Antitrust Today

House Judiciary Committee To Consider Leegin Repeal Legislation

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. John Conyers (D.-Mich.), has announced that the Committee will meet to consider H.R. 3190 (the “Discount Pricing Consumer Protection Act of 2009”) tomorrow.  The bill would reverse the effects of the Supreme Court’s decision in Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc., 551 U.S. 887 (2007).  Leegin overruled a 1911 Supreme Court decision holding...

GAO Follows Congress's Punt On Interchange Fees With Its Own Punt

The question of whether Congress, or the Federal Reserve, is serious about taking steps to contain the escalating costs of interchange to merchants and consumers has resonated for years.  And for years the stock answer to that question was that such action was unlikely. The outlook for regulatory action seemed to improve last year when the regulatory climate in Washington changed.  It now appears that the...

From Russia, An Antitrust Cooperation Agreement

Russia’s head antitrust agency, the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (“FAS”), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) with the United States Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission to promote greater cooperation between the two governments on antitrust issues. FAS Head Igor Artemyev, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz, and Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Christine Varney signed...

Chase Rips Up Credit Card Arbitration Clauses To Settle Class Action

JPMorgan Chase bank, one of the world’s largest issuers of credit cards, has announced that it will abandon the controversial practice of mandatory arbitration of cardholder disputes.  The move is part of a settlement reached between Chase and consumers in an antitrust class action challenging the use of such clauses. Like many card issuers, Chase includes language in its cardholders’ contracts that requires...

Arranged Marriage Of Comcast And NBC Stumbles Over One Parent’s Dowry Demand

General Electric’s attempt to arrange a marriage for its 80-percent owned subsidiary NBC Universal is hitting a snag as NBC’s other parent, Vivendi, demands a greater dowry before it consents to Comcast’s proposal. Even if the marriage of these media giants is arranged, consummation of the deal will still be dependent on review by federal agencies, which will confront such issues as combined control over...

DOJ Statement Is Ray Of Sunshine For Oracle’s Acquisition Of Sun

The outlook for Oracle’s proposed acquisition of Sun Microsystems is only partly cloudy now that federal antitrust enforcers have announced that they will not be joining their European counterparts in opposing the acquisition. The Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice issued a statement on November 9, 2009, concluding that Oracle's proposed acquisition of Sun is unlikely to be...

FTC May Pluck CVS-Caremark Merger For A Second Bite Of Merger Review

The completed CVS-Caremark merger may be the first fruit to be plucked by federal antitrust enforcers who have indicated a willingness to take second bites at the apple of merger review. Antitrust enforcers in the new administration have expressed an interest in re-examining previously approved mergers to ensure that competition was not compromised.  Christine A. Varney, Assistant Attorney General in charge of...

Varney Talks Tough On Antitrust Enforcement In Health Insurance

Since her confirmation as the new Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division in April 2009, Christine Varney has delivered a series of speeches that has made clear that the Department of Justice intends to step up antitrust enforcement. One of the areas under increased scrutiny is industry-specific exemptions from the antitrust laws, including the health care insurance industry.  With the heated debate...

Three House Dems Heed Plaintiffs’ Pleading Pleas

Three Democrats in the House of Representatives are pushing to roll back heightened pleading standards adopted by the Supreme Court that have led to thousands of antitrust and other cases being dismissed at the pleading stage. The legislators are taking aim at two recent Supreme Court decisions that make it more difficult for plaintiffs to have their civil cases heard in federal court.  In an antitrust case, the...

Under China’s New Anti-Monopoly Law, Private Lawsuits Begin To Find Their Legs

Two recent antitrust cases in China indicate that country may be inching its way toward fulfilling its potential as a modern economy by embracing competition law. It was only in August 2008 that the world’s third largest economy joined the ranks of countries with private competition law regimes with China’s adoption of its new Anti-Monopoly Law (AML). The AML generally resembles the basic framework of the...