Competition Corner
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April 24, 2024
|3 min read
U.S. Antitrust Agencies Seek Tips on Anticompetitive Conduct in the Health Care Space
Health care companies and stakeholders should be prepared for an uptick in antitrust complaints and investigations in the short term, driven by the launch of HealthyCompetition.gov. Despite the anticipated short-term impact, the long-term impact remains uncertain and depends on the sustained engagement and use of the tipline by the public.
April 23, 2024
|9 min read
FTC Adopts Final Ban on Worker Non-Competes
On April 23, 2024, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission promulgated a final rule banning non-compete clauses in contracts with employees and other workers (the Rule).
March 6, 2024
|4 min read
U.S. Antitrust Agencies Continue to Target Private Equity Involvement in Healthcare
In the latest step in the U.S. antitrust agencies’ heightened enforcement against private equity, the Federal Trade Commission held a Workshop on Private Equity in Health Care yesterday with the U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Health and Human Services.
February 5, 2024
|3 min read
FTC Announces 2024 Revised Thresholds and Filing Fees for HSR Filings
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced yesterday the increased Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act thresholds for 2024.
December 15, 2023
|4 min read
Antitrust Enforcement in Action: Insights from the Regulators
Over the past six months, the FTC and DOJ have pushed a unified message regarding antitrust enforcement.
October 4, 2023
|1 min read
The Long Reach of China’s Anti-Monopoly Law
In a recent move with potential implications for foreign companies doing business with China-based individuals and entities, the Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court recently announced that it has accepted a case brought by a Chinese e-commerce company against Amazon Europe alleging a violation of China’s Anti-Monopoly Law.
October 2, 2023
|4 min read
Landmark Ruling Paves the Way for Streamlined Health Care Transactions
On September 27, 2023, a Louisiana federal court issued a landmark ruling addressing the intersection of the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act and the Certificate of Public Advantage (COPA) regimes adopted by various states.
September 28, 2023
|3 min read
FTC Seeks to Put Private Equity Roll-Up Strategies to Sleep
The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) continued scrutiny of private equity “roll-up” strategies resurfaced in a recent complaint filed in Texas federal court alleging that the private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (Welsh Carson) and its portfolio company U.S. Anesthesia Partners, Inc. (USAP) entered into a “multi-year anticompetitive scheme to consolidate anesthesiology practices in Texas, drive up the price of anesthesia services provided to Texas patients, and boost their own profits.”
August 31, 2023
|6 min read
On July 31, 2023, China’s antitrust law enforcement agency, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), summoned four hog-farming companies for a regulatory meeting, with concerns over a no-poach agreement among them.
August 18, 2023
|3 min read
Illinois has adopted a new antitrust law, effective January 1, 2024, requiring pre-merger notification of certain transactions between health care entities, including hospitals and provider groups.
August 3, 2023
|4 min read
USDA and State AGs Join Forces to Target Competition Concerns in Food and Agriculture
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the attorneys general of 31 states and the District of Columbia launched an “Agricultural Competition Partnership” on July 19, 2023, to “enhance competition and protect consumers in food and agricultural markets.” This partnership between USDA and a bipartisan group of states is dedicated to helping states identify and respond to anticompetitive and anti-consumer behavior in food and agricultural markets, including in grocery, meat and poultry processing, and other sectors.
July 25, 2023
|5 min read
A Glimpse into Antitrust Merger Review’s New Frontier
After a series of withdrawals of key antitrust policy statements and guidance documents and announcing an intention to make changes to the merger guidelines, the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice (the Agencies) have released new proposed Merger Guidelines.
June 28, 2023
|5 min read
FTC and DOJ Propose Drastic Overhaul of HSR Requirements: New Form, New Frontier
On June 27, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it will issue a 132-page Notice of Proposed Rulemaking drafted in concurrence with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) that, if implemented, would bring sweeping changes to the U.S. merger review process. The proposed changes would require merging parties reporting transactions under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (HSR) to collect and submit to the FTC and DOJ significantly more information than is currently reported in the HSR form, likely significantly lengthening the time and expense associated with reporting transactions under the HSR Act. Indeed, the FTC’s own estimate is that the number of hours required to prepare an average HSR filing will increase nearly four-fold from 37 to 144 hours. Although the FTC states in its press release that the purpose of the proposed changes is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of merger reviews, the additional burden on merging parties will be substantial.
June 15, 2023
|4 min read
Global Strategies for Antitrust Settlements
Private antitrust lawsuits can be lengthy and complex, often involving several defendants and dozens of differently situated plaintiffs, including the potential for multiple putative classes of plaintiffs, as well as direct action plaintiffs pursuing individual claims. In international cartel cases, global defendants must increasingly face private lawsuits across multiple jurisdictions, making it virtually impossible to settle everything globally at the same time due to the complexity of these sprawling matters and jurisdiction-specific idiosyncrasies. Indeed, new actions may be filed in other jurisdictions many years after the initial lawsuits.
June 8, 2023
|3 min read
The GCR Live – Cartels 2023 conference took place on June 7, 2023, in Washington, D.C. The agenda included a keynote address by Manish Kumar, Deputy Assistant Attorney General (DAAG) for Criminal Enforcement at the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, who discussed the Division’s current approach to criminal antitrust enforcement, as well as panels examining cartel enforcement in labor markets, criminal monopolization, and antitrust compliance in a shifting economy.
May 30, 2023
|6 min read
Price Discrimination Claims Under the Resurging Robinson-Patman Act
In recent months, the Federal Trade Commission has signaled that it is reviving its enforcement efforts under the Robinson-Patman Act (RPA). With the federal government paying heightened attention to this formerly dormant area of law, so too should companies.
April 28, 2023
|3 min read
Joint Statement on Automated Systems: A Reminder of the Potential Harms of AI
This week, the FTC and DOJ along with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released a joint statement pledging the agencies’ commitment to enforce their respective laws and regulations and to uphold their commitment to the core principles of fairness, equity, and justice in relation to emerging automated systems.
April 3, 2023
|2 min read
FTC Commissioners Tout Looming Revival of the Robinson-Patman Act
On March 27, Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan revealed that the Commission is preparing to bring enforcement actions under the Robinson-Patman Act in “short order,” signaling the impending revival of a seldom-used Depression-era antitrust law aimed at protecting small and rural businesses. Three of the four current FTC Commissioners have indicated a willingness to revive enforcement of the Robinson-Patman Act, including Commissioner Alvaro M. Bedoya, who emphasized the importance of the Robinson-Patman Act during a panel discussion at the American Bar Association’s Antitrust Spring Meeting last week.
February 10, 2023
|5 min read
Department of Commerce Calls for Change to Mobile App Stores
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) recently added to the pressure on Apple and Google to modify their app store practices. The DOC’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) released a 50-page report on February 1, 2023, criticizing the mobile app store model as harmful to developers and consumers and recommending policy changes to reform it.
February 7, 2023
|4 min read
The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division announced on Friday, February 3, that it is withdrawing three longstanding policy statements providing guidance concerning its enforcement of the antitrust laws in the health care industry, a move that leaves significant uncertainty in its stead. Although focused on health care, the policy statements have long been relied upon as important guidance for competitor collaborations in other industries, particularly regarding sharing price- or cost-related information and joint purchasing.