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Competition Matters

HSR threshold adjustments and reportability for 2020

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When Congress passed the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, it created minimum dollar thresholds to limit the burden of premerger reporting. In 2000, it amended the HSR statute to...
Competition Matters

Leadership Changes

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I am pleased to announce several management changes in the Bureau of Competition. While Michael Moiseyev is on detail, Dan Zach is serving as Acting Assistant Director for the Mergers I Division. Dan...
Competition Matters

The closest competitor is not the only competitor

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More and more, merging parties argue that their merger does not raise competition concerns because they are not each other’s closest competitors. Parties have advanced this argument even in markets...
Competition Matters

Avoidance devices won’t avoid HSR penalties

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The Commission and Department of Justice’s recent case against Canon Inc. and Toshiba Corporation for violating the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act makes an important point: restructuring...
Competition Matters

Developing the Antitrust Bar

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For the good of the antitrust bar and our entire profession, the BC Front Office encourages parties to give associates, counsel, and newer partners more opportunities to present to the Bureau and the...
Competition Matters

What’s in a Name? Ask the Technology Enforcement Division

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The Bureau of Competition is pleased to announce the conversion of the Technology Task Force into a permanent division in the Bureau of Competition. Effective October 1, 2019, it has become the...
Competition Matters

Just because it’s ancillary doesn’t make it legal

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In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy was told to ignore the man behind the curtain. Some may argue that the same guidance applies to ancillary parts of a merger or joint venture agreement. These can include...
Competition Matters

Updating best practices for data submissions

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The FTC’s Bureau of Economics is updating its guidance regarding the best practices for submitting data and economic analysis related to antitrust investigations. BE routinely engages in econometric...
Competition Matters

Technology Task Force looking for technology fellow

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Are you a fast-learning, tech-savvy professional driven to use your expertise to help ensure that competitive technological innovation benefits consumers? Then the FTC may have a unique opportunity...
Competition Matters

Interlocking Mindfulness

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The wellness strategy of the moment is mindfulness: focusing on the present and being completely aware of your situation. Even in the corporate sphere, there are good reasons for anyone in governance...
Competition Matters

Unpacking Divestiture Packages

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Crafting effective merger remedies is one of the Commission’s most important tasks. Done well, a divestiture prevents the competitive harm likely to result from a proposed merger and ensures that...
Competition Matters

Joining the issues on the high road

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The great majority of attorneys appearing before the Commission share a sense of practicing at the height of our profession. They engage with Commission staff on pressing issues of fact, antitrust law...
Competition Matters

In submissions, brevity’s better

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In written submissions to the Bureau or the Commission, be brief, be direct, and avoid repeating points made in previous papers. Wherever possible, multiple aligned parties should prepare joint...
Competition Matters

The uphill case for a post-Order divestiture

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Designing effective merger remedy orders is one of the Commission’s most important tasks. An effective merger remedy prevents the merger from causing harm. For many years – ever since our 1999...