Antitrust Lawyer Blog

On April 27, the DOJ announced that Assistant Attorney General Thomas O. Barnett will participate in the fifth annual International Competition Network (“ICN”) Conference in Cape Town, South Africa, on May 3-5, 2006. At the conference, senior antitrust officials and private antitrust experts from around the world as well as representatives from intergovernmental organizations will…

On April 27, the DOJ announced Hughey Inc., which does business as Carmel Concrete Products (“Carmel”), and its president, Scott D. Hughey agreed to plead guilty and pay criminal fines for fixing the price of ready mixed concrete in the Indianapolis metropolitan area. Under the plea agreement, which must be approved by the court, Carmel…

On April 24th, the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition issued a summary of agreements filed with the Commission in fiscal year 2005 (ending September 30, 2005) by generic and branded drug manufacturers. The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 requires drug companies to file certain agreements with the FTC and the…

On April 20th, the Federal Trade Commission announced a consent agreement that will protect competition and consumers in several significant medical device markets affected by Boston Scientific’s proposed $27 billion acquisition of the Guidant Corporation (“Guidant”). The agreement will allow the transaction to proceed, provided the parties comply fully with its terms. Under the terms…

The FTC announced on April 19 it joined its foreign partners in calling for stepped up cross-border law enforcement cooperation and increased public/private sector cooperation to combat spam. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (“OECD”) issued recommendations in this area on the same day. To date, the FTC already implemented many of the OECD…

On April 18, two companies and their owner, who were charged with selling bogus bartender and mystery shopper certification programs, were banned for life from telemarketing. The owner also will pay $115,000 and turn over his Porsche convertible to settle the Commission's charges. The owner, Stevan P. Todorovic, is a repeat-offender who also is under…

On April 14, the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division (“Antitrust Division”) announced a $1.8 million civil settlement against merger partners Qualcomm and Flarion Technologies alleging “gun-jumping” violations of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (“HSR Act”). The action underscores the Antitrust Division’s resolve to vigorously scrutinize the conduct of merging parties prior to consummation of…

On April 11, 2006, a federal grand jury returned indictments charging MA-RI-AL Corporation, which does business as Beaver Materials Corp., Chris A. Beaver, Ricky J. Beaver and John J. Blatzheim for their roles in the ready mixed concrete price-fixing conspiracy. The individuals were also indicted on charges that they knowingly made false statements to federal…

On March 30th, Fresenius AG agreed to sell 91 outpatient kidney dialysis clinics and financial interests in 12 more to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that Fresenius' purchase of rival dialysis provider Renal Care Group, Inc. would violate federal antitrust laws. When the deal is finalized, Fresenius will be the largest provider of outpatient dialysis…

On March 29th, the Federal Trade Commission announced its intention to conduct a study of the use, and likely short- and long-term competitive effects, of authorized generics in the prescription drug marketplace. An authorized generic is chemically identical to a particular brand-name drug, but the brand-name manufacturer authorizes it to be marketed in a generic…