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On December 16, 2009, Cisco announced that the DOJ terminated the mandatory waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvement Act of 1976, as amended, with respect to Cisco’s pending acquisition of Starent Networks. The DOJ chose not to issue a second request to review Cisco’s acquisition of Starent even though the acquisition led to increased…

On December 2, 2009, the FTC announced an order settling charges that Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc.’s acquisition of Robin Hood Holdings Limited, owner of Arrow Pharmaceuticals, would have harmed consumers by eliminating future competition for important generic drugs used to treat Parkinson’s disease (cabergoline) and the side effects of chemotherapy (dronabinol). Under the order’s terms, Watson…

On September 22, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced that they will solicit public comment and hold joint public workshops to explore the possibility of updating the Horizontal Merger Guidelines that are used by both agencies to evaluate the potential competitive effects of mergers and acquisitions. The Merger Guidelines…

On August 20, 2009, Oracle announced that the DOJ closed its investigation of Oracle’s acquisition of Sun. The DOJ issued a second request to further investigate the transaction in late June. The DOJ ended its investigation approximatley two months after issuing the second request without requiring any remedy. Apparently, the licensing of Sun’s Java software…

On August 3, the Federal Trade Commission said it will continue to investigate the relationship between the boards of Apple, Inc. and Google, Inc. even after Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt, resigned from Apple’s board earlier in the day. Richard Feinstein, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, commended both companies for “recognizing that sharing directors…

On June 2, Bradley J. Hansen, the former superintendent of the Montcalm Area Intermediate School District in Grand Rapids, MI, was indicted by a grand jury for conspiring to commit bribery and deprive the school district and the citizens of Michigan of his honest services in relation to the Federal Communication Commission’s (“FCC”) E-Rate Program.…

On May 21, 2009, Todd M. Mosiman, a U.S. Navy subcontractor from Virginia, pled guilty for conspiring to defraud the U.S. Navy. Mr. Mosiman conspired with a co-conspirator to steer contracts for fabricated metals used for the repair and maintenance of elevator equipment in on U.S. Navy aircraft and vessels. These contracts were worth over…

On May 11, 2009, Christine A. Varney, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department’s Antitrust Division, delivered her first speech at an event sponsored by the Center for American Progress. The speech, entitled “Vigorous Antitrust Enforcement in this Challenging Era,” confirms that the new administration intends be much more active role than the Bush…

On April 22, 2009, the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division announced its leadership team. The new team includes the Chief of Staff, four Deputy Assistant Attorneys General, a Special Counsel for Competition Policy. Two Deputy Assistant Attorney Generals will oversee civil matters, one Deputy Assistant Attorney General will oversee economic analysis and one Deputy Assistant…

On March 31, 2009, Sakae Someya, an executive at Hitachi Displays, Ltd. (“Hitachi”) was charged for participating in a conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition in the Thin Film Transistor-Liquid Crystal Display (“TFT-LCD”) industry by fixing prices of TFT-LCD panels sold to Dell, Inc (“Dell”) for its use in notebook and desktop computers. TFT-LCD panels…