Region: United States of America

Amazon Web Services does not need to reinstate the web-hosting services it was providing to social media site Parler, a federal judge in Washington state has said.

22 January 2021

Cyril Hariton has left the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition to join Positive Competition in Brussels, while Economists Incorporated has poached former US Department of Justice economist Keith Waehrer from Bates White in Washington, DC.

21 January 2021

Leadership is shuffling fast in the world of antitrust. President Joe Biden ensured Rebecca Kelly Slaughter had a seat once “Hail to the Chief” stopped playing, making her acting chair of the Federal Trade Commission on Thursday. Meanwhile, Gene Kimmelman is returning to the Department of Justice from the comfort of his home office. But antitrust cannot be done entirely remotely. The DOJ says security restrictions in downtown Washington, DC, are complicating physical document production for its Google case, while Parler remains almost entirely offline.

21 January 2021

The Supreme Court hinted on Tuesday that it may allow the Federal Communications Commission to relax its media ownership rules that aim to prevent any individual or company from obtaining too much control over local coverage.

21 January 2021

Get a job at a US antitrust agency and you get polite congratulations on LinkedIn and a shoutout in Tipline. Get a job at the White House and you get a television special hosted by Tom Hanks with a fireworks finale synchronised to a live Katy Perry song. Lady Gaga may have forgotten to pay homage to departing Federal Trade Commission chair Joseph Simons on Wednesday, but GCR USA would never be so “Shallow”. Also in Tipline, Makan Delrahim makes a list of antitrust proposals on his way out, the Supreme Court takes on media ownership rules and one of Marvel’s Avengers weighs in on who should lead the Antitrust Division.

19 January 2021

Antitrust defendants let out a collective sigh of relief on Monday as President-elect Joe Biden announced his selection of Rohit Chopra to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It remains unclear who will fill Chopra’s seat at the Federal Trade Commission, but Biden may be hard-pressed to find a competition enforcer as aggressive as the outgoing Democrat. Also in Tipline, the ASCAP/BMI consent decrees survive another review and the FTC quarrels over healthcare advocacy. GCR USA will be back in your inboxes on Thursday following tomorrow’s public holiday for Inauguration Day in Washington, DC.

19 January 2021

Google has closed its US$2.1 billion acquisition of Fitbit despite ongoing antitrust reviews in Australia and the US.

15 January 2021

Assistant attorney general Makan Delrahim informed staff yesterday that he will be resigning on 19 January. GCR USA spoke with the outgoing enforcer about his legacy and proposed changes to US antitrust law. Also in Tipline, the Federal Trade Commission takes its section 6(b) powers to the healthcare industry as Connecticut reportedly takes on Amazon’s ebooks business. Enjoy the holiday weekend – we’ll be back in your inboxes on Tuesday.

14 January 2021

A majority of the Supreme Court’s justices appeared sceptical on Wednesday that the Federal Trade Commission has the authority to seek monetary relief for consumers under Section 13(b) of the FTC Act.

14 January 2021

It’s been another big week for the Federal Trade Commission, with the Supreme Court holding oral argument in a case that could diminish the agency’s ability to claw back ill-gotten gains. In other news, Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider gained a new trial partner and Amazon responded to conservative media site Parler’s lawsuit.

13 January 2021