USA Analysis
Year in preview: antitrust on a “blue wave”
GCR USA - 15 February 2019
For the first time in eight years, Democrats control the US House of Representatives and its antitrust subcommittee. With that comes a bully pulpit, but also a big stick of investigation and potentially legislation.
DOJ’s AT&T appeal may be undercut by a trial concession
GCR USA - 16 July 2018
The government’s chances of successfully appealing the AT&T/Time Warner ruling are complicated by an apparent concession on efficiencies during the trial. William S Comanor – previously special economic assistant to the assistant attorney general for antitrust and director of the Federal Trade Commission’s bureau of economics – and Donald I Baker – former head of the DOJ’s antitrust division – explain.
Google and the transatlantic antitrust abyss
GCR USA - 13 July 2018
Jonathan Rubin of MoginRubin and Christian Bergqvist, a law professor at the University of Copenhagen, conducted a comparative study on the different approaches antitrust authorities in the EU and US take when regulating dominant digital platforms such as Google. They observe that the EU in the Google shopping case applied a more encompassing legal standard for abuse than in past cases, which resembles the characteristically German ordoliberal approach, focused on impediments to the competitive market process and the preservation and promotion of consumer choice – rather than the consumer welfare standard that had heretofore been part of the transatlantic antitrust consensus.
Out of Sync?: DOJ’s Policy Reversal Towards SEPs Lacks Legal Support
GCR USA - 06 June 2018
In a series of recent statements, the US Department of Justice’s antitrust division has expressed an apparent policy shift regarding the application of competition law to the assertion of standard-essential patents subject to a commitment to license on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms. Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe partner Jay Jurata and associate Emily Luken say the seeming reversal is troubling because it is out of sync with a large and growing body of US case law.
Patents may divide Trump’s FTC and DOJ
GCR USA - 23 May 2018
The leadership of the Trump Administration’s antitrust agencies is now in place and ready to enforce their vision of competition – including in the area of intellectual property. But past battles between the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission indicate the potential for renewed disagreements on how to apply antitrust to patent rights.
Controversial new state law takes aim at excessive pharma prices
GCR USA - 21 February 2018
In his battle against high drug prices, Joshua Auerbach has faced down his mission’s detractors.
Why Antitrust V: Percy Foreman, Pavarotti and plumbing parts
GCR USA - 07 February 2018
In the fifth instalment of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati partner Mark Rosman’s reminiscences about working for the Department of Justice’s antitrust division, the young prosecutor struggles to support a colleague (given the pseudonym "Jim McWilliams") while nailing a local cartel.
Amazon and Caremark could haunt CVS/Aetna
GCR USA - 06 December 2017
In the coming months, antitrust enforcers at the Department of Justice will decide whether and how CVS Health’s $69 billion acquisition of Aetna might harm consumers – a question shaded by a history of consolidation across the healthcare industry and the potential for new, powerful entrants to disrupt the industry.
Unidos Por Puerto Rico: Competitor collaborations in the wake of Hurricane Maria
GCR USA - 07 November 2017
Former Department of Justice Antitrust Division deputy Juan Arteaga describes how the US antitrust agencies will view the collaboration among competitors that they have acknowledged may be necessary to rebuild after a disaster, but also will scrutinise for antitrust violation.
All aboard the Antitrust Whistleblower Express
GCR USA - 23 October 2017
After working together as prosecutors in the Department of Justice’s antitrust division, Robert Connolly and Kimberly Justice say, “It is time for a new cartel-busting tool – a whistleblower statute.”
Tipline
- News and notes from around the antitrust world
- Raising the Barr: The Tipline for 15 February 2019
- Still waiting: The Tipline for 14 February 2018
- Can you hear me now?: The Tipline for 13 February 2019
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