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May 20, 2013
Brazilian Antitrust Watchdog Clears Merger Case Backlog
Brazil's antitrust watchdog proposed Friday blocking Armco Staco SA from buying Mangels Industrial SA's metallic barriers unit, clearing the final case from the agency's backlog of mergers filed almost a year ago as the country overhauled its merger regime.
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May 20, 2013
Pfizer Can't Shake Skelaxin Pay-For-Delay MDL
A federal judge on Monday refused to dismiss multidistrict litigation accusing Pfizer Inc.'s King Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Mutual Pharmaceutical Co. Inc. of keeping generic versions of the muscle relaxer Skelaxin off the market, finding Rite Aid Corp. and others had plausibly alleged a conspiracy.
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May 20, 2013
Fighting Agencies May Be Tougher After High Court Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court's Monday ruling in favor of the Federal Communications Commission, which held that courts should apply a deferential standard of review when federal agencies interpret the limits of their own authority, may make it tougher for regulated businesses to fight agency actions, attorneys say.
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May 20, 2013
Penn State Sanctions Don't Affect Competition, NCAA Says
Attorneys for the National Collegiate Athletic Association asked a Pennsylvania federal judge on Monday to dismiss Gov. Tom Corbett’s suit challenging $60 million in fines levied against Penn State University, arguing that the complaint had failed to identify any relevant markets that would be impacted by the sanctions.
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May 20, 2013
Sony Wants Toshiba, HannStar Docs In LCD Cartel Suit
A California federal judge should force Toshiba Corp. and HannStar Display Corp. to produce evidence in a suit rolled into multidistrict litigation over alleged price-fixing of liquid crystal display panels, two Sony Corp. units said Friday.
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May 20, 2013
7 Birdsall Execs Plead Not Guilty In Pay-To-Play Scheme
Seven executives from engineering firm Birdsall Services Group on Monday pled not guilty in a New Jersey state court after being indicted in a pay-to-play scheme in which they are accused of concealing illegal corporate campaign contributions by masking them as personal employee donations.
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May 20, 2013
Investors Give Libor Antitrust Claims Another Shot
Investors pushed Friday to revive their antitrust claims against Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and other top banks accused of rigging the London Interbank Offered Rate as part of multidistrict litigation over the rate scandal.
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May 20, 2013
Cinemark To Divest 19 Theaters In $220M Rave Deal
The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday said Cinemark Holdings Inc. and its sister company have agreed to divest 19 movie theaters in Kentucky, New Jersey and Texas in order to win the federal agency's approval of Cinemark's $220 million acquisition of Rave Holdings LLC.
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May 20, 2013
Ex-Morgan Stanley Exec Fights Kickback Rap In 2nd Circ.
A former Morgan Stanley & Co. executive asked the Second Circuit on Monday to overturn a conviction on charges he steered stock-loan business to his family in exchange for kickbacks, arguing that some work was performed for the money.
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May 20, 2013
Apple, Amazon Fight Over Confidentiality In E-Book Case
Amazon Inc. told a New York federal court Friday that filings in multidistrict litigation alleging Apple Inc. conspired with publishers to fix e-book prices contained business information that should be confidential, prompting Apple to argue the Amazon information was critical to its defense.
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May 20, 2013
NYU Researchers Charged In Chinese Bribes-For-Secrets Plot
Three New York University researchers have been charged with accepting bribes in exchange for secretly providing medical research to Chinese companies, sharing work that was funded by the National Institutes of Health with the university's competitors, authorities said Monday.
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May 20, 2013
Agencies Deserve Deference On Jurisdiction, Justices Say
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that courts should apply a deferential standard of review toward a federal agency's definition of its own jurisdiction, siding with the Federal Communications Commission in a fight with local government agencies over zoning rules for wireless facilities.
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May 20, 2013
Latham Blasts Oxbow DQ Bid In Rail Price-Fixing MDL
Latham & Watkins LLP said Friday it should be able to continue representing Union Pacific Railroad Co. in multidistrict price-fixing litigation, slamming Oxbow Carbon & Mineral LLC for allegedly dropping most of its original arguments in a bid to disqualify the firm.
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May 20, 2013
Google Faces Antitrust Probe From Canadian Watchdog
Canada's antitrust watchdog has begun investigating Google Inc.'s local unit, the Internet search giant said Monday, as it continues to face global inquiries over allegations that it has manipulated its search results to thwart rivals.
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May 20, 2013
Manhattan DA Asks Albany To Pass Gov.'s Anti-Corruption Bill
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. told Albany lawmakers to pass New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposed anti-corruption crackdown this spring, saying Monday that the "strong, significant" reforms need not wait for the recommendations of a high-profile white-collar task force due in July.
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May 20, 2013
Teradyne Hit With Antitrust Suit Over Chip Testing Equipment
Teradyne Inc. was hit Friday with antitrust and contract claims in Massachusetts federal court over an alleged effort to drive Boston Semi Equipment LLC from the market for repairing and selling used Teradyne semiconductor testing equipment.
