Antitrust Lawyer Blog

On September 28, the DOJ announced that it filed a notice with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to dismiss its antitrust complaint challenging the potential acquisition of Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (PSEG) by Exelon Corp. Exelon formally abandoned its effort to acquire PSEG, and therefore the lawsuit and proposed consent decree were no longer necessary.

Continue reading " Justice Department Dismisses Antitrust Lawsuit Against Exelon Corp. And Public Enterprise Service Group Inc. " »

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Posted In: DOJ Antitrust Highlights , Merger Highlights

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On September 27, five major cable companies asked the FCC for conditions on AT&T’s merger with BellSouth to ensure that the combined phone giants cannot discriminate against cable’s competing digital-phone service. The cable companies seeking these conditions were Advance/Newhouse Communications, Charter Communications, Cablevision Systems, Cox Communications and Insight Communications.

Continue reading " Five Cable MSOs ask FCC for Conditions on AT&T/BellSouth Merger " »

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Posted In: FCC Antitrust Highlights , Merger Highlights

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The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) sent letters on September 27, 2006 to 166 advertisers and 77 media outlets warning them that their advertisements targeting Hispanics are potentially deceptive. The ads were spotted during a one-day surf of Spanish-language newspaper, magazine, Internet, radio, and television advertisements by 60 partners around the United States and Latin America, coordinated by the FTC.

Continue reading " FTC Warns Advertisers and Media That Ads May Be Deceptive " »

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Posted In: Civil Non-Merger Highlights , FTC Consumer Protection Highlights

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On September 25, the FCC adopted its Eleventh Annual Report to Congress on the state of competition in the mobile telephone – or Commercial Mobile Radio Services (“CMRS”) – industry. This report examines the conditions prevailing in the CMRS marketplace in 2005.

Continue reading " FCC Adopts Eleventh Annual Report on the State of Competition in the CMRS Industry " »

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Posted In: Civil Non-Merger Highlights , FCC Antitrust Highlights

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On September 20, 2006, the federal district court in Chicago ruled for the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) in its case against the marketers of the Q-Ray ionized bracelet following a bench trial earlier this summer. In a decision issued September 8, the court found that advertising by Que Te (Andrew) Park and his companies was false and misleading in representing that the bracelet provides immediate, significant, and/or complete pain relief, and that scientific tests proved that it relieves pain.

Continue reading " Court Rules in FTC's Favor in Q-Ray Bracelet Case; Orders Defendants to Pay Up To $87 Million " »

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Posted In: Civil Non-Merger Highlights , FTC Consumer Protection Highlights

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On September 19, the Senate Commerce Committee unanimously reported on the nomination of FCC Chairman Kevin Martin for a second five-year term. Martin was approved following an off-the-floor markup held after the first vote on the Senate floor. According to Commerce Committee spokesman Joe Brenckle, the only senator to miss the 21-0 vote was Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona). Martin now awaits consideration by the full Senate.

Continue reading " FCC Chairman Kevin Martin Nominated for Second Five-Year Term " »

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Posted In: FCC Antitrust Highlights , Merger Highlights

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The FCC’s first auction of Advanced Wireless Service (“AWS”) spectrum licenses ended on September 18. A total of 1,122 licenses were offered in the auction, and 104 bidders won 1,087 licenses. The AWS licenses can be used to provide any of a wide array of innovative wireless services and technologies, including voice, data, video, and other wireless broadband services offered over Third Generation (“3G”) mobile networks.

Continue reading " FCC’s First Auction of Advanced Wireless Services Spectrum Licenses Raises Total Gross Bids of Nearly $13.9 Billion " »

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Posted In: Civil Non-Merger Highlights , FCC Antitrust Highlights

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On September 18, the DOJ announced that it filed a notice with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to dismiss its antitrust complaint regarding the potential acquisition of Falconbridge Limited by Inco Limited because Inco has formally abandoned its effort to acquire Falconbridge. The DOJ said that the lawsuit and proposed consent decree are no longer necessary as Falconbridge was instead acquired by Xstrata plc, a Swiss mining company, in August 2006. The DOJ also said that Xstrata's acquisition of Falconbridge does not pose any competitive problems.

Continue reading " Justice Department Dismisses Antitrust Lawsuit Against INCO Ltd. and Falconbridge Ltd. " »

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Posted In: DOJ Antitrust Highlights , Merger Highlights

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The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) brought a permanent halt on September 14, 2006 to four illegal spamming operations – including one that offered the opportunity to “date lonely wives” and two that hijacked the computers of unwitting third parties and used them to pelt consumers with graphic sexually explicit e-mail. The FTC charged the operators with sending spam that violated provisions of the CAN-SPAM Act, and halted the illegal spamming.

