Author: Steven Cernak Last week, the FTC voluntarily dismissed its Robinson-Patman Act case against Pepsi that it filed in January. The dismissal and the Commissioner statements accompanying it hinted that the FTC’s determination to revive Robinson-Patman will not be as strong in the Trump Administration. Short and Recent History of…
Articles Posted in Types of Antitrust Claims
Quick Update on Algorithmic Pricing: Yardi and the “Per Se” Standard
Author: Luis Blanquez In simple terms algorithmic pricing takes place when competitors make use of a software platform to share competitively sensitive information, which the pricing algorithm uses to recommend prices for all users. Algorithmic pricing has been in the antitrust spotlight over the past few years. The FTC has…
Dividing Markets and Customers: Are Market Allocation Agreements Per Se Antitrust Violations?
Author: Jarod Bona Have you ever considered the idea that your business would be much more profitable if you didn’t have to compete so hard with that pesky competitor or group of competitors? Unless you lack competition—which is great for profits, read Peter Thiel’s book—this notion has probably crossed your…
New Antitrust Cases and Statements of Interests About Algorithmic Collusion
Author: Luis Blanquez We recently wrote about the Federal Trade Commission’s blog post explaining how relying on a common algorithm to determine your pricing decisions might violate Section 1 of the Sherman Act. The FTC has Algorithmic Price-Fixing in its Antitrust Crosshairs It was just a matter of time until…
Is it Possible to Win a Robinson Patman Act Case Now?
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…
What Are the Elements for a Monopolization Claim under the Federal Antitrust Laws?
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…
Antitrust for Kids: Watch Out for Predatory Halloween…Pricing!!
Author: Molly Donovan At Argo Elementary, a group of kids gathers daily at lunch to buy and sell candy. The trading activity is a longtime tradition at Argo and it’s taken very seriously—more like a competitive sport than a pastime. Candy trading doesn’t end once a 5th grader graduates from…
Antitrust, Web3 and Blockchain Technology: A Quick Look into the Refusal to Deal Theory as Exclusionary Conduct
Author: Luis Blanquez A company using a blockchain––or perhaps even the blockchain itself––, with a sizeable share of a market, could be a monopolist subject to U.S. antitrust laws. But monopoly by itself isn’t illegal. Rather, a company must use its monopoly power to willfully maintain that power through anticompetitive exclusionary conduct.…
Ten Ways to Tell Whether You Have an Antitrust Claim
Author: Jarod Bona Law school exams are all about issue spotting. Sure, after you spot the issue, you must describe the elements and apply them correctly. But the important skill is, in fact, issue spotting. In the real world, you can look up a claim’s elements; in fact, you should…
2022 Developments in Antitrust and Distribution
Author: Steven Cernak In the antitrust world in 2022, stories about Big Tech, government enforcement, and merger challenges dominated the headlines. But in putting together the 2023 edition of Antitrust in Distribution and Franchising (available for purchase soon!), I found a number of less-famous opinions that US distributors and their…