Antitrust Lawyer Blog

While there is much discussion about controlling prescription drug prices, the undeniable trend in the generic drug industry is that prices have been trending down for the past several years. Generic Prices are Down, But Is that a Good Thing? The short term effects appear good for the consumer, but the longer term effects could…

On May 21, 2018, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin urged the DOJ to review the power that large technology firms such as Google have over the U.S. economy.  A “60 Minutes” segment on Sunday devoted to assertions that Alphabet Inc.’s Google wields a destructive monopoly in online search hammered home the notion of the company’s dominance…

More Fallout From The Ill-Advised Tuna Merger On May 16, 2018, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that a federal grand jury returned an indictment against Christopher Lischewski, the President and CEO of Bumble Bee Foods LLC (“Bumble Bee”), for participating in a conspiracy to fix prices for packaged seafood sold in the United States.…

On April 27, 2018, the FTC announced that Amneal Pharmaceuticals LLC (“Amneal”) may complete its acquisition of an equity share in Impax Laboratories Inc. (“Impax”) so long as Impax divests its rights and assets for ten products to three separate companies. The FTC concluded that the proposed acquisition would have reduced competition in three markets…

On April 25, 2018, the DOJ announced that it will require Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (“Martin Marietta”) to divest quarries in Georgia and Maryland in order to proceed with its proposed $1.625 billion acquisition of Bluegrass Materials Company, LLC (“Bluegrass”) from LG Panadero, L.P. of Panadero Corp. and Panadero Aggregates Holdings, LLC. According to the…

On April 19, 2018, Makan Delrahim, Assistant Attorney General of DOJ’s Antitrust Division delivered the keynote address at the at the University of Chicago’s Antitrust and Competition Conference. The focus of his remarks was “evidence-based enforcement.” He said that “an evidence-based approach requires enforcement built on credible evidence that a practice harms competition and the…

On March 19, 2018, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) filed an administrative complaint to block CDK Global’s ( “CDK”) proposed acquisition of Auto/Mate.  The FTC alleged that the deal would violate Sections 5 of the FTC Act and 7 of the Clayton Act.  The parties to the deal abandoned the deal after being faced with…

On March 15, Judge Richard Leon said “Fake News” to a report that the trial will start on Wednesday, the 21st.  It will start on Monday at 10:30.  The first couple of days will be devoted to evidentiary objections.  Opening arguments will be on Wednesday and the Judge thinks the trial will take 6-8 weeks.…

On March 7, 2018, the United States Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced it entered into a settlement agreement with Air Medical Group allowing it to acquire AMR for $2.4 billion. The two providers of ambulance services agreed to divest inter-facility air ambulance transport services in Hawaii to resolve FTC concerns that their proposed merger would…

On March 5, 2018, Sparton Corporation (“Sparton”) announced the termination by Sparton and Ultra Electronics Holdings plc (“Ultra”) of their July 7, 2017 merger agreement. According to Sparton, during the review of the proposed merger by the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”), the United States Navy (“Navy”) expressed the view that instead of the parties…