Author: Steven Cernak Some of us have been asserting for years that Robinson Patman, the federal price-discrimination antitrust law, is merely “forgotten but not gone.”  That is, while there has been no FTC enforcement in decades, a few private lawsuits are filed every year and careful potential defendants still follow Robison Patman compliance programs. Recent statements suggesting a potential FTC revival seemed to jog the memories of practitioners that Robinson Patman remains on the books. Now, a lower court judgement by a dedicated group of plaintiffs and their lawyer provides more ev ..read more

Author: Luis Blanquez Are you delegating your pricing decisions to a common algorithm software platform? If so, you might violate the antitrust laws. It may not even matter whether you actually communicated with your competitors. All it might take is for the antitrust agencies—The Department of Justice or the Federal Trade Commission—to allege illegal collusion is the use by your company of an algorithm-software tool trained using competitively sensitive data, with knowledge that some of your competitors are doing the same thing. Even deviation from the algorithm’s recommended pricing might n ..read more

Author: Jarod Bona Do you or your competitor have a monopoly in a particular market? If so, your conduct or their conduct might enter Sherman Act, Section 2 territory, which we call monopolization. If you are in Europe or other jurisdictions outside of the United States, instead of monopoly, people might label the company with extreme market power as “dominant.” Of course, it isn’t illegal itself to be a monopolist or dominant (and monopoly is profitable). But if you utilize your monopoly power or obtain or enhance your market power improperly, you might breach US, EU, or other antitrust and ..read more

Author: Luis Blanquez Apple is currently feeling the heat from antitrust authorities all over the world. Probably more than ever. Below is an article we recently published in the Daily Journal discussing in some detail the last developments in the Epic Games saga, both in the EU and the US. Epic Games Has Returned to the Apple Store. Will Apple Throw a Hail Mary? If you are a developer in the Web3 space trying to access the Apple Store, you should also review this article: Antitrust, Web3 and Blockchain Technology: A Quick Look into the Refusal to Deal Theory as Exclusionary Conduct So, what ..read more

Author: Molly Donovan & Aaron Gott This Episode Is About: Residential Real Estate and Antitrust Why:  A settlement has been reached between the National Association of Realtors (or NAR) and the class action plaintiffs that would resolve the $1.8 billion verdict out of Missouri finding illegal collusion in the residential real estate industry. But the settlement raises its own antitrust concerns and this podcast provides actionable guidance for avoiding them. You can listen to this podcast here. Some Background: The Missouri case focused on the NAR’s mandatory commission rule requirin ..read more

Authors: Steve Cernak, Kristen Harris, Pat Pascarella, Ruth Glaeser, Luis Blanquez The American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section’s annual Spring Meeting in Washington DC is April 10-12 this year. Each year, the Spring Meeting has dozens of panels and events and generates numerous receptions — formal and informal — as about 4000 antitrust practitioners and enforcers flock to Washington. It is the place to be for antitrust and consumer protection lawyers and economists — so, of course, Bona Law professionals will play a leading role. Steve Cernak will be moderating a panel of the Deputy As ..read more

Author: Aaron Gott There are a lot of lessons you can learn from Wonka. It’s a story about how ingenuity, determination, selflessness, and teamwork can overcome the oppressive adversity of a system that serves entrenched interests. But it’s also a story about a chocolate cartel. And that offers its own lessons, too. Just ask my four kids, who now understand what I do all day (though I may have overplayed the chocolate-related aspect). In fact, the whole plot of Wonka revolves around the machinations of this market-dominating chocolate cartel. It’s almost as if the folks over at Warner Bros. P ..read more

Author:  Molly Donovan For adults, it’s the worst idea imaginable for a holiday, but for second graders, Valentine’s Day is great—decorating mailboxes, making paper cards and distributing treats to all your friends. This year the second graders had an idea for making Valentine’s Day even better: a contest to see who can make the best Valentine’s cards! The kids would vote for one winner after sorting through all the cards to judge whose was most creative and best executed. The winner would have the prestige of winning. As with all competitions, big or small, things should be fair. One th ..read more

Author: Paul Moore2 Introduction Over the past several decades State Attorneys General have become increasingly involved in merger reviews in tandem with the Federal Trade Commission and/or the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (the Regulatory Agencies). This increase in state merger reviews has been in parallel with states raising their merger and non-merger profile and general antitrust enforcement efforts statewide and nationally. This trend has occurred, in part, as Attorneys General expanded their staffs and have become increasingly experienced in antitrust enforcement effor ..read more

Authors: Steven Cernak and Luis Blanquez On January 22, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued its usual annual announcement to increase the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act thresholds. The 2024 thresholds will take effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, which is expected soon, so the thresholds likely will be effective in late February. HSR requires the parties to submit certain information and documents and then wait for approval before closing a transaction. The FTC and DOJ then have 30 days to determine if they will allow the merger to proceed or seek much more deta ..read more