Articles Posted in DOJ Antitrust Highlights

On September 4, 2009, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it would not challenge a joint purchasing agreement of certain medical supplies between Memorial Health, Inc (“Memorial”) and St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System (“St. Joseph’s/Candler”). The efficiencies produced by the joint purchasing agreement will reduce transactions for the hospitals and will result in lower costs…

On September 3, the companies announced that they received clearance from the Department of Justice to complete their proposed merger without conditions. The DOJ issued a second reqeust around June 22. The entire investigation took approximately four months. The second request period, however, was relatively short as it lasted only about two months. Despite the…

On August 25, 2009, Epson Imaging Devices Corporation (“Epson”), a Japanese electronics manufacturer, pled guilty for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices in the sale of Thin Film Transistor-Liquid Crystal Display (“TFT-LDC”) panels and agreed to pay a fine of $26 million. TFT-LCD panels are used in computer monitors, notebooks, televisions, mobile phones,…

On August 20, 2009, the DOJ announced that it reached a proposed settlement with Microsemi Corporation requiring the company to divest all of the assets that it acquired from Semicoa Inc. on July 14, 2008. The DOJ investigated the consummated acquisition and filed a civil antitrust suit to force Microsemi to divest the Semicoa assets…

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 19, 2009, Wen Jun (“Tony”) Cheng, a former assistant vice president of sales and marketing at a large Taiwanese color display tube (CDT) manufacturing company, was indicted at U.S. District Court in San Francisco for his role in a global conspiracy to fix prices of CDTs. CDTs are a type of cathode ray…

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 July 30, 2009, the DOJ announced that it reached a settlement that will require Sapa Holding AB and Indalex Holdings Finance Inc. to divest a North Carolina aluminum sheathing facility in order to proceed with Sapa’s proposed $150 million acquisition of Indalex. According to the complaint, the transaction would substantially lessen competition for the…

On July 28, 2009, Nyree Patterson, the niece of former U.S. Army Major John Cockerham, pled guilty for her role in conspiracy to cover up her uncle’s involvement in accepting $9 million in bribes as a contracting officer at a Kuwaiti air base. Ms. Pettaway admitted to going to Kuwait in late 2006 and receiving…

On July 17, 2009, Patriot Services Inc. (“Patriot”), a temporary staffing company used by various government agencies and departments, and its owner/president, Stephanie Blackmon, pled guilty to making a false statement to the U.S. Small Business Association (“SBA”). Although Ms. Blackmon was officially the owner/president of Patriot from November 2003, the operations of Patriot was…