Articles Posted in FTC Antitrust Highlights

On March 31, 2008, William E. Kovacic assumed the role of Chairman at the Federal Trade Commission. Mr. Kovacic had served as a Commissioner since January 2006 before his nomination by President Bush and eventual confirmation by the Senate. Before joining the FTC, Mr. Kovacic was the E.K Gubin Professor of Government Contracts Law at…

On March 5, 2008, the Federal Trade Commission challenged the conduct by two Connecticut chiropractic associations and one of their attorneys to implement a collective refusal to deal with a cost-saving health plan in Connecticut. The FTC’s complaint charged that the parties’ actions unreasonably restrained competition in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act.…

On February 13, 2008, the Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint in federal district court against Pennsylvania-based pharmaceutical company Cephalon. The complaint charged that Cephalon engaged in a course of anticompetitive conduct that is preventing competition to its branded drug – Provigil. In 2007, U.S. sales of Provigil totaled more than $800 million and accounted…

On January 26, 2008 Hexion Specialty Chemicals announced that both it and Huntsman Corporation agreed to allow additional time for the Federal Trade Commission to review the proposed merger of the two companies. As a result, the merger is not expected to close before May 3. To accommodate the extension, Hexion also gave notice to…

On January 24, 2008 the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) or (“Commission”) announced a complaint and settlement with Negotiated Data Solutions LLC (N-Data), which allegedly violated federal law by engaging in unfair methods of competition and unfair acts or practices regarding its enforcement of certain patents against makers of equipment employing Ethernet, a computer networking standard…

The Federal Trade Commission stopped a father, his two sons, and their network of companies from deceptively selling a healthcare business opportunity with false promises of earning up to a million dollars in profits. In addition, the FTC halted their sale of an herbal tea product, marketed with claims that it could prevent, treat, or…

On December 20, 2007 the Federal Trade Commission announced that it will not seek to block Google Inc.’s proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of Internet advertising server DoubleClick Inc. In a 4-1 vote to close its eight-month investigation of the transaction, the Commission wrote in its majority statement that “after carefully reviewing the evidence, we have…

On November 16, 2007, the Federal Trade Commission entered into a settlement regarding Schering-Plough Corporation’s proposed $14.4 billion acquisition of Organon BioSciences N.V. from Akzo-Nobel N.V. The FTC alleges that the deal harms competition in the U.S. markets for the manufacture and development of three poultry vaccines. In settling the charges, the companies entered into…

On October 26, 2007 the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) entered into a settlement agreement with Owens Corning regarding its proposed acquisition of the glass fiber reinforcements and composite fabric assets of Compagnie de Saint Gobain (Saint Gobain). The complaint accompanying the consent agreement asserts that the deal reduces competition in the North American market for…

On October 3, 2007, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it will not continue with administrative litigation challenging Western Refining, Inc.’s acquisition of Giant Industries, Inc. The vote to dismiss the administrative complaint was 3-2. Originally, the FTC had voted to attempt to block the proposed acquisition in April 2007, and filed complaints before both…