Antitrust Lawyer Blog

Andre Barlow

On November 12, 2008, LG Display Co. Ltd. (“LG”), Sharp Corp. (“Sharp”), and Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd. (“Chunghwa”) pled guilty for their role in a conspiracy to fix prices for liquid crystal display (“LCD”) panels and agreed to pay criminal fines totaling $585 million. LCD panels are used in computer monitors, notebooks, televisions, mobile phones,…

On November 10, 2008, Val M. Northcutt, an executive at Manuli Rubber Industries SpA (“Manuli”) and Francesco Scaglia, , an Italian National employed as a product manager for marine hoses for Manuli’s factory, were each found not guilty by a twelve member jury sitting in the United States District Court for the Southern District of…

On November 5, 2008, Yahoo! Inc. (“Yahoo!”) and Google Inc. (“Google”) ended their advertising agreement after the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) said that it would file an antitrust lawsuit to block the implementation of the agreement. According to the DOJ, both companies account for 90 percent of the Internet search advertising and Internet search syndication.…

On October 30, 2008, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) required Verizon Communications Corp. (“Verizon”) to divest assets in 100 locations in 22 States for its acquisition of Alltel Corp. (“Alltel”) to proceed. The divestitures cover the States of Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina,…

On October 29, 2008, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) decided to end its investigation into the proposed merger between Delta Air Lines, Inc. (“Delta”) and Northwest Airlines Corporation (“Northwest”). The DOJ believes that the merger will result in substantial and credible efficiencies for the two companies, which would translate into improved service by the two…

On October 28, 2008, Humberto “Beto” Lopez, vice president of El Paso Steel Doors and Frames Inc., pled guilty to conspiring to rig bids and allocate customers for certain contracts for sales of doors and other hardware for various construction projects in the El Paso area. Mr. Lopez has also agreed to cooperate in the…

On October 23, 2008, American Composite Timbers (“ACT”), a plastic marine pilings supplier located in Commack, NY, pled guilty and agreed to pay a criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to commit bribery in connection with a project to repair New York’s Pier 86 where the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum is…

On October 23, 2008, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) challenged CCS Corporation’s (“CCS”) proposed $85 billion acquisition of Newpark Environmental Services (“Newpark”), a division of Newpark Resources, Inc. The FTC alleged that the proposed transaction would have combined two of only three providers of waste disposal services to the offshore oil and natural gas exploration…

On October 21, 2008, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) decided not to challenge a joint licensing agreement by RFID Consortium LLC (“RFID”) for patents to comply with ultra high frequency radio frequency identification (“UHF RFID”) technology, which has a variety of uses including airline baggage tracking, retail product inventory and ticketing for events. RFID is…