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Benjamin H. Diessel

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Ben is a Partner in Wiggin and Dana’s Litigation Department, chair of the firm’s Antitrust and Technology Disputes Practice Group, and a founding member of the firm’s Standard Essential Patent Licensing and Litigation Practice Group.

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A recent case commenced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) challenging a merger directly in federal court has contradicted longstanding expectations regarding the agency’s merger enforcement process.

The FTC has generally used Section 13(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act[1] to obtain preliminary injunctive relief in merger challenges in federal court, but it has also utilized its authority to continue these litigations administratively. This…

Read More FTC Foregoes Administrative Proceeding Option, Indicating Procedural Changes to Merger Enforcement are Underway

UPDATE: On the heels of the Fifth Circuit’s order declining a stay, the FTC, along with the Department of Justice (DOJ), has launched a public inquiry regarding the effectiveness of the New Rules.  The FTC announced that it continues to believe that the Old Rules are insufficient, and seeks public input on potential areas for further refinement of the rules in an effort to reduce…

Read More FTC Reverts to Long-Standing HSR Reporting Requirements

In President Trump’s second term, the Department of Justice Antitrust Division has demonstrated its antitrust enforcement priorities through relatively frequent filing of Statements of Interest. The 13 Statements filed in 2025 represent a clear uptick from the 7, 8, and 9 Statements filed under the Biden Administration in each of 2022, 2023, and 2024, respectively, marking the highest annual total since President Trump’s first term…

Read More Uptick in DOJ Antitrust Division Statements of Interest

Last week, a Texas federal district court vacated the Federal Trade Commission Final Rule from 2025 that expanded the information companies must include in Hart-Scott-Rodino (“HSR”) premerger notifications.[1]

The Final Rule, which went into effect in February 2025, greatly increased reporting burdens on parties to a merger or acquisition, including by requiring parties to provide narrative descriptions of their transaction rationale; produce all transaction-specific…

Read More District Court Vacates HSR Reporting Requirements

The last stretch of 2025 saw significant developments in antitrust litigation involving algorithmic pricing and listing services in the real estate sector. As artificial-intelligence driven software and other real estate business practices continue to generate antitrust litigation, companies should remain vigilant about the risks of incorporating new technologies and listing policies into their business models.

Algorithmic Pricing: Settlements and New Legislation.

Four settlements involving algorithmic…

Read More 2025 Antitrust Round-Up

On December 22, 2025, the FTC reopened and set aside the FTC’s 2024 consent order against the AI company Rytr LLC.[1] This move was made by the two active members, Chair Andrew Ferguson and Commissioner Mark Meador, leading the normally five-member agency. These members ordered the Rytr consent decree to be set aside because the initial complaint against Rytr “failed to satisfy the legal…

Read More FTC Sets Aside Rytr LLC Final Order, Citing the Trump Administration’s AI Action Plan

Recent merger settlements further confirm that merger remedies are back and indicate the healthcare industry remains a priority for antitrust enforcers.

In July, we published an alert regarding the resolutions of two merger investigations initiated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ).[1] We observed a key shift in enforcement policies under the new Trump administration based on…

Read More Merger Remedies Are Back in Play: Recent Developments

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently announced two important changes affecting how it will address noncompetition agreements and covenants. One is the dismissal by the FTC of its noncompete rule, thus ending the agency’s attempt to seek judicial review of two decisions that held both the trade regulation process as well as the substance of the rule flawed. The second is the initiative by the…

Read More The FTC Intends to Challenge Non-Competes on a Case by Case Basis

On September 18, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), along with seven states,[1] filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.[2] This complaint alleges that Ticketmaster LLC (“Ticketmaster”) and its parent company Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (“Live Nation”) (collectively “Ticketmaster”) have “deceived artists and consumers by engaging in bait-and-switch pricing through advertising lower prices for tickets than…

Read More Live Nation Faces New Challenge from FTC regarding Deceptive Ticket Prices

On August 15, 2025, D.C. District Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan issued a preliminary injunction preventing the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) from implementing or enforcing the Civil Investigative Demand (“CID”) that it had issued to the left-wing watchdog journalism organization, Media Matters for America.[1] Judge Sooknanan warned that “[i]t should alarm all Americans when the Government retaliates against individuals or organizations for engaging in constitutionally…

Read More D.C. District Court Blocks FTC Investigation Into Watchdog Journalism Non-Profit, “Media Matters for America”