Antitrust Lawyer Blog

This is a new entry to test your Movable Type installation. We have installed Movable Type on your server and configured the paths for the initial weblog in the system per your request. Do not delete this weblog (“First Weblog”) unless you know what you are doing, because it is already configured for your server.…

On June 28, the FTC issued a complaint challenging Whole Foods Market Inc.’s approximately $670 million acquisition of Wild Oats Markets Inc. under the grounds that this transaction would violate federal antitrust laws by eliminating the substantial competition between these two uniquely close competitors in the operation of premium natural and organic supermarkets nationwide. The…

On June 26, 2007 the Japanese Government’s Advisory Panel on Basic Issues Regarding the Anti-Monopoly Act (“the Panel”) concluded its series of roundtable discussions. Since 2005, the Panel has met in order to discuss and update the Act Concerning Prohibition of Private Monopolization and Maintenance of Fair Trade. The Panel was directed by the Chief…

On June 19, the DOJ reached an agreement with Microsoft Corporation to resolve a complaint by Google regarding Microsoft’s desktop search function in Windows Vista. In a joint filing with the court, the DOJ, 17 state Attorneys General, and the District of Columbia said that the agreement, which aims to promote user choice, will resolve…

On June 6, following the NorVergence Inc. telecommunications fraud case won by the FTC in 2005, the agency charged a company with violating federal law by helping to finance the scheme and continuing to seek payment from defrauded consumers. In 2004, a federal court voided 1,600 NorVergence contracts with small businesses and religious and other…

On June 12, the DOJ, First Busey Corporation, a financial holding company headquartered in Urbana, Illinois, with approximately $2.5 billion in assets, and Main Street Trust Inc., a financial holding company headquartered in Champaign, Illinois with about $1.6 billion in assets, entered into a settlement where the parties agreed to sell five branch offices with…

On June 12, the FTC asked the court to halt the deceptive practices and misrepresentations and to freeze the BurnLounge’s assets, pending a trial, to preserve them for consumer redress. On June 6, 2007, the FTC filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against BurnLounge, Inc. The complaint…

On June 11, the DOJ issued a statement after announcing the closing of the investigation of CBOT Holdings Inc. by Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. After an extensive investigation of both the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s (“CME”) proposed acquisition of CBOT and the 2003 agreement under which CME provides clearing services to CBOT, the Antitrust Division…

On June 5, the FTC authorized the staff to seek a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in federal district court to halt Whole Foods Market, Inc.’s approximately $670 million acquisition of its chief rival, Wild Oats Markets, Inc., pending an administrative trial on the merits. According to the complaint, the transaction would violate federal…