Antitrust Enforcement

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Introduction

Customer reviews are ubiquitous in today’s commercial environment. Whether the business is Amazon.com or the doctor’s office down the street, consumers are accustomed to rating and reviewing goods and services online and having access to reviews from other consumers to help inform their purchasing decisions. Ratings are important because consumers sometimes have limited opportunities to interact with sellers, prompting them to rely on accounts…

Read More Consumer Review Fairness Act Prevents Companies From Stifling Negative Consumer Reviews

On August 24th, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued its decision in Federal Trade Commission v. Wyndham Worldwide Corp., affirming a 2014 district court ruling that the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has the authority to regulate cybersecurity lapses. The Third Circuit also held that Wyndham – the global hospitality giant — had fair notice that its cybersecurity practices could…

Read More Third Circuit Affirms FTC’s Ability to Bring Cybersecurity Enforcement Actions

Unilateral Price Policies in the Contact Lens Industry: Can Manufacturers Be Forced to Sell to Every Retailer?

It is a cardinal rule of antitrust that – absent very limited exceptions – parties can do business, or refuse to do business, with whomever they choose. The Supreme Court solidified that premise in United States v. Colgate & Co., 250 U.S. 300, 307 (1919), and has…

Read More Competition News, June 2015

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced its annual adjustment of the thresholds for premerger notification filings under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (HSR), as well its adjustment for the thresholds for prohibitions on certain interlocking directorates under Section 8 of the Clayton Act.

The new HSR thresholds will be effective thirty days after publication in the Federal Register. Publication is expected sometime during the week of…

Read More FTC Announces New Premerger-Notification and Interlocking-Directorate Thresholds

Recently, for the first time in 24 years, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) published revisions to its guidelines on advertising allowances and other promotional payments and services, widely known as the Fred Meyer Guides (“Guides”). Originally published in 1969, the Guides explain Sections 2(d) and 2(e) of the Robinson-Patman Act, which require a seller that pays for or provides promotional allowances to customers to do…

Read More FTC Publishes Revised Guides for Advertising Allowances and Other Merchandising Payments

Upcoming revisions to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (the “HSR Act”) will result in numerous additional pharmaceutical licensing transactions becoming subject to filing requirements under the HSR Act. On November 6, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) released the final version of amendments to be made to the HSR Act. The amendments will impact the analysis of whether parties to…

Read More Federal Trade Commission Expands Requirements for Reporting Pharmaceutical Patent License Transactions

Section 5(a)(1) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (the FTC Act), 15 U.S.C. § 45(a)(1), prohibits, among other offenses, “unfair or deceptive acts or practices.” Twenty-eight states have en-acted FTC Act analogues, which are commonly referred to as “Little FTC Acts.” See chart appended as Exhibit A.

Because these state statutes are based on the FTC Act, states have long looked to precedent under…

Read More Business Torts as Little FTC Act Claims: Does the Difference Really Make a Difference?

On October 1, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued final revisions to its Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims (Green Guides or Guidance). The FTC will publish the more than 300-page Green Guides in the Federal Register at 16 C.F.R. Part 260; you may review the text of the Guidance here and at the FTC’s website. Though the Guidance does not…

Read More The FTC’s Revised Green Guides

In This Issue:

  • FTC and DOJ Issue Revised Horizontal Merger Guidelines
  • Wiggin and Dana Authors Influential Brief on Confidentiality of Documents Produced Under an Antitrust Subpoena
  • Resale Price Maintenance Redux
  • In-House Attorney/Client Communications Are Not Privileged In The European Union

FTC AND DOJ ISSUE REVISED HORIZONTAL MERGER GUIDELINES

On August 19, 2010, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (the “Agencies”) issued Revised…

Read More Antitrust and Consumer Protection Newsletter

On April 13, 2009, the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition, Health Care Division (“BC”) issued a 37-page Advisory Opinion (“Opinion”) to TriState Health Partners, Inc. (“TriState”), a physician-hospital organization based in Hagerstown, Maryland, stating that the BC would not recommend that the Commission challenge TriState’s proposed clinical integration program under the antitrust laws. The Opinion is noteworthy because it provides the most detailed discussion…

Read More Significant Developments in Clinical Integration: Federal Trade Commission Opinion Approves of Physician-Hospital Organization Proposal to Negotiate Jointly with Payers