FTC Imposes Divestitures Plus “Unusual” Conduct Relief in Merger Settlement

Peloquin, Megan A., Wilkinson, Laura A.

(Spring 2012, Antitrust Update)

In this issue of Antitrust Update we discuss: developments in the cases that challenge high-tech firms' nonpoaching agreements re hiring employees; an FTC merger enforcement action that imposed conduct remedies on the acquiring company but permitted the deal to close; yet another unsuccessful challenge to the practice of "bundling" cable and satellite channels; a case dismissing antitrust claims against a dominant seller's shelf space program; a case requiring indirect purchasers clearly to "connect up" their alleged injury with the alleged violations; a Kansas case confirming that vertical price fixing is alive and well in the States; and an update from the EC, including a matter in which the EC's "first to file" merger rules were invoked (and challenged).

The Spring 2012 Antitrust Update is available here.