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
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
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 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
The European Commission (the “EC”) recently adopted new guidelines that outline the antitrust assessment of agreements between competitors related to environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) initiatives, including...more
Companies face a difficult choice between taking heed of growing anti-ESG voices while continuing to meet investor and shareholder demands.
For several years, companies have come under intense pressure from their boards,...more
On September 15, 2022, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) sued to block ASSA ABLOY AB’s (“ASSA ABLOY”) proposed $4.3 billion acquisition of the Hardware and Home Improvement division of Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc....more
On May 24, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) announced that it is establishing a new office, the Office of Competition and Innovation, as part of a broader initiative to promote competition in the...more
The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (“DOJ”) has announced that it intends to bring more cases against “interlocking directorates” that violate Section 8 of the Clayton Act. Such “interlocks” occur when competing...more
On March 9, 2022, President Joe Biden issued an Executive Order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets that directs federal officials to consider the effects of “distributed ledger technology,” popularly known...more
Antitrust activity increased significantly in 2021. This past year brought numerous changes in merger and non-merger enforcement policies and priorities that signal increased scrutiny in industry transactions. The “Biden...more
1/19/2022
/ Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) ,
AMG Capital Management LLC v FTC ,
Antitrust Division ,
Big Tech ,
Chemicals ,
Competition ,
Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act of 2015 ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Energy Sector ,
Enforcement ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Joe Biden ,
Market Manipulation ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
No-Poaching ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Oil Prices ,
Pipelines ,
Price Inflation ,
Procurement Collusion Strike Force ,
Rulemaking Process ,
SCOTUS ,
Transparency ,
Vertical Mergers ,
Warning Letters
Corporate acquirers accustomed to government inertia in antitrust reform are navigating a sea change in Washington, according to Craig Seebald, a Washington, D.C.-based Partner and leader in the global Antitrust Group at...more
9/8/2021
/ Administrative Appointments ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Anticompetitive Behavior ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Biden Administration ,
Competition ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Drug Pricing ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Internet ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Monopolization ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Presidential Appointments ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Rulemaking Process
With Lina Kahn the new chair of the FTC and Jonathan Kanter poised to helm DOJ’s Antitrust Division, are big changes afoot in antitrust enforcement? What role is fellow big tech critic and competition progressive Tim Wu, now...more
On June 30, 2020, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission released new Vertical Merger Guidelines (“Guidelines”), which explain how the agencies assess mergers and acquisitions of companies at different...more