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On May 3, 2012, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that an executive of Hyosung Corporation, an affiliate of Nautilus Hyosung Holdings Inc. (“Nautilus”), agreed to plead guilty and serve five months in prison in the United States for obstruction of justice charges in connection with the antitrust agencies’ merger investigation…

On February 10, 2012, the Department of Justice (“Department”) entered into a settlement that allows International Paper to acquire Temple-Inland. The settlement agreement requires International Paper and Temple-Inland Inc. to divest three containerboard mills in order to proceed with their $4.3 billion merger. The Department said that the merger, as originally proposed, would have substantially…

On January 13, 2012, the FTC issued proposed amendments to Parts 2 and 4 of its Rules of Practice (“Rules”). Written comments must be received by March 23, 2012. The FTC first raised the need to reform Part 2 citing a substantial risk of delay and mistakes in the FTC’s discovery process based on the…

On December 30, 2011, China’s Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”), the government agency tasked with merger review, formally promulgated new rules providing MOFCOM with clear procedural rules (and powers) to investigate and deal with reportable transactions that were not notified. These Provisional Measures on the Investigation and Treatment of Failure to Report Concentration of Undertakings (“Provisional…

On November 21, 2011, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) settled allegations of violations of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 45 (“FTC Act”) against Pool Corporation (“PoolCorp”). PoolCorp and the FTC reached a proposed consent agreement resolving charges that PoolCorp used exclusionary acts and practices to maintain its monopoly power in…

In light of the Department of Justice’s attempt to block telecom giant, AT&T from acquiring T-Mobile, the Hudson Institute recently released a report discussing antitrust policy as it applies to the growth of innovation. See Irwin Stelzer, Antitrust Policy in an Age of Rapid Innovation, BRIEFING PAPER (Hudson Inst., Washington, D.C.) Oct. 2011. Key Takeaways:…

On September 23, 2011, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a case brought by a group of corporations that filed an antitrust suit against the major players in the potash industry, ruling that plaintiffs failed to allege specific facts sufficient to plead a plausible “direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable” connection between the alleged foreign…