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The Antitrust Attorney Blog

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Antitrust and Competition and the Coronavirus Crisis

Author: Jarod Bona The Coronavirus crisis has created an unusual situation for the world, but also for antitrust and competition law. People around the globe are trying to cooperate to solve and move past the crisis, but cooperation among competitors is a touchy subject under antitrust and competition laws. Of…

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Classic Antitrust Cases: Trinko, linkLine and the House Report on Big Tech

Author:  Steven J. Cernak On October 6, 2020, the Antitrust Subcommittee of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee issued its long-anticipated Majority Report of its Investigation of Competition in Digital Markets.  As expected, the Report detailed its findings from its investigation of Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon along with recommendations for…

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Give and Take of Proposed HSR Rules: Private Equity Companies and Small Transactions

Author: Steven Cernak As we detailed in earlier posts (see here and here, for instance), the system established by the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (HSR) was designed to get sufficient information about impending mergers to the federal antitrust agencies so they could attempt to block anti-competitive ones before…

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Department of Justice Civil Investigative Demands and Hidden Risks

Author: Jon Cieslak The United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division recently announced changes to its Civil Investigative Demand (CID) forms and deposition process.  While these changes are cosmetic—the Antitrust Division acknowledges that the changes “are consistent with long-standing division policies”—they serve as a good reminder of risks that always…

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Are Resale-Price-Maintenance Agreements Per Se Illegal Under California Antitrust Law?

Author: Jarod Bona In an earlier article, we discussed Leegin and the controversial issue of resale-price maintenance agreements under the federal antitrust laws. We’ve also written about these agreements here. And these issues often come up when discussing Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) Policies, which you can read about here. As…

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The Seventh Circuit Explains the “Co-Conspiracy Exception” to the Illinois Brick Rule in Healthcare Antitrust Lawsuit

Author: Jarod Bona Antitrust law evolves in such a way that opinions from federal appellate courts are always interesting in how they affect the doctrine. But there are a select few judges who earn even closer attention when they write an antitrust opinion. Judge Diane P. Wood of the United…

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Antitrust, Antifragility, Blockchain, and the Department of Justice

Author: Jarod Bona I suspect that Antitrust DOJ head Makan Delrahim and I have had a similar reading list lately. And I am not even referring to any sort of antitrust books, like, for example, Steve Cernak’s book on Antitrust in Distribution and Franchising. Let me explain. I read, with…

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Do We Still Have “Faith in the Value of Competition”?

Author: Steven J. Cernak As I prepare again to teach an antitrust survey course, part of the preparation involves rereading some of the classic foundational U.S. antitrust cases.  Many of them make some sweeping statements about how the Sherman Act embodies a national policy to order our entire economy through…

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Challenging Class Action Certification and the Classic Antitrust Case of Comcast v. Behrend

Author: Jarod Bona As an attorney defending an antitrust class action, your job is to get your client out of the case as expeditiously and inexpensively as possible. There are several exit points. For example, with a little help from the US Supreme Court’s Twombly decision, you might find your way…

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California Supreme Court Confirms Independent Wrongfulness Requirement for Certain Tortious Interference Claims and Clarifies Section 16600 Standard

Author: Jarod Bona Competitors battle in the marketplace and sometimes battle in the courts. Bona Law is an antitrust and competition boutique law firm, but most people think of the “competition” part of that description as redundant to the antitrust label. That is not a surprise because outside of the…