Antitrust Today

New York’s Proposed Premerger Review Program Would Provide Much-Needed Protection for Consumers

New York State is on the precipice of unleashing a much-needed revolution in antitrust law. This blog recently covered New York’s proposal to amend the Donnelly Act (New York’s antitrust statute) to adopt a European-style abuse of dominance standard.  In this post, we analyze New York’s proposed mandatory premerger review program, which would complement the federal premerger notification program established...

Far From Being Off the Hook, Facebook is Waiting For the FTC’s Next Move

The face-off between Facebook and federal and state antitrust enforcers is not over. As you may recall, in late June 2021, the Judge James E. Boasberg of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed the Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) and the state attorney generals’ (“State AGs”) complaints against Facebook in two opinions issued the same day.[1]  While it dismissed 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.

New York, other states to fight dismissal of antitrust lawsuit against Facebook.  New York and other U.S. states filed a notice on Wednesday saying they will fight the dismissal of an antitrust lawsuit that they launched against Facebook Inc in an appeals court. In June, a U.S. judge dismissed federal and...

New York’s Pending Antitrust Bill – What It Would Mean for Companies That Have Market Shares in Excess of 30-40%

Antitrust is in the news every day.  Amidst the deluge of stories about cases filed by federal and state enforcers against tech companies, the nomination of Lina Khan to the Federal Trade Commission, President Biden’s sweeping Executive Order and competing antitrust bills introduced in both chambers of Congress, you may have missed that New York State is embarking on a unique path in antitrust enforcement. In...

Developments in Merchant Surcharging: Hold the Champagne

Those following the payments industry press on surcharging may have noticed headlines touting recent events in state legislatures and in the courts, which deceptively suggest that the state laws prohibiting merchant surcharging are falling away.  But, as is often the case, the devil is in the details and the positive headlines mask a more sobering reality.   Colorado Governor Jared Polis, for example, recently

The FTC’s Promotion of Competition in Aftermarkets for Repairs Gets a Boost From Biden’s Executive Order on Antitrust Enforcement

President Biden’s Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy, which seeks to invigorate antitrust enforcement, already appears to bearing fruit in the fields of the FTC. Coming on the heels of President Biden’s July 9, 2012, Executive Order, the FTC voted unanimously on July 21, 2021, to adopt the Policy Statement of the Federal Trade Commission on Repair Restrictions Imposed 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.

The F.T.C. votes to use its leverage to make it easier for consumers to repair their phones.  The Federal Trade Commission voted unanimously on Wednesday to push harder for the right of consumers to repair devices like smartphones, home appliances, cars and even farm equipment, arguing that large...

A MODEST PROPOSAL For preventing our young adults in the United States from being a burden to their country, and for making them beneficial to the public good

To quote the literary inspiration for this blog post: “It is a melancholy object to those who walk through this great town or travel in the country,”[1] namely, partners at law firms, that competition for talented law-school graduates has reached such a fever pitch that one law firm after another, literally every day, is increasing compensation for first-year associates to an astounding $200,000 per year—not...

Federal Court Rules Soccer Promoter’s Antitrust Claims Out of Bounds

A soccer promotion company has lost its bid to expand the universe of so-called “official” soccer games played in the United States following the rules of FIFA, the international federation that is the world governing body of soccer. In Relevent Sports, LLC v. Federation Internationale de Football Association and United States Soccer Federation, Inc., Judge Valerie Caproni of the U. S. District Court for the...

President Biden Signs Sweeping Executive Order to Promote Competition

Antitrust enforcement in the United States could be reinvigorated to an extent not seen in decades as a result of President Biden’s sweeping executive order on “Promoting Competition in the American Economy” (the “Order”), which aims to enhance business competition, curb corporate dominance, and provide consumers and workers more choices and benefits across various industries ranging from agriculture to...