Antitrust Today Blog

Anticompetitive Malice, Competitive Zeal, and the PlayStation Store

By David Golden For antitrust practitioners, illegal unilateral refusals to deal are like four-leaf clovers: they exist but are rarely found. After all, Justice Scalia famously (or infamously, depending on your perspective) declared in Verizon Communications, Inc. v. Law Offices of Curtis V. Trinko that refusals to deal lie “at or near the outer boundary of § 2 liability.” It should come as no surprise then...

The Antitrust Week In Review

Here are some of the developments in antitrust news this past week that we found interesting and are following.   EU's Vestager: has 'killer' merger deals in sight, may use court-endorsed power.  EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager on Friday said she has a few merger deals in sight where she may use powers endorsed this week by Europe's second-top court which allow her to scrutinise so-called 'killer'...

Facebook Asks Court to Open FTC’s Merger Review Blackbox

By David A. Scupp   Meta’s Facebook is seeking access to FTC documents that could be critical to Facebook’s defense of FTC’s antitrust suit claiming Facebook has illegally maintained its personal social networking monopoly.   Facebook hopes to mine internal FTC document for defenses based on the FTC’s allowance of Facebook’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp that the FTC now claims harmed...

The Antitrust Week In Review

Here are some of the developments in antitrust news this past week that we found interesting and are following.   UK watchdog investigates Microsoft's $68.7 billion Activision deal.  Britain's antitrust watchdog said it had started an investigation into Microsoft Corp's $68.7 billion deal to buy "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard Inc. The Competition and Markets Authority said it had until Sept. 1 to make...

Antitrust in the Digital Economy—A Dive Into EU and UK Cases Alleging Self-Preferencing and Data Monopolisation

Google Shopping, Amazon “Buy Box” and the “Privacy Sandbox” Competition authorities in the EU and the UK are focusing on the digital sector with claims that technology companies including Apple, Google, Amazon and Meta (Facebook) are “gatekeepers” that control access to major technological platforms that other companies need in order to reach customers and to compete. The competition regulators are...

The Antitrust Week In Review

Here are some of the developments in antitrust news this past week that we found interesting and are following.   Judge narrows San Diego, Baltimore bond collusion cases against big banks.  A federal judge narrowed claims by San Diego and Baltimore in antitrust litigation seeking to hold eight banks liable for driving up interest rates that state and local governments must pay on a popular tax-exempt municipal...

Antitrust Matters Episode 7: Discussion with the AAI’s Diana Moss

Antitrust Matters provides engaging and timely conversations about competition policy in the digital age. Antitrust has always mattered to consumers and businesses, and to antitrust lawyers and economists, but today it also is in the political and public discourse more than ever. From the prices we pay for food, travel, financial services, payments to the way we interact daily using digital apps and platforms,...

FTC Reaffirms Focus on Labor Markets in Reviewing Microsoft-Activision Blizzard Merger

By Kristian Soltes Federal antitrust enforcers are heeding the call for more vigorous regulation of monopsonies, which may soon no longer be the forgotten man of competition law. Anybody closely following the priorities of antitrust enforcers is sure to have noticed the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s and U.S. Department of Justice’s escalating focus on labor markets.   This focus is increasingly being...

The Antitrust Week In Review

Here are some of the developments in antitrust news this past week that we found interesting and are following.   Drivers’ Lawsuit Claims Uber and Lyft Violate Antitrust Laws.  A group of drivers claimed that Uber and Lyft are engaging in anticompetitive practices by setting the prices customers pay and limiting drivers’ ability to choose which rides they accept without penalty. The drivers, supported by...

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 owner Meta makes antitrust commitments over online advertising.  France's anti-trust watchdog body said that it had approved commitments made by Facebook owner Meta Platforms regarding the French online advertising sector. Meta has committed to giving access over a five-year period to...