Antitrust

May 27, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley has sent a letter to the new Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division at the Justice Department, Christine Varney, after she reportedly made promising comments about putting more focus on competition in agriculture. Grassley's letter asks how the antitrust division will increase antitrust oversight and enforcement of mergers, acquisitions and business practices in the agriculture sector.    » read more »

May 12, 2009 -- WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division today announced the details of its newly formed initiative aimed at preparing government officials and contractors to recognize and report efforts by parties to unlawfully profit from the stimulus projects that are being awarded as part of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Consistent with its mission to protect the welfare of the American economy by promoting open and fair competition, the Department’s Antitrust Division launched an initiative to help government agencies insulate procurement, grant and program funding processes from collusion and fraud, as well as to ensure that those who abuse those processes are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.    » read more »

Antitrust Division to Apply More Rigorous Standard with Focus on the Impact of Exclusionary Conduct on Consumers

May 11, 2009 -- WASHINGTON — Christine A. Varney, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department’s Antitrust Division, today announced that the Department is withdrawing, effective immediately, a report relating to monopolization offenses under the antitrust laws that was issued in September 2008.

As of today, the Section 2 report will no longer be Department of Justice policy. Consumers, businesses, courts and antitrust practitioners should not rely on it as Department of Justice antitrust enforcement policy.    » read more »

March 4, 2009 -- WASHINGTON — A Middlesex, N.J., industrial pipes, valves and fittings supply company and its co-owner pleaded guilty today to participating in a fraud conspiracy at two U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-designated Superfund sites in New Jersey, the Department of Justice announced today. The sites are Federal Creosote, located in Manville, N.J., and Diamond Alkali, located in Newark, N.J.    » read more »

Antitrust Oversight Extended

New York, NY (January 30, 2008) - New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced a federal judge has granted New York State’s request to continue overseeing Microsoft’s conduct to ensure fair competition. The Court ordered the oversight extension until November 12, 2009 despite the opposition of Microsoft Corp. and the United States Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, both of whom opposed further oversight.    » read more »

January 29, 2008 -- OLYMPIA --- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit today issued an opinion in Costco Wholesale Corporation’s antitrust lawsuit challenging nine specific restraints on the sale and distribution of beer and wine in Washington.

Reversing a district court decision, the Ninth Circuit found seven of the nine challenged regulations were valid.    » read more »

Subpoena Seeks Information on Potentially Monopolistic Practices

NEW YORK, NY (January 10, 2008) ‑ New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today served a wide-ranging subpoena seeking documents and information on Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC), the world’s largest maker of computer microprocessors. Cuomo is investigating whether Intel violated state and federal antitrust laws by coercing customers to exclude its main rival, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), from the worldwide market for x86 computer processing units (CPU).    » read more »

Legislation Would Prevent the Federal Communications Commission from Unilaterally Relaxing Media Concentration Rules and Requires a Focus on Preserving Local Community Programming and Diversity in Ownership

November 9, 2007 -- Washington, DC - In response to ongoing efforts at the FCC to push through rules that would enable large media conglomerates to concentrate their ownership of newspapers, radio and television stations in media markets, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton joined legislation introduced by Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Trent Lott (R-MS), “The Media Ownership Act of 2    » read more »

November 9, 2007 -- OLYMPIA – Washington Governor Chris Gregoire today expressed her concern over concentration of media ownership through consolidation of the media. The remarks were made during testimony delivered today at a hearing held by the Federal Communications Commission in Seattle.    » read more »

October 26, 2007 -- Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal today confirmed that his office has issued subpoenas to the three largest debt rating agencies as part of an antitrust investigation into the commercial debt rating industry.

Blumenthal sent the subpoenas October 10 to Standard & Poors, Moody's Investor Services and Fitch Ratings Service. Standard & Poors and Moody's control about 80 percent of the debt rating market -- assessments of corporate, bank, mortgage, government and other borrowers' ability to pay back a given loan.    » read more »

October 15, 2007 -- WASHINGTON — Iconix Brand Group has agreed to pay $550,000 to settle charges that the company failed to produce certain documents before buying Rocawear, an acquisition requiring pre-merger review, the Department of Justice announced today.

The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division today filed a civil lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., against Iconix for violating the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act of 1976. At the same time, the Department filed a proposed settlement that, if approved by the court, will settle the charges.    » read more »

Open Doors For New Competitors

September 26, 2007 -- SEATTLE – Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna today announced a settlement that addresses concerns surrounding the merger of the nation’s two largest school bus contractors. Eleven states reached an agreement with Laidlaw International, Inc., and FirstGroup plc to help ensure that school districts can still receive competitive bids for student transportation.

Jonathan Mark, an assistant attorney general with the Attorney General’s Antitrust Division, represented Washington in the settlement negotiations.    » read more »

September 26, 2007 -- TRENTON – New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram announced today that New Jersey has entered into a settlement agreement that resolves its anti-trust investigation of the proposed merger of the nation’s two largest school bus contractors -- FirstGroup and Laidlaw International Inc.    » read more »

September 26, 2007 -- Jefferson City, Mo. — A proposed settlement with the nation’s two largest school bus contractors will help preserve or encourage competition for student transportation contracts in Missouri, Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon says. Missouri is one of 11 states with anti-trust concerns about the proposed acquisition of Laidlaw International Inc., the nation’s largest provider of contracted student busing services, by FirstGroup (also known as First Student Inc.), the second largest provider of such services.    » read more »

September 26, 2007
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal today announced a multi-state antitrust settlement involving the merger of the two largest school bus transportation providers in the United States - FirstGroup and Laidlaw International, Inc.    » read more »