After a lengthy period of consultation, the European Commission has adopted a new Notice (‘Notice’) on the definition of the relevant market for purposes of EU competition law. The Notice comes on the heels of a significant period of updating
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Disappearing No More: Maintaining Electronic Messages for Antitrust Investigations
The Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission recently issued a revised model second request clarifying that companies under investigation have an obligation to preserve communications on messaging platforms including those on so-called ephemeral applications. …
The FTC Updates Size of Transaction Thresholds and Filing Fees for Premerger Notification Filings for 2024
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has announced updated size-of-transaction thresholds for premerger notification (Hart-Scott-Rodino or “HSR”) filings, as well as updates to the HSR filing fees and transaction value categories. Separately, the FTC has also updated the de minimis thresholds…
DOJ and FTC Finalize Merger Guidelines
On December 18, 2023, the DOJ and FTC jointly released the final 2023 Merger Guidelines that describe how the agencies will evaluate proposed merger and acquisition transactions. Despite significant editing, and calls from industry to moderate the guidelines, the agencies…
The Federal Trade Commission Weighs In on AI and Copyright
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently submitted comments to the US Copyright Office as part of the Office’s notice of inquiry examining copyright issues related to artificial intelligence.
The agency’s comments largely focused on two areas: potential threats to competition…
Seventh Circuit: No-Poach Agreements May Be Per Se Illegal
A recent Seventh Circuit opinion by Judge Easterbrook held that no-poach agreements, absent valid ancillary restraints, can be per se illegal. Per se violations of the antitrust laws are inherently illegal—meaning no defenses or justifications are available. They have traditionally…
Landmark Judgment from the CJEU for Online Operators Whose Business Model Is Based on Personalized Content and Advertisement
On July 4, 2023, the highest EU court issued a landmark judgment in Case C-252/21, where the German court referred several questions for a preliminary ruling related to (i) the interplay between data protection concerns and competition law breaches; and…
DOJ/FTC Draft Merger Guidelines: More Second Requests and More Merger Litigation
Yesterday (July 19, 2023), the DOJ Antitrust Division and the FTC released the long-anticipated proposed Merger Guidelines. As has also been long-anticipated, the proposed Guidelines reflect a much-stiffened enforcement philosophy. Throughout the text, the proposed Guidelines provide citations to…
Horizontal Agreements – Revised Rules Enter Into Force in the EEA
On 1 July 2023 the revised Research & Development Block Exemption Regulation and Specialization Block Exemption Regulation, alongside the revised Guidelines on the applicability of Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to cooperation agreements…
In Significant Ruling, Federal Court Grants Motion for Judgment of Acquittal in Federal Labor-Side Criminal Antitrust Case
In a yet another setback for the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) ongoing effort to prosecute labor-side violations of the Sherman Act, District of Connecticut Judge Victor A. Bolden granted a motion for a judgment of acquittal on April 28,…