Federal Trade Commission/Department of Justice Hearings

On July 10, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division announced that the third in a series of planned joint public hearings designed to examine the antitrust implications of single-firm conduct under the antitrust laws will take place on July 18, 2006, in Washington, DC. As previously announced, these public hearings will examine whether and when specific types of single-firm conduct may violate Section 2 of the Sherman Act by harming competition and consumer welfare and when they are pro-competitive or benign.
The hearings will continue through the year. The session on July 18, which will be held at 601 New Jersey Ave., N.W., Washington, DC, Conference Room C, and will go from 1:30 to 5:00 pm, will focus on the competitive implications associated with unilateral refusals to deal. Such refusals occur when a firm chooses not to make a product or service available to another firm.

The session's participants will be:
Stephen B. Donovan, Chief Counsel, Antitrust, International Paper.

William J. Kolasky, Partner and Co-Chair of WilmerHale's Antitrust and Competition Department, and former Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Department of Justice, Antitrust Division.

R. Hewitt Pate, Partner and Head of Hunton & Williams's Global Competition Practice Group, and former Assistant Attorney General, Department of Justice, Antitrust Division.

Robert Pitofsky, Joseph and Madeline Sheehy Professor in Antitrust and Trade Regulation Law, Georgetown University Law Center, and former Chairman, FTC.

Steven C. Salop, Professor of Economics and Law, Georgetown University Law Center.

Thomas F. (Tom) Walton, Director, Economic Policy Analysis, General Motors Corporation.

Mark Whitener, Antitrust Counsel, General Electric Company, and Former Deputy Director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition.

On June 5, the Commission and the Antitrust Division announced their planned joint public hearings designed to examine the antitrust implications of single-firm conduct under the antitrust laws. The first hearing took place on June 20 and June 22, 2006 in Washington, DC. FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras and Assistant Attorney General Thomas O. Barnett were joined by two of the leading antitrust and industrial organization scholars at the opening session, Professor Herbert Hovenkamp and Professor Dennis Carlton. Two panels focusing on predatory pricing will followed on June 22.

Authored by

Robert W. Doyle, Jr.
202-589-1839
rdoyle@dbmlawgroup.com