Recent Articles

DOJ Releases Its Amensty Letters

February 05, 2009 22:46

Today, the U.S. Department released redacted copies of its leniency (amnesty) letters.  DOJ explains that it did not want to release the letters but: in light of the Court’s opinion in FOIA litigation titled Stolt-Nielsen Transportation Group Ltd. v. United States, 534 F.3d 728 (D.C. Cir....

Bill To Ban “Reverse Payment” Settlements Introduced

February 05, 2009 16:28

Yesterday, Senators Kohl and Grassley introduced a bill “to prohibit brand-name drug manufacturers from using pay-off agreements to keep cheaper generic equivalents off the market.”  They titled their bill ”The Preserve Access to Affordable Generics Act” (S. 369).  It is...

FTC v. Whole Foods to Settle?

January 29, 2009 21:42

The FTC has agreed to stay its Part III administrative proceedings against Whole Foods for 5 days to permit settlement discussion. At issue in the administrative proceedings is the legality under Section 7 Clayton Act of the acquisition Wild Oats by Whole Foods Markets, a merger that was...

DC Circuit: FTC may continue Part III against Whole Foods

January 26, 2009 20:19

In a very brief opinion, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Whole Food’s petition for a writ of mandamus to stop the FTC from pursuing administrative proceedings against Whole Foods. The claim was that the FTC had violated Whole Food’s constitutional rights by pursuing expedited...

Christine Varney to lead Antitrust Division

January 22, 2009 21:36

The Wall Street Journal reports that Christine Varney (currently a partner at Hogan & Hartson, and a former member of the FTC), has been picked as Assistant Attorney General, to head the DoJ Antitrust Division. WASHINGTON — President Obama is expected to name a new antitrust enforcement...

HSR Primer #4: Getting to the Person

January 16, 2009 17:38

The last post left off by listing the three steps required to parse an acquisition for HSR purposes: (1) Identify all acquisitions in the transaction, (2) eliminate the non-reportable ones, and (3) find the acquiring and acquired persons. It’s that last step this post is about. The Rules...

Elhauge & Leibowitz Are “Likely” Obama Picks

January 16, 2009 12:25

Reuters reports: Harvard law professor Einer Elhauge and Federal Trade Commissioner Jon Leibowitz are U.S. President-elect Barack Obama’s likely choices for the government’s top antitrust jobs, according to antitrust sources who have been following the matter.Reuters reports: Harvard...

HSR Primer #3: Parsing Acquisitions

January 14, 2009 01:54

Before continuing this series of posts about the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act (HSR), here are some links to useful materials. The most basic materials are the HSR statute, §7A Clayton Act (15 USC 18a), and the rules implementing HSR: Coverage Rules (16 CFR 801), Exemption Rules (16...

Hanno’s Primer in Antitrust Law and Policy

January 12, 2009 05:50

Here is an updated version of my Primer in Antitrust Law and Policy, released under a Creative Commons Attribution Only (i.e., CC-BY) license. As always, comments and suggestions are welcome.Here is an updated version of my Primer in Antitrust Law and Policy, released under a Creative Commons...

World of Warcraft Antitrust

January 10, 2009 20:21

David Friedman notes that: There is no antitrust law in WoW, which makes it a good place to observe collusive behavior by sellers. My wife, who spends more time in the auction house buying ad selling than I do, has observed both an attempt to corner a market and an attempt, at least partly...