Antitrust
DOJ Warns of Criminal Actions Against Companies with Agreements Not to Poach Competitors’ Employees
News
Any violative anti-poaching policies after October 2016 expose employers to criminal punishment, warn three Seyfarth Shaw lawyers writing for Bloomberg.
Qualcomm Just Got Fined $1.23 Billion for Illegal Payments to Apple
News
The European Commission found that Qualcomm effectively shut down competition in the market, no matter how good competitors’ products were, reports Fortune.
AT&T Counsel, an Ex-Trump Attorney, Calls DOJ’s Suit on Time Warner Deal ‘Fake Antitrust’
News
“There is no credible evidence” that AT&T’s proposed $85.4 billion acquisition of media powerhouse Time Warner poses any threat to industry competition or consumer prices, AT&T attorney Dan Petrocelli told CNBC.
U.S. States Allege Broad Generic Drug Price-Fixing Collusion
News
The states said the drugmakers and executives divided customers for their drugs among themselves, according to Reuters.
Intel Scores Victory (For Now) In Fight Against $1.3 Billion Fine
News
Fortune reports that Intel has won a victory of sorts in its long-running fight against a €1.06 billion ($1.26 billion) antitrust fine that was levied against it by the European Commission eight years ago.
Former FTC Chairman Timothy J. Muris Joins Sidley in Washington, D.C.
News
Former FTC chairman Timothy J. Muris has joined Sidley Austin LLP as senior counsel in the firm’s Antitrust/Competition practice.
Antitrust Lawyers Leiv Blad and Zarema Jaramillo Join Lowenstein in D.C. Office
News
Lowenstein Sandler LLP announced that Leiv Blad has joined the firm as a partner and co-chair of the firm’s antitrust practice in Washington, D.C. Blad joins with Zarema Jaramillo, who becomes senior counsel in the firm’s antitrust practice.
How a Typical Tolling Agreement Cost Duke Energy Corporation $600,000
Insight
A court recent ruled that a tolling agreement, when entered into between companies that intended to merge, violated the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, leading to the imposition of significant financial penalties against the buyer, according to Hogan Lovells.
Judge Blocks $54 Billion Anthem-Cigna Health Insurance Merger
News
A federal judge blocked the $54 billion merger between health insurance giants Anthem and Cigna, saying the deal would increase prices and reduce competition, according to a report by The Washington Post.
Event – A Wake-Up Call: Antitrust Compliance in the U.S.
Event, Jan. 19, NYC
Bloomberg BNA will present a complimentary event to discuss the widespread corporate apathy towards antitrust risks – and why the business community needs a collective wake-up call.
Lex Machina Expands Legal Analytics Platform to Cover Antitrust Litigation
News
The new module enables attorneys to make data-driven decisions about federal antitrust case strategies and tactics and gives lawyers a competitive advantage in antitrust litigation
U.S. Sues to Block Anthem-Cigna and Aetna-Humana Mergers
News
U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said the proposed mergers “would leave much of the multitrillion-dollar health insurance industry in the hands of three mammoth insurance companies,” reports The New York Times.
Governance Challenges 2016: M&A Oversight
White Paper
The NACD report addresses the importance of early board engagement in strategy, the need for proactive dialogue with all key stakeholders, and the imperative to balance short-term and long-term goals throughout the M&A process.
Reverse Break-Up Fees and Specific Performance: A Survey of Remedies
White Paper
Thomson Reuters is offering a complimentary copy of the 2016 edition of Practical Law’s study, Reverse Break-Up Fees and Specific Performance: A Survey of Remedies for Financing and Antitrust Failure.
When Customer Supply Contracts Lead to Trouble
Article
Melanie A. Hallas of McDermott Will & Emery writes that a recent consent order shows that exclusivity terms that arguably have the effect of harming competition may raise antitrust concerns.
Justice Scalia’s Death Prompts Dow Chemical to Settle Price-Fixing Case
NEWS
Dow was facing a $1.1 billion judgment in a price-fixing case, but now Dow Chemical says it no longer thinks it could win its appeal without Justice Antonin Scalia on the bench.
Quarles and Brady Partner Andre Fiebig Publishes Two Books
NEWS
Andre Fiebig, a partner at Quarles & Brady, authored two books on antitrust law issues for Thomson Reuters and the American Bar Association.
High Court Allows State Law Antitrust Claims to Proceed Against Interstate Pipelines
White Paper
The court considered whether the Natural Gas Act pre-empts state law antitrust claims when the challenged conduct affects both federally regulated wholesale natural gas prices and non-federally regulated retail natural gas prices, reports Mintz, Levin.
Drug Maker Accused of Price Gouging
NEWS
A lawsuit alleges Gilead Sciences is price gouging by pricing its Sovaldi hepatitis C treatment at $1,000 a pill, the Wall Street Journal reports in one of its blogs.
Antitrust Treatment of Physician Practice Acquisitions
On-Demand
Practical Law has posted a discussion of the first cases to address the antitrust implications of hospital acquisitions of physician practices.
