Articles Posted in Civil Non-Merger Highlights

On August 5, 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) will hold joint public workshops to explore competition issues affecting the agriculture industry and the appropriate role for antitrust enforcement in agriculture. These are the first joint DOJ/USDA workshops…

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 July 6, 2009, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) modified a 2004 consent order against Aspen Technology, Inc. (“Aspen Tech”). On May 31, 2002, Aspen Tech consummated a $106.1 million acquisition of Hyprotech, Ltd., its closest competitor in developing and supplying certain specialized engineering process simulation software products, according to the FTC. In August 2003,…

On July 6, a number of news sources reported that the DOJ has begun looking into whether large U.S. telecommunications companies such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. are abusing their market power they have amassed in recent years. The review is an indication of the Obama administration’s aggressive stance on antitrust enforcement. Christine…

On June 23, 2009, John C. Malone, the chairman of the board of Liberty Media Corporation and the chief executive officer of Discovery Holding Co. (“Discovery”), agreed to pay a penalty of $1.4 million for violating premerger reporting and waiting requirements of the Hart-Scott-Rodino (“HSR”) Act of 1976 when acquiring Discovery. Mr. Malone violated premerger…

On June 4, 2009, Alta Bates Medical Group, Inc. (“Alta Bates”), a 600-physician independent practice association serving the Berkeley and Oakland, California, area, agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it violated the antitrust laws by fixing prices charged to health care insurers. The proposed consent order agreed to by the doctor group and…

From June 3-5, 2009, Christine A. Varney, the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) Antitrust Division, will participate in the eighth annual International Competition Network (“ICN”) conference in Zurich, Switzerland. She will join senior government antitrust officials and other antitrust experts from multinational organizations and the private sector. The conference…

On May 3,2004, the Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) Antitrust Division, at the request of the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), filed two civil suits against alleged violators of pre-merger notification filing requirements under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (“HSR”) Act of 1976. The HSR Act imposes notification and waiting period requirements on individuals and companies over a certain size…

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 May 5, it was reported by various news sources that the Federal Trade Commission opened an investigation into whether an overlap of directors on the boards of Apple Inc. and Google Inc. violates the antitrust laws, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt sits on the board of Apple. If directors sit on the boards of two…