Antitrust Lawyer Blog

On January 20, the Department of Justice reached a settlement with the Daily Gazette Company and MediaNews Group Inc. (now known as Affiliated Media Inc.), that requires the companies to restructure their newspaper joint operating arrangement (JOA) and take other steps to remedy the anticompetitive effects of the 2004 transaction, which was originally challenged by…

On January 14, the DOJ announced that it has opened a formal antitrust investigation of the soybean seed industry. Monsanto announced that the DOJ’s Antitrust Division sent it a civil investigative demand (“CID) for information on the company’s soybean traits business after complaints that Monsanto was trying to limit access to push a new, pricier…

On December 23, 2009, Agrium Inc. agreed to sell a range of assets as part of an agreement with the FTC that will allow Agrium to move forward with its acquisition of competitor CF Industries Holdings, Inc. The proposed consent order settles allegations that the acquisition would have eliminated competition in the market for anhydrous…

On December 16, 2009, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) filed an administrative complaint against Intel Corporation (“Intel”) alleging that it has engaged in anticompetitive and unfair conduct in order to stifle competition and maintain its monopoly position. In the complaint, the FTC alleges a number of unfair methods of competition in violation of Section 5…

On December 16, 2009, Cisco announced that the DOJ terminated the mandatory waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvement Act of 1976, as amended, with respect to Cisco’s pending acquisition of Starent Networks. The DOJ chose not to issue a second request to review Cisco’s acquisition of Starent even though the acquisition led to increased…

On December 2, 2009, the FTC announced an order settling charges that Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc.’s acquisition of Robin Hood Holdings Limited, owner of Arrow Pharmaceuticals, would have harmed consumers by eliminating future competition for important generic drugs used to treat Parkinson’s disease (cabergoline) and the side effects of chemotherapy (dronabinol). Under the order’s terms, Watson…

On November 25, 2009, the FTC announced that it approved SCI’s acquisition of Palm Mortuary, Inc. (“Palm”) as long as it sold a cemetery and funeral home in Las Vegas. The FTC alleged that Las Vegas has a highly concentrated market for cemetery services, which includes burial plots, opening and closing of graves, memorials, burial…

On November 2, 2009, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) released an opinion stating that the Realcomp II (“Realcomp”), a real estate multiple listing service (“MLS”) serving southeast Michigan, took part in anticompetitive practices by restricting some of its members access to its database. An MLS is a database that includes members’ home listings information. Members…

On October 14, 2009, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) settled with Pfizer Inc. regarding its proposed $68 billion acquisition of Wyeth. According to the FTC, the proposed transaction would have reduced competition in several U.S. markets for the manufacture and sale of animal vaccines and animal pharmaceutical products. Veterinarians and other animal health product customers…