Articles Posted in FTC Antitrust Highlights

On May 22, Commissioner William E. Kovacic detailed the FTC’s varied initiatives to protect competitive markets in the production, distribution, and sale of gasoline and other petroleum products before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. The petroleum industry plays a crucial role in our…

On May 8, the DOJ and the FTC issued a joint report, “Competition in the Real Estate Brokerage Industry,” to inform consumers and others involved in the industry about important competition issues involving residential real estate, including the impact of the Internet, the competitive structure of the real estate brokerage industry, and obstacles to a…

On May 2, FTC Commissioner Jon Leibowitz testified on behalf of the FTC before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection of the Committee on Energy and Commerce regarding anticompetitive patent settlements in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry. Leibowitz alleged that recent court cases have made it more difficult to bring antitrust cases…

On April 17, the DOJ and the FTC issued a joint report, “Antitrust Enforcement and Intellectual Property Rights: Promoting Innovation and Competition,” to inform consumers, businesses, and intellectual property rights holders about the agencies’ competition views with respect to a wide range of activities involving intellectual property. The report discusses issues including: refusals to license…

On April 16, the FTC requested Actavis Group’s (“Actavis”) and Abrika Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Abrika”) divest all rights and assets needed to make and market generic isradipine capsules to Cobalt Laboratories, Inc. (“Cobalt”) within 10 days of the proposed acquisition. The FTC challenged the terms of the acquisition alleging that the transaction would create a monopoly…

On April 13, the FTC filed for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in the U.S. District Court of Western Pennsylvania, to stop Equitable Resources, Inc.’s (“Equitable”) proposed acquisition of The Peoples Natural Gas Company (“Dominion Peoples”), a subsidiary of Dominion Resources, Inc. The FTC alleged that the acquisition would lead to higher prices…

On April 13, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico issued a temporary restraining order (“TRO”) to prevent Western Refining, Inc. from closing on its proposed $1.4 billion acquisition of Giant Industries, Inc., pending the completion of a preliminary injunction hearing. On April 10, 2007, the FTC approved a complaint challenging the…

On March 30, the FTC approved a petition for proposed divestiture from Thermo Electron Corporation (“Thermo”). Under the consent agreement and order with the FTC regarding Thermo’s proposed acquisition of Fisher Scientific International, Inc., the respondent was required to divest the high-performance centrifugal vacuum evaporators (“CVE”s) assets, to a Commission-approved buyer. In its petition, Thermo…

On March 16, following a public comment period, the FTC approved the issuance of a final consent order in the matter concerning the acquisition of interests in Kinder Morgan, Inc by TC Group LLC (The Carlyle Group) et al. The Commission vote was 3-1, with Commissioner Jon Leibowitz voting no and Commissioner J. Thomas Rosch…

On March 15, the FTC approved a complaint challenging Equitable Resources, Inc.’s (“Equitable”) proposed acquisition of The Peoples Natural Gas Company (“Dominion Peoples”), a subsidiary of Dominion Resources, Inc., on the basis that the merger would create a monopoly in the sale of natural gas in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The complaint alleged that Equitable and Dominion…