Author: Pat Pascarella The blockchain did it” is unlikely to be a winning defense in an antitrust suit. That, combined with the current enforcement (and legislative) trends targeting digital platforms, counsels that companies choosing to adopt blockchain as, or in, their business, be cognizant of how the antitrust laws may be applied. Perhaps even more so […]
Attorney,
Bona Law PC
Authors: German Zakharov and Dmitry Domnin German Zakharov is a Partner of the Competition/Antitrust and Foreign Direct Investments Practices at ALRUD Law Firm. German supports clients on a wide range of antitrust issues: coordination of merger control transactions with Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation (FAS Russia), cartel investigations, advising on distributorship agreements, and analyzing compliance of […]
Partner,
Bona Law PC
When you defend antitrust class actions in federal court like we do, you often see a long list of state antitrust claims brought by what are called indirect purchasers. That is because the federal antitrust laws have this strange quirk that usually forbids federal antitrust claims for damages by indirect purchasers. You can read more about the history of how […]
Attorney,
Bona Law PC
Authors: Steven J. Cernak and Luis Blanquez As we have discussed in several recent posts, the FTC has made several changes to the merger antitrust review process. This month, the FTC made two more changes, one completely expected and one hinted at in other recent announcements. HSR Thresholds Updated As expected — in fact, required by statute — the […]
Attorney,
Bona Law PC
Author: Steven J. Cernak Recently, I was researching 2021 antitrust developments to update my Antitrust in Distribution and Franchising book and draft a long article for another publication. That research confirmed that new government antitrust enforcers and their actions gathered the most attention last year — but this blog covered those issues already, such as here and here and here. This post discusses […]
Partner,
Bona Law PC
The FTC filed an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook (now Meta Platforms Inc.). Judge James E. Boasberg dismissed it. The FTC then filed an amended complaint. And the same judge just denied Facebook’s motion to dismiss that complaint. The FTC alleges that Facebook has a longstanding monopoly in the market for personal social networking (PSN) services and that it unlawfully […]
Partner,
Bona Law PC
“The blockchain did it” is unlikely to be a winning defense in an antitrust suit. That, combined with the current enforcement (and legislative) trends targeting digital platforms, counsels that companies choosing to adopt blockchain as, or in, their business, be cognizant of how the antitrust laws may be applied. Perhaps even more so than other […]
Partner,
Bona Law PC
It is with great pleasure that we announce that Melanie Käser, a young, motivated and extremely talented lawyer, has joined our partnership. Melanie Käser started with us as a junior associate and, after passing the bar exam, very quickly assumed responsibility and management duties in dealing with clients. As of 1 January 2022, she will […]
Author: Jarod Bona Congress and the federal courts have—over time—created several exemptions or immunities to antitrust liability. The US Supreme Court in National Society of Professional Engineers v. United States explained that “The Sherman Act reflects a legislative judgment that ultimately competition will produce not only lower prices, but also better goods and services.” 435 U.S. 679, 695 (1978). And “[t]he heart […]
Partner,
Bona Law PC
Author: Steven J. Cernak The Federal Trade Commission continues to take subtle steps that, in total, will end up significantly changing the merger review process under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. We have already covered some of the earlier actions: withdrawal of the 2020 Vertical Merger Guidelines, withdrawal of one long-standing HSR rule interpretation and threats to the rest, and the routine […]
Partner,
Bona Law PC
