Articles Posted in DOJ Antitrust Highlights

The American Civil Liberties Union (“ACLU”), a group of small telecommunications companies, and Sprint Nextel Corp. (“Sprint”) have joined to oppose AT&T Inc.’s (“AT&T”) bid to acquire BellSouth Corp. (“BellSouth”). In its June 5th filings with the FCC, the ACLU said it wants the commission to hold up approval of the merger until the phone…

On June 20, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division announced that they are implementing an electronic filing system that allows merging parties to submit via the Internet premerger notification filings required by the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. Electronic filings may be submitted quickly and easily, eliminating the time and expense entailed in…

On June 20, the staff of the Bureau of Competition advised Alpena (Michigan) Public Schools that its proposed plan to have pharmaceuticals transferred to it for use by its employees, by the Alpena Regional Medical Center, with actual distribution of the pharmaceuticals being made by certain Alpena-area pharmacies, falls within the Non-Profit Institutions Act “NPIA”.That…

On June 19, the DOJ announced that it will not challenge a proposal by the Fair Factories Clearinghouse (“FFC”) to operate a database that member companies can use to collect and voluntarily share information about workplace conditions in manufacturing facilities around the globe. The DOJ’s position was stated in a business review letter from Thomas…

On June 14, McClatchy Co. announced that the Department of Justice is extending its review of the company’s sale of two California newspapers to MediaNews Group Inc. The two properties, the San Jose Mercury News and the Contra Costa Times, are part of a $1 billion three-way swap of four papers that also involves Hearst…

On June 14, the DOJ cleared Xstrata plc’s $14.64 billion offer for Falconbridge Ltd without issuing a second request.

On June 8, the DOJ granted antitrust approval to the $13.4 billion merger between French telecommunications equipment maker, Alcatel SA and U.S. based Lucent Technologies Inc. The deal is expected to close later this year.

On June 7, a federal grand jury in Portland, Oregon returned an indictment against Trevor Smith, a former Raisio Chemicals Northwest Inc. sales executive, charging him with two counts of filing false federal income tax returns in 1999 and 2000, understating his income by more than $332,000. The understated income consisted of payments he allegedly…

On June 6, the Federal Trade Commission authorized the filing of a joint amicus brief with the U.S. Department of Justice in the case of Latino Quimica-Amtex S.A. v. Atofina, et al., No. 05-5754-CV (2d Cir.). The case involves an international price-fixing conspiracy by manufacturers of two chemicals, sodium monochloroacetate and monochloroacetic acid, which are…

On June 2, Euronext and the New York Stock Exchange announced a merger that would create the world’s largest stock exchange, and the first cross-Atlantic bourse. At the same time, Deutche B