Antitrust Group Archives - Page 143 of 155

FTC Says Even Small Merger To Monopoly Is Big Deal

Posted 05/21/10

The FTC is suing Dun & Bradstreet to challenge its February 2009 acquisition of QED, a division of Scholastic that provides kindergarten through twelfth-grade educational marketing databases. The combination of MDR, Dun & Bradstreet’s subsidiary, and QED was a merger-to-monopoly, giving the combined entity more than 90 percent of the market for K-12 educational marketing data. The deal glided under the radar...

Tagged in: Antitrust Enforcement,

NCAA’s One-Year Scholarship Rule Faces Antitrust Exam

Posted 05/20/10

The Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice is asking the National Collegiate Athletic Association to explain its scholarship policy in an exam that could lead to a failing grade for the NCAA’s ban on multi-year athletic scholarships. The NCAA’s rule requires schools to review students’ eligibility for athletic scholarships every year, up to a maximum of five years of eligibility – automatic...

Tagged in: Antitrust Enforcement, Price Fixing,

Court Finds Microsoft’s Apple Defense Half Baked

Posted 05/19/10

A federal court has denied Microsoft’s request to dismiss a claim of monopolizing a single-brand aftermarket, rejecting Microsoft’s attempt to use an argument that Apple used to dismiss a similar aftermarket claim. We examined Microsoft’s motion in a previous post. Judge Elizabeth D. Laporte of the Northern District of California has denied in part and granted in part Microsoft’s motion to dismiss the...

Tagged in: Monopolization,

Financial Accounting Standards Board Sued Over Rights To Commenter’s Thoughts

Posted 05/18/10

A small economics and software company is charging the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) – the organization that sets accounting standards for every public company in the country – with attempting to misappropriate its intellectual property in the standard setting process. Silicon Economics, Inc. (SEI) has filed a complaint in federal court in the Northern District of California that charges that FASB...

Tagged in: Intellectual Property Law and Antitrust, Monopolization,

Merger Of NYC Health Insurance Giants Clears Major Hurdle

Posted 05/17/10

Health care giants Group Health Inc. ("GHI") and HIP Foundation Inc. ("HIP") have cleared the latest legal obstacle to their merger. On May 12, 2010, U.S. Judge Richard J. Sullivan of the Southern District of New York dismissed the City of New York's antitrust suit attempting to unravel the merger of GHI and HIP. Judge Sullivan's decision added a decisive, albeit not final, nail to the coffin of the City's...

Tagged in: Monopolization,

FTC Continues Eyeing Google’s AdMob

Posted 05/14/10

The Federal Trade Commission will extend by up to two weeks its decision on whether to formally investigate Google for its acquisition of mobile web-advertising startup AdMob. According to the New York Times, the federal antitrust enforcer initially planned to make a decision on Monday, but has requested the extra time in part to consider whether Apple’s own entry into mobile advertising affects antitrust...

Tagged in: Antitrust Enforcement,

Supremes Pull The Plug On Class Action Arbitrations

Posted 05/12/10

Class action arbitrations are not likely to survive the U.S. Supreme Court’s 5-3 decision, in a closely watched antitrust case, that imposing class arbitration on parties that haven't agreed to it conflicts with the Federal Arbitration Act. The decision in Stolt-Nielsen S.A. et al. v. Animalfeeds Int’l Corp., No. 08-1198 (April 27, 2010), delivered by Justice Alito, reversed a panel decision by the U.S. Court...

Tagged in: Antitrust Enforcement, Price Fixing,

EC Overhauls Horizontal Agreement Guidelines And Safe Harbor Exemptions

Posted 05/10/10

The European Commission has unveiled new draft rules for horizontal cooperation agreements as part of the EC’s Horizontal Guidelines and Research & Development and Specialization Agreement Block Exemption Regulations (BERs). The new rules aim to clarify when companies’ horizontal agreements will be deemed to restrict competition and when such agreements will qualify for an exemption. The rules include a new...

Tagged in: Antitrust Enforcement, Antitrust Legislation, Intellectual Property Law and Antitrust, International Competition Issues,

Supreme Court May Yank Class Actions From Shelves In Wal-Mart Case

Posted 05/7/10

Class actions may become a scarcer commodity if Wal-Mart can convince the Supreme Court that a recent decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit applies too lenient a standard for certifying class actions. The Ninth Circuit’s decision in Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 2010 WL 1644259 (9th Cir. April 26, 2010), an employment discrimination class action under Title VII of the 1964 Civil...

Tagged in: Antitrust Enforcement,

Obama Administration Poised To Answer Question: Where’s The Antitrust Beef?

Posted 05/6/10

Federal regulators are on the verge of answering the question of “Where’s the beef?” in the Obama administration’s regulation of competition the meat industry. The United States Department of Agriculture will soon release new proposed antitrust rules for the meat industry that could significantly alter the balance of power between farmers and the big companies that buy their meat. Although the USDA has...

Tagged in: Antitrust Enforcement, Antitrust Legislation,

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Antitrust Group

FTC Says Even Small Merger To Monopoly Is Big Deal

NCAA’s One-Year Scholarship Rule Faces Antitrust Exam

Court Finds Microsoft’s Apple Defense Half Baked

Financial Accounting Standards Board Sued Over Rights To Commenter’s Thoughts

Merger Of NYC Health Insurance Giants Clears Major Hurdle

FTC Continues Eyeing Google’s AdMob

Supremes Pull The Plug On Class Action Arbitrations

EC Overhauls Horizontal Agreement Guidelines And Safe Harbor Exemptions

Supreme Court May Yank Class Actions From Shelves In Wal-Mart Case

Obama Administration Poised To Answer Question: Where’s The Antitrust Beef?

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