Antitrust Lawyer Blog

On February 2, a Canadian telemarketer that falsely claimed it could reduce U.S. consumers’ credit card rates, was stopped by a federal court. The FTC’s complaint alleges that the defendants have sold credit card interest rate reduction services since December 2005, claiming affiliation with consumers’ credit card companies. The defendants promise to effect credit card…

On January 18, the Commission announced its challenge to Hospira Inc.’s (“Hospira”) proposed $2 billion acquisition of rival drug manufacturer Mayne Pharma Ltd. (“Mayne”), along with an agreement and order requiring the companies to sell assets used to manufacture and supply five generic injectable pharmaceuticals in order for the transaction to proceed. Absent relief, the…

On January 17, testifying before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on the subject of anticompetitive patent settlements in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry, FTC Commissioner Jon Leibowitz said that recent court cases have made it more difficult to bring antitrust cases to stop exclusion payment settlements between brand manufacturers and their generic competitors, and that…

On January 9, the Commission received a petition from Service Corporation International (SCI) and Alderwoods Group, Inc. seeking approval to divest the properties listed below under three sale agreements, to KAG, LLC, which, prior to the closing of the transaction, will be a subsidiary of NorthStar Memorial Group, LLC. The first sale agreement includes: Graceland…

On January 8th, a payment processor violated federal law when it debited, or tried to debit, more than $9.9 million from consumers’ bank accounts – at $139 each – without their approval. According to a complaint the FTC filed in federal court, Nevada-based InterBill Ltd. acted on behalf of a fraudulent enterprise known as “Pharmacycards.com.”…

On January 5, the Commission received a petition from Service Corporation International (SCI) and Alderwoods Group, Inc. seeking approval to divest a range of funeral home and cemetery services companies. Through this petition, a public version of which can be found on the Commission’s Web site as a link to this press release, the companies…

The FTC filed complaints on January 4th, in four separate cases alleging that weight-loss and weight-control claims were not supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence. Marketers of the four products -Xenadrine EFX, CortiSlim, TrimSpa, and One-A-Day WeightSmart -settled with the FTC, surrendered cash and other assets worth at least $25 million, and agreed to…

On December 29, the Federal Trade Commission announced its decision to challenge the conduct of several organizations representing more than 2,900 independent Chicago-area physicians for agreeing to fix prices and for refusing to deal with certain health plans except on collectively determined terms. The FTC’s complaint charges that the actions of Advocate Health Partners (“AHP”)…

The FCC finally approved AT&T Inc.’s (“AT&T) merger with BellSouth Corp. (“BellSouth”) late on December 29, with the telephone companies agreeing to several conditions, including a controversial network neutrality provision aimed at protecting Web players such as Microsoft and Google. AT&T was eager to close the $80 billion-plus deal for several months. FCC approval was…

On December 28, the Commission announced its decision to challenge General Dynamics’ proposed $275 million acquisition of SNC Technologies, Inc. and SNC Technologies, Corp. (collectively, SNC). The FTC’s complaint alleged that the deal would undermine competition by bringing together two of only three competitors providing the U.S. military with melt-pour load, assemble, and pack (LAP)…