Antitrust Today Blog

Congress Steps Up Its Oversight of Competition in Intellectual Property Licensing

By Seth D. Greenstein Congress is staking out new markers in its oversight of intellectual property licensing as Senators and Representatives grapple with a changing technological landscape. The House Judiciary Committee’s ongoing bipartisan investigation into competition in digital markets—including requests for information to Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Apple—garnered significant press attention...

The Antitrust Week In Review

Here are some of the developments in antitrust news this past week that we found interesting and are following. U.S. Justice Dept sets up anti-price collusion 'strike force.'  The Justice Department said on Tuesday it had created a strike force that will identify and prosecute companies that fix prices or collude to push up the cost of billions of dollars’ worth of U.S. government purchases. The announcement...

The Antitrust Week In Review

Here are some of the developments in antitrust news this past week that we found interesting and are following. Facebook in EU antitrust crosshairs, online marketplace now under scrutiny. Facebook’s online marketplace has attracted scrutiny from EU antitrust regulators who are seeking details about its role vis-a-vis rivals in online classified ads, a questionnaire seen by Reuters showed. Launched in 2016,...

DOJ Tells Congress Criminal Prosecution of No-Poach Agreements is Still a “High Priority”

By J. Wyatt Fore Although federal antitrust regulators have yet to file criminal charges against no-poach agreements, such prosecutions may be forthcoming, according to testimony on Capitol Hill earlier this week. On Tuesday, the Antitrust Subcommittee of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Competition in Labor Markets, which included an interesting exchange about the federal government’s...

The Antitrust Week In Review

Here are some of the developments in antitrust news this past week that we found interesting and are following. 47 Attorneys General Back Antitrust Probe Into Facebook.  Facebook's latest foes: nearly every U.S. state. A state-level antitrust investigation into the social networking giant now has the backing of a bipartisan group of 47 attorneys general, New York Attorney General Letitia James said Tuesday. The...

The Antitrust Week In Review

Here are some of the developments in antitrust news this past week that we found interesting and are following. Sutter Health to Settle Antitrust Lawsuit.  A tentative settlement was announced on Wednesday in a case against Sutter Health, the sprawling hospital system in Northern California accused of anti-competitive behavior, just as the trial was to begin. The class-action lawsuit, which was brought by the...

Net Neutrality Setback in Mozilla Opens the Door for State Regulation

By J. Wyatt Fore Although the cause of net neutrality suffered a setback at the federal level earlier this month with the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Mozilla Corporation v. FCC, that decision also opens the door for state regulators to step in. The D.C. Circuit generally upheld the Federal Communications Commission’s (“FCC”) January 2018 order in In the Matter of Restoring...

The Antitrust Week In Review

Here are some of the developments in antitrust news this past week that we found interesting and are following. State attorney general group probing Facebook could expand to 40: source.  An estimated 40 U.S. state attorneys general will participate in a probe of Facebook Inc, a source said, suggesting many more states want allegations of anticompetitive practices at the social media company investigated. The probe...

The Antitrust Week In Review

Here are some of the developments in antitrust news this past week that we found interesting and are following. Exclusive: Antitrust probers in Congress ask Spotify to detail alleged Apple abuses – sources.  U.S. lawmakers have requested information from Apple critic Spotify as part of an antitrust probe, according to two sources briefed on the investigation into allegations the iPhone maker engages in...

DOJ Agreement to Use Binding Arbitration to Resolve Merger Dispute Could Herald New Approach in Antitrust Enforcement

By Alex Cohen Federal antitrust enforcers may be increasingly looking to arbitrators—instead of federal courts—to be the arbiters of competition law if a new approach in enforcement takes hold. This approach was highlighted on September 4, 2019, when the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio...