The Department of Justice today announced a total of $548 million in fines resulting from a second round of charges in the government’s ongoing investigation into collusive activity in the auto parts industry. Two more Japanese companies have agreed to plead guilty for their roles in multiple price fixing and bid rigging conspiracies in the…
Less than six months after her appointment as Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice Antitrust Division, Sharis A. Pozen has announced her resignation, effective as of April 30, 2012. Late yesterday, the Justice Department issued a statement announcing the departure. There was no word on who would replace Pozen. However,…
In the past six months since Google’s public disclosure of its Federal Trade Commission (FTC) antitrust investigation, much of the debate around the issue has been focused on the evolution of search–how it has changed over the past decade, how information is presented to users, and where information comes from to provide users with the…
Having filed over 100 cases in the last 12 months, the Department of Justice Antitrust Division was especially active in 2011. The vast majority of those cases were criminal matters; however, 2011 will most likely be remembered for the Antitrust Division’s merger enforcement efforts. The Antitrust Division reviewed a number of mega-mergers in 2011. While…
The prospects for the merger of Deutsche Börse AG and NYSE Euronext are looking a little brighter, since the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division conditionally approved the transaction yesterday. U.S. antitrust approval is a major hurdle; however, the combination of the two leading stock exchange groups, which was announced in February, still requires clearance…
As tech companies prepare for the holiday season retail wars, touting products with cutting-edge technologies, a costly war is unfolding in corporate America: a war for patents and, more importantly, an arms race to seek protection from frivolous patent-infringement lawsuits. Because of weaknesses in our patent system, companies have started using patents strategically, threatening litigation…
Something striking occurred in the Seventh Circuit this year. In two different, massive antitrust class actions, in the space of about nine months, panels of that court applied the Twombly-Iqbal pleading formula to reach opposite conclusions, even though both cases involved very similar fact allegations and the same procedural posture. Both cases also involved the…
“[O]vercome with a rare and gargantuan sense of awe,” a federal district court judge in Sioux City, Iowa, has called a consolidated class action case arising from price fixing conspiracies in the concrete industry “a model for the nation.” The case was brought on behalf of purchasers of ready-mix concrete against ready-mix concrete producers and…
The federal district court in Washington, D.C. yesterday released its Memorandum Opinion explaining its October 31 order enjoining H&R Block, Inc.’s proposed acquisition of 2SS Holdings, Inc.—the maker of “TaxACT” tax preparation software. The court took a traditional approach in reviewing the merger and concluded that the transaction, which would have combined the second and…
While Attorney General Eric Holder spent much of his time at today’s Senate Judiciary Committee Department of Justice Oversight hearing responding to question’s about the “Fast and Furious” law enforcement operation, he also was asked to provide his thoughts on some recent developments at the Antitrust Division. Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI), chairman of the Senate…
