Antitrust Lawyer Blog

On June 26, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) entered into a settlement agreement that allowed Eldorado Resorts, Inc. (“Eldorado”) to acquire Caesars Entertainment Corporation (“Caesars”) for $17.3 billion. Background Eldorado agreed to acquire Caesars for $17.3 billion on June 24, 2019. Eldorado is a provider of casino entertainment and hospitality services, operating 23 casino…

On May 5, 2020, the FTC approved AbbVie Inc.’s (“AbbVie”) $63 billion acquisition of Allergan plc (“Allergan”) on the condition that the merging parties divest three minor products.  The consent agreement was approved by a 3-2 party line vote. The FTC has a long history of scrutinizing transactions in the pharmaceutical industry, but Commissioners’ statements demonstrate that they are not on…

Beginning in March 2018, President Trump issued proclamations imposing duties on steel and aluminum imports into the United States.  In response, one company filed a complaint last week alleging that the administration of these duties is unconstitutional.  Thyssenkrupp Materials, NA, Inc. and several of its related operating divisions, filed a complaint with the Court of…

McDonald’s arguments were limited because of past decision in Deslandes.  In Deslandes, the court held that the plaintiff employees plausibly alleged that the franchises’ no-poach restraints could be found unlawful under a quick-look analysis so McDonald’s did not move to dismiss for failure to state a claim.  The Northern District court rejected McDonald’s argument that the…

On March 31, 2020, a group of U.S. Mattress producers filed an antidumping (“AD”) and countervailing duty (“CVD”) petition against mattresses from Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Serbia, Thailand, and Vietnam.  During the preliminary investigation, the International Trade Commission (the “Commission”) is tasked with evaluating the competitive effects of the imports to determine whether the imports…

The Department of Justice this week concluded an arbitration that will resolve a civil antitrust lawsuit challenging Novelis Inc.’s proposed acquisition of Aleris Corporation. The lawsuit seeks to preserve competition in the North American market for rolled aluminum sheet for automotive applications, commonly referred to as aluminum auto body sheet.  This marks the first time…

On March 9, 2020, a new U.S. antidumping petition was filed against common alloy aluminum sheet (“CAAS”) imports from 18 countries.  The Petitioners in the case are Aleris Rolled Products, Inc., Arconic, Inc., Constellium Rolled Products Ravenswood, LLC, JW Aluminum Company, Novelis Corporation, and Texarkana Aluminum, Inc. The countries named in the Petition are Bahrain,…

On February 18, 2020, a group of unions, consumer groups, and public interest organizations filed a letter with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) raising concerns that the divestiture of Allergan plc’s (“Allergan”) pipeline drug, brazikumab, will not succeed unless the FTC addresses AbbVie’s use of rebate walls. Consumer Group Concerns Regarding Rebate Walls and…

On January, 17, 2020, smaller rivals such as PopSockets, Basecamp, Sonos, and Tile testified to the the House antitrust subcommittee about how they have been bullied by big tech giants such as Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon and called for swift action. According to the New York Times, the smaller rivals, which have largely been…

Employers and Human Resource personnel need a crash course in the antitrust laws and an understanding of the antitrust risks of entering into no-poach agreements. What is a no-poach agreement?  A no-poach agreement is essentially an agreement between two companies not to compete for each other’s employees, such as by not soliciting or hiring them.…