Sky Blog
Since the fall of 2016, federal, state, and private enforcers have sharpened their focus on allegedly anticompetitive restrictions in labor markets: so-called “no-poach” and wage-fixing agreements. This remains a hotly debated topic, with the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the …
On February 25, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upset decades of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) practice by significantly limiting when the FTC can bring competition and consumer protection enforcement actions in federal court.
In…
In the last decade, private equity sponsors increasingly have pursued “strategic” deals — transactions combining two or more competitors. The U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have actively enforced the antitrust merger laws …
On November 15, 2018, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim delivered remarks at the American Bar Association Antitrust Section Fall Forum in which he discussed three recent settlements of ongoing civil and criminal investigations and highlighted efforts by the Antitrust Division …
Protecting against data breaches, hacks and cyber threats is an unwelcome but necessary reality for businesses today. In addition to vigilantly guarding against attacks, companies must consider the possibilities of litigation and investigations that can stem as a result of …
In recent years, a new populist school of antitrust thinking has emerged, known as “Neo-Brandeisian” to its proponents and “hipster” to its detractors. There are varying formulations of this movement, but proponents generally point to the purported increase in economic …
Largely because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1975 decision in Withrow v. Larkin, the accepted view for decades has been that a federal administrative agency does not violate the Due Process Clause by combining the functions of investigating, charging, …
Speaking at an antitrust conference on January 19, 2018, Makan Delrahim, the Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division, stated that over the next few months DOJ will be announcing indictments charging criminal antitrust violations relating to no-poach agreements. DOJ’s …
Last month, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and Department of Justice (“DOJ”) each separately challenged recently closed transactions that they claim would harm competition in the US. The DOJ filed suit in relation to TransDigm Group’s recent acquisition of …
The process of determining whether big mergers comply with antitrust laws is careful and intensive. The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice reported that in 2011 they examined in detail 40 percent, and initiated second request investigations in …
On September 26, 2017, the US Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (DOJ) sued to unwind Parker-Hannifin Corporation’s (Parker’s) consummated acquisition of CLARCOR Inc. (CLARCOR) on the ground the transaction created a monopoly in the US market for aviation fuel filtration …
Although the Trump administration has announced only one of its selections for top positions at the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) or the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), the election of President Donald J. Trump sets the …
On February 3, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) released a report on an internal staff study examining the success of the Commission’s merger remedies from 2006 to 2012.[1] The report, which also focuses on the remedy process more …
On February 3, 2017, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC or Commission) released the findings of its “Merger Remedy Study” (the FTC Study) which examined the effectiveness of Commission-required remedies in transactions from 2006 to 2012.[1] The FTC Study—its …
It is too early to predict with confidence the direction that antitrust policy will take in the Trump Administration, because the President-elect has not yet announced who will lead the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) or the …
“Nice merger you’ve got here. It would be a shame if anything was to happen to it.”[1]
In antitrust and related areas of economic regulation, private leveraging is risky business. Large firms that use substantial market power in one …
On January 21, 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced the latest annual revision to the size thresholds governing premerger notification requirements under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended, Section 7A of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. …
On Friday, November 13, Federal Trade Commission (“FTC” or the “Commission”) Chief Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) D. Michael Chappell issued an Initial Decision in In the Matter of LabMD, Inc. (FTC Docket No. 9357), dismissing the Commission’s Complaint against LabMD, …
From the 2013 Target Corporation breach to this year’s attacks on Primera Blue Cross and American Airlines Group Inc., the issue of cybersecurity has emerged at the forefront of risks to be confronted by corporations across a spectrum of industries.…
The Federal Trade Commission’s longstanding effort to establish itself as the primary federal regulator of cybersecurity survived its first appellate test on Monday when the Third Circuit allowed the FTC to continue pursuing its case against Wyndham Worldwide Corp.[1] The …