Articles Posted in DOJ Antitrust Highlights

On March 29, 2011, Department of Justice (“DOJ”) reached a settlement with Dean Foods Company (“Dean”) that requires Dean to divest a significant milk processing plant in Waukesha, Wis., and related assets that it acquired from the Foremost Farms USA Cooperative, including the Golden Guernsey brand name. The DOJ's Antitrust Division and state attorneys general…

On December 14, 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a settlement with Pittsburgh-based L.B. Foster Co. to divest a West Virginia plant used in development, manufacture and sale of certain railroad joints to Koppers Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Koppers Holdings Inc., in order to proceed with Foster's acquisition of Portec Rail Products…

On October 18, 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the Michigan Attorney General challenged Blue Cross Blue Shield (“BCBS”) of Michigan in a civil antitrust action. The complaint alleges that “most-favored nation” (“MFN”) clauses in BCBS contracts with Michigan hospitals raises health-care costs for Michigan residents and employers and excludes other insurers from…

On October 4, 2010, the Antitrust Division announced that it along with the states of Connecticut, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, and Texas filed a civil antitrust lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York challenging rules that American Express, Master Card, and Visa have in place that prevent merchants from…

On August 19, 2010, the FTC and the DOJ issued the 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines, which are available on the FTC’s website at http://www.ftc.gov/os/2010/08/100819hmg.pdf. The five-step analytical process outlined in the 1992 Horizontal Merger Guidelines-market definition, competitive effects, entry, efficiencies, and failing firm defense-has been replaced with a more flexible approach to competitive effects analysis.…

On March 29, the DOJ announced that it will not challenge Cisco Systems Inc.’s acquisition of Tandberg ASA. The EU also cleared the transaction, however, it required conditions for its approval. The DOJ concluded that the proposed deal was not anticompetitive because of the evolving nature of the videoconferencing market and the commitments that Cisco…

On March 8, 2010, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan’s (Blue Cross-Michigan) subsidiary, Blue Care Networks of Michigan, abandoned its attempt to purchase Physicians Health Plan of Mid-Michigan (PHP) after the Department of Justice and the Michigan Attorney General informed the companies that they would file an antitrust lawsuit to block the acquisition. The Antitrust…