Thanks to my friend Jarod Bona at Bona Law PC, for alerting me to the September 30, 2016 Order of Judge James Donato regarding FTAIA issues in In Re Capacitors Antitrust Litigation, Master File no 14-cv-03264-JD (ND Cal.). It was obvious from the start of the DOJ criminal capacitors investigation that FTAIA issues were going…
On 20 September 2016, the European Commission (“Commission”) issued its first settlement decision under Article 102 TFEU following the introduction of Regulation 1/2003 and reduced the fine of Altstoff Recycling Austria (“ARA“) by 30% in exchange for its cooperation. ARA’s fine was thus reduced to €6 million. In addition to the press release, the Commission…
Like students going back to school, members of the antitrust community returned last week from summer vacations and started debating the finer points of antitrust policy at various conferences. As is often the case, the highlights included speeches by top antitrust enforcers. And there were plenty of speeches – multiple speeches by each of the…
Within the last week, the federal district court in Washington, D.C. has approved a U.S. consent decree resolving Department of Justice Antitrust Division concerns over public relations software provider Cision’s acquisition of PR Newswire, a company that distributes company press releases to the media. Because Cision is owned by private equity firm GTCR Fund X/A…
Occupational licensing has been under antitrust attack in the last several years, from two Supreme Court cases narrowing the state action exemption to numerous reports on local regulations such as taxi medallions. The proposed Alternatives to Licensing that Lower Obstacles to Work Act (ALLOW) Act could prove to be another step in lightening the load…
The Antitrust Division has announced that three more companies have agreed to plead guilty in the electrolytic capacitor investigation. According to a DOJ press release of August 22, (here) Rubycon Corp, Elna Co, and Holy Stone Holdings Co, have agreed to plead guilty to fixing the prices of electrolytic capacitors sold in the United States…
The Department of Justice Antitrust Division earlier this week rejected efforts by performing rights organizations American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) and the two largest music publishers to relax the terms of antitrust consent decrees that govern the collective licensing of musical works for public performance. The modifications to…
The George Washington University Law School and Concurrences Review are hosting “120 Merger Regimes: Multinational Deals in a World of Non-Convergence: US, EU, Brazil, China . . .” on September 19 at the law school in Washington, D.C. The conference will open with welcoming remarks by George Washington Law School professor and former FTC Chairman…
One of the aspirations of many antitrust/competition lawyers worldwide is to achieve as much convergence as possible among competition authorities in enforcing competition law. Counseling companies and individuals who do business on a worldwide basis on the many differences in competition law can be inefficient, costly and result in less than optimal competition and deterrence…
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court wrapped up its regular business for the October 2015 term, but not before deciding to put an antitrust case on the docket for the next term. In addition, a few antitrust petitions remain on the docket that could potentially lead to additional antitrust issues being addressed by the Court…
