in...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