Articles Posted in FTC Antitrust Highlights

On April 17, 2014, the Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition, Deborah Feinstein, praised the agency’s role in preventing Jostens, Inc. (“Jostens”) from acquiring American Achievement Corp. (“AAC”). In a statement, she said, “The parties’ abandonment of the transaction preserves competition for consumers in the markets for class rings, which are an…

Our own Robert Doyle is often sought out by premier news agencies for comments on the leading anti-trust matters of the day, and recently, Bloomberg interviewed Bob on Hertz’s potential re-acquisition of several locations which it had divested to Advantage Rent a Car during its acquisition of Dollar Thrifty. The resulting Bloomberg article, including quotations…

On April 15, 2014, the FTC approved a petition from Toys “R” Us (“TRU”) to reopen and modify a 1998 final Commission order. In that order, Toys ‘R’ Us, Inc. v. FTC, 221 F.3d 928 (7th Cir. 2000), TRU was found, among other things, to have used its significant market power to orchestrate a “hub-and-spoke” conspiracy…

On April 14, 2014, the FTC announced that it reached a settlement agreement with Akorn Enterprises (“Akorn”), which allows it to proceed with its acquisition of Hi-Tech Pharmacal, Inc. (“Hi-Tech”). Specifically, Akorn and Hi-Tech will sell the rights and assets to three generic prescription eye medications and two generic topical anesthetics to Watson Laboratories, Inc.,…

On April 10, 2014, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced that it will end its litigation against Ardagh Group SA’s $1.7 billion acquisition of Saint-Gobain Containers, Inc.’s U.S. bottling operations, after the former agreed to divest six of its nine glass container plants in the United States. The case began when the FTC requested for…

A recently-appointed Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) official has reportedly responded to criticism that the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) is in conflict with federal antitrust law, writing a letter to the New York Times earlier this week to defend the interaction of the legislative areas. Martin Gaynor of the FTC Bureau of Economics wrote a letter…

On February 13, 2014, the heads of the antitrust agencies of the U.S, Canada and Mexico—Chairwoman Edith Ramire of the FTC, Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer of the DOJ’s Aititrust Division, Canadian Commissioner of Competition John Pecman, and President Alejandra Palacios Prieto of the Mexican Federal Competition Commission—met in Washington, D.C. to discuss mutual efforts…

On January 24, 2014, the FTC won its court battle against St. Luke’s Health System’s acquisition of a large primary physician group – the Saltzer Medical Group – in Nampa, Idaho. Background  In March 2013, the FTC filed a complaint for an injunction against St. Luke’s, alleging that the Saltzer acquisition, which was not reportable…

On December 13, 2013, the FTC announced that both the Music Teacher’s National Association, Inc. (“MNTA”) and the California Association of Legal Support Professionals (“CALSPro”) agreed to eliminate provisions in their codes of ethics that limited competition among their members, in order to settle potential litigation brought by the FTC. Background According to the FTC,…

On November 1, 2013, the FTC commissioners unanimously voted to close a seven month investigation of the proposed Office Depot/OfficeMax merger.  The Commission issued a statement regarding its decision to close the transaction without taking any action. Background Regarding FTC’s Successful Challenge to Staples/Office Depot In 1997, the Commission blocked the proposed combination of Staples,…