Antitrust Lawyer Blog

On July 31, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission (Commission) issued a statement withdrawing the Commission's nine-year-old Policy Statement on Monetary Equitable Remedies in Competition Cases (Policy Statement). The statement's withdrawal was approved on a 4-1 split vote, with Commissioner Maureen K. Ohlhausen casting the lone no vote and issuing a dissenting opinion. The 2003 Policy…

On July 16th, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that pharmaceutical “pay-for-delay” settlements whereby cash is paid from a patent holding company to a generic manufacturer that agrees not to enter a market as prima facie evidence of an antitrust violation. The Third Circuit rejects the more lenient standard adopted by the other Circuit…

On June 27th, 2012, the 7th Circuit established elements extending the reach of United States antitrust law to certain cases where foreign companies engage in anticompetitive conduct outside the United States. (Minn-Chem, Inc., et al., v. Agrium Inc., No. 10-1712, slip op. (7th Cir. June 27, 2012)). Background In Minn-Chem, indirect U.S. potash purchasers alleged…

On May 3, 2012, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that an executive of Hyosung Corporation, an affiliate of Nautilus Hyosung Holdings Inc. (“Nautilus”), agreed to plead guilty and serve five months in prison in the United States for obstruction of justice charges in connection with the antitrust agencies' merger investigation…

On April 2, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) closed its investigation of Express Scripts, Inc.'s (“Express Scripts”) proposed acquisition of pharmacy benefits manager (“PBM”), Medco Health Solutions, Inc. (“Medco”) Express Scripts consummated its acquisition of Medco on the same day. Background On July 20, 2011, Express Scripts entered into an agreement to acquire Medco…

On March 27, 2012, the DOJ announced it would require Humana, a leading health insurer in the United States with 2010 revenues of approximately $33.6 billion, and Arcadian, which had approximately 62,000 MA members in 15 states and 2010 revenues of $622 million, to divest assets relating to Arcadian’s MA business in parts of five…

On February 10, 2012, the Department of Justice (“Department”) entered into a settlement that allows International Paper to acquire Temple-Inland. The settlement agreement requires International Paper and Temple-Inland Inc. to divest three containerboard mills in order to proceed with their $4.3 billion merger. The Department said that the merger, as originally proposed, would have substantially…

On January 13, 2012, the FTC issued proposed amendments to Parts 2 and 4 of its Rules of Practice (“Rules”). Written comments must be received by March 23, 2012. The FTC first raised the need to reform Part 2 citing a substantial risk of delay and mistakes in the FTC’s discovery process based on the…