Antitrust Lawyer Blog

On May 11, Italy's antitrust authority ruled that Prime Minister Berlusconi did not violate conflict of interest rules when his government approved subsidies to Italians who purchase digital television decoders. While critics of the subsidies claimed that they favored Mediaset SPA, Berlusconi's own television broadcasting empire, the antitrust authority found that the

On May 9, Coherent Inc. announced that it received antitrust approval from the Antitrust Division to buy Excel Technology Inc. Coherent indicated that it received a second request on March 27th from Antitrust Division in connection with its antitrust investigation. Andre Barlow

On May 9, a judge with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit raised questions about EarthLink, Inc.'s (“EarthLink”) assertion that the FCC erred when it stopped requiring the Bell operating companies (“BOCs”) to make available unbundled network elements for the broadband market because there isn't any competition in the sector. The judge…

On May 5, the Federal Trade Commission announced that at the conclusion of the International Competition Network “ICN” conference in Cape Town, South Africa, significant accomplishments were made, including the completion of a Merger Guidelines Workbook and a new agenda that includes a working group on unilateral conduct. The fifth annual conference, hosted by the…

On May 2, AT&T Inc. (“AT&T”) and BellSouth Corp. (“BellSouth”) confirmed that the DOJ had issued a second request with respect to AT&T's nearly $90 billion acquisition of BellSouth. This transaction will make AT&T the dominant phone carrier in 22 states and comes on the heels of two other large telecom deals and amid growing…

Speaking to the Tennessee Telecommunications Association on May 2, FCC Commissioner Deborah T. Tate said that any revamping of the 1996 Telecommunications Act should include language that permits the government to play a limited role in creating fair rules, while allowing the marketplace to drive industry development and innovation in such areas as broadband and…

Also on April 28, the Commission approved the publication of a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register that would amend the Telemarketing Sales Rule to revise the fees charged for industry access to the National Do Not Call Registry. The FTC is currently accepting comments on these proposed fee changes. Under the proposed…

On April 28, the Federal Trade Commission (“Commission”) authorized the staffs of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, Bureau of Economics and Office of Policy Planning to file comments with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) concerning the FDA's recently issued draft guidance for industry and agency staff on labeling statements about the whole grain…

On April 28, the Federal Trade Commission (“Commission”) authorized the staffs of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, Bureau of Economics and the Office of Policy Planning to file comments with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) concerning the FDA's recently issued draft guidance for industry and agency staff on labeling statements about the whole…

On April 28, the Federal Trade Commission approved the publication of a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register that would amend the Telemarketing Sales Rule to revise the fees charged for industry access to the National Do Not Call Registry. The FTC is currently accepting comments on these proposed fee changes. Under the…