Author: Molly Donovan You might recall that Max and Margie are next-door neighbors on Lemon Lane. In a strange turn of events, after Max was found liable for an illegal hub-and-spoke conspiracy against Margie, she let bygones be bygones and hired Max to procure materials for her lemonade stand and…
Author: Steven Cernak Recently, the Federal Trade Commission proposed a nearly complete ban on noncompete provisions in employment agreements. Because it faces the usual lengthy rulemaking process and several expected legal challenges, the proposed rule might not become effective for months, if ever. Through the proposal and attendant publicity, however,…
Author: Jarod Bona Do you feel paranoid? Maybe everyone really is conspiring against you? If they are competitors with each other—that is, if they have a horizontal relationship—they may even be committing a per se antitrust violation. A group boycott occurs when two or more persons or entities conspire to…
Author: Jarod Bona Sometimes parties will enter a contract whereby one agrees to buy (or supply) all of its needs (or product) to the other. For example, a supplier and retailer might agree that only the supplier’s product will be sold in the retailer’s stores. This usually isn’t free as…
Author: Jarod Bona You can buy and sell products or services in many different ways in a particular market. For example, if you want to purchase some whey protein powder, you can walk into a store, go to the protein or smoothie-ingredient section, examine the prices of the different brands,…
Author: Molly Donovan Every Pricer in Priceville liked Christmas a lot. But the Government, eastward in DC, did NOT! The Government hated the whole of the season! Please don’t ask us why. No one quite knows the reason. Whatever the reason, they could have been nicer,…
Author: Molly Donovan A new episode of the “If I Were You” podcast is here! You can listen to it here. Featuring Bona Law partner Jon Cieslak. This Episode Is About: Investigative Subpoenas Why: In-house lawyers need to know what to do upon receiving an investigative subpoena in an antitrust…
Author: Molly Donovan Nathan is nine. His grandmother makes excellent meatballs using an age-old family recipe. Together, Nathan and grandma decide to can the meatballs and sell them to their neighbors on the north side of town—just in time for the holidays as a turkey side dish. Things went great…
Author: Steven J. Cernak The FTC’s challenge of Altria’s investment into its e-cigarette competitor JUUL Labs, Inc. (JLI) already raised interesting antitrust and administrative law issues: Did the parties’ discussions of FTC compliance during merger negotiations create an unreasonable agreement? Are the structure and procedures of the FTC constitutional? Recently,…
Author: Luis Blanquez Blockchain is an emerging technology that is already changing the way companies do business. But this doesn’t precludn companies using such nascent technology frot getting caught in the same old anticompetitive practices subject to the antitrust laws. Before diving into the spectrum of anticompetitive behavior that companies…