Continue reading " FTC Puts a Permanent Halt to Illegal Spamming Operations " »

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Posted In: Civil Non-Merger Highlights , FTC Consumer Protection Highlights

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On September 13, the competition regulator for the European Union clashed with Microsoft, this time over security upgrades in the company's new Windows Vista operating system. The European Commission, the European Union's executive arm, warned Microsoft against foreclosing competition in computer security by tying new security featrues into its Windows operating system. Both Symantec and Adobe, the U.S. software groups, raised concerns over the inclusion in Vista of software that rivals their own offerings.

Continue reading " Microsoft's Vista Faces Regulatory Delays in Europe " »

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Posted In: Civil Non-Merger Highlights , International Highlights

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On September 12, Deutsche Lufthansa said it would pay $85 million to settle 80 class-action lawsuits in the United States in a price-fixing inquiry involving its air cargo unit. The payment would release the airline and Swiss International Air Lines, which it is taking over, from pending lawsuits in the United States. The settlement is subject to court approval. Lufthansa Cargo is among nine airlines accused of violating antitrust laws by fixing prices in the $50 billion global air cargo market. The European Union and United States authorities requested information from at least 12 carriers in February; the inquiry focused on surcharges for fuel and security risks.

Continue reading " German Airline Settles Price Suit " »

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Posted In: Civil Non-Merger Highlights , International Highlights

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The European Commission (“EC”) enlarged the scope of its antitrust review of Intel on September 12 to investigate whether the company pressured an electronics retailer to exclude chips made by Advanced Micro Devices (“AMD”). The relationship between Intel, the world's largest chip maker, and the retailer, the Media Market division of the German company Metro, was being investigated by the Bundeskartellamt, Germany's competition agency, after a complaint by AMD. However, the EC is taking over the case because it is already looking at whether Intel pressured computer makers to prevent AMD from gaining market share.

Continue reading " Regulatory Review of Intel Widens in Europe " »

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Posted In: Civil Non-Merger Highlights , International Highlights

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On September 11, 2006, a federal judge ordered a magazine subscription seller to pay a civil penalty of more than $5.4 million and give up more than $1.6 million of his ill-gotten gains for violating a 1996 Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) consent order and the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule (“TSR”). This amount is the largest civil penalty the FTC ever obtained for a violation of a consent order in a consumer protection matter.

Continue reading " Magazine Seller Will Pay More Than $7 Million " »

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Posted In: Civil Non-Merger Highlights , FTC Consumer Protection Highlights

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The Commission, with the concurrence of the Acting U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust, has authorized the release of the Twenty-Eighth Annual Report to Congress Regarding the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Premerger Notification Program. The report summarizes Commission and Department of Justice (DOJ) actions conducted under the HSR Act in fiscal year 2005, noting that 1,695 premerger filings were received 17 percent more than the 1,454 filings received in fiscal year 2004.

Continue reading " FTC/DOJ Issue Annual HSR Premerger Notification Report to Congress; Commission Approves Final Consent Order in Matter of CardSystems Solutions " »

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Posted In: FTC Antitrust Highlights , Merger Highlights

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Social networking Web site operators Xanga.com, Inc. and its principals, Marc Ginsburg and John Hiler, will pay a $1 million civil penalty for allegedly violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”), and its implementing Rule, under the terms of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC” or “Commission”) announced on September 7, 2006. According to the FTC, Xanga.com collected, used, and disclosed personal information from children under the age of 13 without first notifying parents and obtaining their consent. The penalty is the largest ever assessed by the FTC for a COPPA violation, and is more than twice the next largest penalty.

Continue reading " Xanga.com to pay $1 Million for Violating Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule " »

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Posted In: Civil Non-Merger Highlights , FTC Consumer Protection Highlights

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On September 7, the DOJ announced that ALLTEL Corporation agreed to divest assets in rural areas of Minnesota in order to proceed with its $1.075 billion acquisition of Midwest Wireless Holdings LLC. The DOJ said that the deal as originally proposed would have resulted in higher prices, lower quality, and diminished investment in network improvements for consumers of mobile wireless telecommunications services in four areas where both ALLTEL and Midwest Wireless currently operate.

Continue reading " Justice Departments Requires Divestitures in ALLTELL'S Acquisition of Midwest Wireless " »