Antitrust Lawyer Blog

On February 15, 2014, the spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) Danyang Shen, in a recent MOFCOM press conference, said the U.S. government is “irresponsible” to list China and Chinese companies on the “Notorious Market” list issued unilaterally by the United States Trade Representative (USTR). According to Mr. Shen, the inclusions is especially…

On Feb. 13th, 2014, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) unveiled its long-awaited Interim Rule on Applicable Standards for Simple Merger Review Cases. While many interested groups hailed this development as a positive step taken by the MOFCOM towards a comprehensive “fast-track” review procedure for simple cases which exists in the U.S. and in the…

On February 13, 2014, the heads of the antitrust agencies of the U.S, Canada and Mexico—Chairwoman Edith Ramire of the FTC, Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer of the DOJ’s Aititrust Division, Canadian Commissioner of Competition John Pecman, and President Alejandra Palacios Prieto of the Mexican Federal Competition Commission—met in Washington, D.C. to discuss mutual efforts…

On February 10, 2014, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York dealt a blow to Apple in its efforts to have a court-appointed monitor removed from his position.  The Second Circuit ruled that lawyer Michael Bromwich can continue to oversee the company’s antitrust compliance. While Apple wanted to remove the monitor altogether for…

On February 5, 2014, Google settled its long-running legal battle with the European Commission caused by its overwhelming control (+90%) of Europe’s search engine market. Under the settlement, Google will offer a number of concessions to its competitors, such as a promise to display results from at least three competitors every time it shows its…

On January 24, 2014, the FTC won its court battle against St. Luke’s Health System’s acquisition of a large primary physician group – the Saltzer Medical Group – in Nampa, Idaho. Background  In March 2013, the FTC filed a complaint for an injunction against St. Luke’s, alleging that the Saltzer acquisition, which was not reportable…

Background The Trial Judge’s Opinion The United States District Court for the Northern District of California agreed with the DOJ’s characterization of Bazaarvoice’s June 2012 acquisition as one that eliminated its “closest and only serious competitor”.  In reaching its decision, the court applied the 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines (“Guidelines”) and relied heavily on pre-merger “hot…

On December 13, 2013, the FTC announced that both the Music Teacher’s National Association, Inc. (“MNTA”) and the California Association of Legal Support Professionals (“CALSPro”) agreed to eliminate provisions in their codes of ethics that limited competition among their members, in order to settle potential litigation brought by the FTC. Background According to the FTC,…

On November 1, 2013, the FTC commissioners unanimously voted to close a seven month investigation of the proposed Office Depot/OfficeMax merger.  The Commission issued a statement regarding its decision to close the transaction without taking any action. Background Regarding FTC’s Successful Challenge to Staples/Office Depot In 1997, the Commission blocked the proposed combination of Staples,…