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May 17, 2013
MetroPCS Ditches Challenge To FCC Net Neutrality Regs
MetroPCS Communications Inc., which recently merged with T-Mobile USA Inc., has dropped its challenge in the D.C. Circuit to the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules preventing Internet service providers from blocking or discriminating against legitimate websites, T-Mobile confirmed Friday.
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May 17, 2013
ING Gave Morgan Stanley Kickbacks For 401(k) Biz, Suit Says
An Alabama medical laboratory filed a proposed class action in New York federal court on Friday alleging Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. encouraged the lab to use ING Life Insurance and Annuity Co. to administer its employees' 401(k) plan because ING paid the brokerage firm extra fees.
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May 17, 2013
Ex-Broker Gets Probation For Muni Bond Bid-Rigging
After cooperating with a sweeping multistate investigation, the former CEO of a New York-based brokerage was sentenced to two years of probation Friday for his role in a municipal bond bid-rigging conspiracy.
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May 17, 2013
FTC Clears Tesoro's $2B Deal For BP Refining Assets
Energy company Tesoro Corp. received a go-ahead Friday from U.S. antitrust regulators for its proposed purchase of BP PLC's Southern California refining and marketing operations, a deal worth more than $2 billion that includes the acquisition of the state's largest oil refinery.
Expert Analysis
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10 Steps To Effective Anti-Corruption Compliance
In order to implement the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act resource guide's critical instructions for corporate boards, senior executives and compliance professionals for designing an “effective” anti-corruption compliance program, companies must tackle 10 essential tasks, says Michael Volkov of The Volkov Law Group LLC.
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DOJ Biz Review Letter Highlights Patent Pool Concerns
The U.S. Department of Justice's unusual business review letter in response to Intellectual Property Exchange International Inc.'s proposed financial exchange for licensing and trading IP rights serves as a useful reminder of the benefits and drawbacks of the business review letter process and, perhaps, a cautionary note on group patent licensing activities, say William Dolan and Geoffrey Oliver of Jones Day.
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In FCPA Compliance, Don't Forget About The Travel Act
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act guide highlighted the Travel Act and its applicability to FCPA cases. But the Travel Act, which can apply to bribery of foreign officials as well as private individuals, is often misunderstood and underappreciated by companies attempting to maintain robust compliance programs, say HL Rogers and Ellen Crisham of Sidley Austin LLP.
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Get Ready For A 'Substituted Compliance' Regime
In a complete 180-degree reversal of its previous position, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is on the verge of accepting an international financial regulatory regime of mutual recognition. "Substituted compliance" will help inform foreign market participants about which rules they must follow when their swap activities cross U.S. borders, says Bradley Dizik of Tiberian Regulatory Advisers LLC.
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Why The Libor Lawsuits Are Not Dead
In the wake of a recent court ruling in the Southern District of New York, many people have suggested that London Interbank Offered Rate litigations are now nearly over. Although the ruling represents a significant victory for the defendant banks, and a major challenge to the litigation strategy of many of the claimants, it is by no means the end of the Libor litigations, says Ilan Guedj of ARPC.
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Lessons From Philips FCPA Settlement Over Polish Bribes
While Poland has not received particular Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement focus over the years, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent order against Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV over Polish bribes underscores the fact that, in given circumstances, any country can present high corruption risk, say attorneys with Fulbright & Jaworski LLP.
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No More 'Scarlet Letter' Policy At DOJ Antitrust
A recent policy change puts the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division in accord with other DOJ divisions that refrain from publicly identifying alleged wrongdoers, unless and until the individual is actually charged with a crime. Unfortunately, the division has shown no signs of amending another policy relating to its corporate leniency program, says Jeremy Evans of Paul Hastings LLP.
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Sui Generis At Supreme Court
Not since Franklin Roosevelt took office in 1933 have we seen a Supreme Court so imbalanced that it would throw its own power away as it did in Twombly, Iqbal and Concepcion, or devalue its own authority through matters of little interest, simply for the benefit of large American corporations, says Fred Isquith of Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP.
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Circuit Split On Market Share-Based Discounts Remains
The U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to review ZF Meritor LLC v. Eaton Transmission Corporation means that the Third Circuit’s less permissive view of dominant firm pricing conduct remains intact for now, and suggests that Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware federal courts will likely be the preferred venues for challenges to such conduct, says Eric Berman of Williams Mullen.
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Clear Business Logic Can Foil Parallel Conduct Claims
For practitioners defending conspiracy claims, the Second Circuit's recent decision in Mayor and City Council of Baltimore v. Citigroup Inc. may provide the basis to argue that conduct solidly grounded by legitimate business interests should be sufficient to fend off allegations of collusion, says Bruce Colbath of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP.