Antitrust Lawyer Blog

On May 28, 2014, the Financial Times (“FT”) reported that junior employees and sale staff of GlaxoSmithKline (“GSK”) China is suing their management over unreimbursed “bribes” paid, at the management’s behest, to hospitals and doctors. In the allegations put forth by the employees, the management of GSK China directed staff to purchase fake receipts to…

On May 27, 2014, the attorneys of Japanese auto part companies filed a motion in a federal court in Michigan, indicating they will appeal to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals a ruling made by U.S. District Judge Marianne Battani that established a premise that an industry-wide cartel conspiracies existed among Japanese auto part makers.…

On May 6, 2014, the Bureau of Competition (“BC”) of the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced several personnel changes in its management. There are two new Deputy Assistant Directors for the Anticompetitive Practices Division, which handles the BC’s enforcement efforts against anticompetitive conduct in industries other than health care. Descriptions of experience by the FTC:…

On April 29, 2014, the European Commission (“EC”) announced that it has reached a legally-binding agreement with Samsung on standard essential patent (“SEP”) injunctions. According to the terms of the agreement, Samsung “will not seek injunctions” in the EU on the basis of its SEPs for smartphones and tablets against licensees who sign up to…

On April 24, 2014, Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe agreed to settle a major antitrust case regarding an alleged no employee-poaching agreement in an effort to lower employee compensation. According to the lawsuit, Apple, Google, Intel, Adobe, Intuit, Pixar and LucasFilm signed a no-solicitation agreement dating from as far back as 2005. These companies agreed…

On April 25, 2014, the FTC announced that it had relocated its Premerger Notification Office (“PNO”) to 400 South 7 Street, SW, from its old location at the corner of 7th and D Streets SW in Washington D.C. The New Address, which goes into effect on April 28, 2014, is: Premerger Notification Office Federal Trade…

On April 24, 2014, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it has reached an agreement with Baazarvoice which will remedy its illegal acquisition of PowerReviews. Under the proposed remedy, Baazarvoice will sell all the assets it obtained from its acquisition of PowerReviews to a divestiture buyer, and to compensate it for PowerReview’s deteriorated market…

On April 18, 2014, China’s Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”) unveiled the first tentative guideline for the simple merger review process: It would appear that MOFCOM’s recourse to a public review process is aimed at increasing the transparency of the merger review process, since it replaces the old “one-on-one” consultations between MOFCOM and domestic stakeholders. It…

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…