On December 23, 2022, the U.S. Congress passed an omnibus spending bill incorporating the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act. This new bill included significant changes to filing fee thresholds applicable to mergers and acquisitions reportable under HSR. On January 24, the Federal Trade Commission…
One of the ways the antitrust laws seek to protect consumer welfare is by categorizing certain types of conduct as per se illegal. The per se rule applies to restraints with which courts have had considerable experience and can predict with confidence that the restraint would be…
Resale-price maintenance (RPM) is a common and controversial issue for antitrust attorneys because of the variety of arrangements a manufacturer or supplier may use to control the price downstream and the implications of setting prices in this manner. We have already explored some of…
Antitrust and Bundled Discounts: How do I apply the Discount-Attribution Test?A common test that courts utilize to determine whether a bundled discount violates the antitrust laws is called the discount-attribution test. This test was applied most prominently (so far) by the United States Court of…
A combination of court-made doctrine and federal statutes exempt certain types of activities that would normally violate federal antitrust law. As discussed below, one type of antitrust exemption relates to labor union and certain employer-negotiating conduct. Other types of antitrust…
Are you unable to compete for certain customers because those customers are bound by exclusive-dealing agreements with your competitors? Or are you a competitor who has or is considering an exclusive-dealing agreement? If your competitor is using exclusive-dealing agreements, you might be…