On October 10, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”), with the Department of Justice Antitrust Division’s concurrence, released a Final Rule containing long-anticipated revisions to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act...more
10/17/2024
/ Antitrust Division ,
Board of Directors ,
Buyers ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
NAICS ,
Popular ,
Target Company
On October 10, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”), with the Department of Justice Antitrust Division’s concurrence, released a Final Rule containing the long-anticipated revisions to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act...more
On August 20, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas entered a final judgment (“Order”) setting aside, on a nationwide basis, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) final rule (“Rule”) prohibiting...more
8/22/2024
/ Competition ,
Confidential Information ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants
On August 5, 2024, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it filed a civil complaint and proposed settlement with Legends Hospitality Parent Holdings LLC (“Legends”) for unlawful pre-merger coordination, commonly...more
As we previously addressed, on April 24, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) voted to finalize its rule prohibiting businesses from entering into or enforcing non-compete clauses in nearly all agreements with workers...more
Since generative AI burst into the mainstream, companies have raced to capitalize on its extraordinary promise. But as with any technological frontier, this promise does not come without risks, and companies can expect to...more
6/25/2024
/ Algorithms ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Competition ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Electricity ,
Innovative Technology ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Inventions ,
Market Manipulation ,
Transmission Grid ,
USPTO
On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) voted 3-2, on party lines, to finalize its rule prohibiting businesses from entering into or enforcing non-compete clauses in nearly all agreements with workers. This...more
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has revised the thresholds that govern pre-merger notification requirements under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (“HSR Act”), and Section 8 of the...more
1/25/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Fees ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Interlocking Directorate ,
Mergers ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Section 8 ,
Size of Persons Test ,
Size of Transaction Test ,
The Clayton Act ,
Threshold Requirements
For companies in the energy and chemical sectors, the potential for antitrust scrutiny is an ever-present concern. The next round of enforcement inquiries is never further away than the next jump in commodity prices or the...more
1/15/2024
/ Antitrust Division ,
Collusion ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Divestiture ,
Energy Commissions ,
Energy Sector ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Interlocking Directorate ,
Mergers ,
Oversight Committee ,
Private Equity
The energy and chemicals industries play a central role in our economy and regularly capture the attention of antitrust authorities and practitioners. In this program, V&E partners Darren Tucker and Jason Powers will discuss...more
On December 18, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice (the “Agencies”) jointly released new Merger Guidelines (the “Guidelines”), setting forth the analytical framework the Agencies will use to...more
Participants in the renewable energy industry should be aware of antitrust and competition rules because renewable energy is no longer a nascent field. Europe generated almost 40% of its electricity from renewable sources in...more
11/13/2023
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Bid Rigging ,
Boycotts ,
CFIUS ,
Competition ,
Corporate Financing Rule ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FERC ,
Filed-Rate Doctrine ,
FIRRMA ,
Green Energy ,
Gun-Jumping ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Hedging ,
Institutional Investors ,
Interlocking Directorate ,
Investors ,
ISOs ,
Merger Controls ,
Price-Fixing ,
Renewable Energy ,
Restructuring
On September 18, 2023 the UK Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) published its initial report regarding competition and consumer protection issues implicated by artificial intelligence (“AI”) foundation models (the “CMA...more
On September 26, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and a coalition of seventeen State Attorneys General filed a long-expected suit accusing Amazon of violating federal and state antitrust law. The 172-page complaint...more
On September 14, 2023, Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri introduced the Strengthening Antitrust Enforcement for Meatpacking Act of 2023, an ambitious new piece of legislation designed to halt consolidation in the meatpacking...more
On June 29, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) Bureau of Competition and Office of Technology published a joint blog post that provided deeper insight into the FTC’s focus on competition in generative artificial...more
This checklist outlines antitrust considerations for the use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) technology. Practices involving AI that could give rise to antitrust risk include algorithmic collusion, exclusionary practices...more
On June 27, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), with the concurrence of the Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (together with the FTC, the “Agencies”), announced...more
The Luxembourg Competition Authority (“LCA”) announced that it is launching a market study into the “blockchain sector,” particularly the relationship between Web21 companies and Web32 projects. In its press release, the LCA...more
On April 28, 2023, U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden issued the latest blow to the Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) efforts to criminally prosecute individuals who engage in “no-poach” agreements by granting the defendants’...more
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has revised the thresholds that govern pre-merger notification requirements under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (“HSR Act”), and Section 8 of the...more
2/10/2023
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Size of Persons Test ,
Size of Transaction Test ,
The Clayton Act ,
Threshold Requirements
The energy and chemicals industries play a central role in our economy and regularly capture the attention of antitrust authorities and practitioners. In this program, V&E lawyers Darren Tucker and Jason Powers discuss recent...more
Hart-Scott-Rodino (“HSR”) Act (“HSR Act”) fees are changing, and the HSR process is also changing with the inclusion of new filing tiers, one less expensive tier, several much more expensive tiers, and new state-level and...more
On January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced plans to prohibit employers from imposing or enforcing non-compete clauses in agreements with workers, including employees and independent contractors, in...more
1/9/2023
/ Employment Contract ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
NPRM ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Section 5 ,
Unfair Competition
On August 26, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission announced it had approved a series of “omnibus” resolutions permitting FTC staff to more freely use compulsory process (civil investigative demands or subpoenas) in...more