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Blog o’ Blogs December

By  |  August 15, 2017

The question dominating this November (in antitrust and elsewhere) focuses on the major upset of the US elections and the uncharted political territory that may be wrought by the Ultimate Outsider’s victory– both at home and across the world. With many global economies gearing towards what some fear to be a new era of protectionism, an interesting Fall continues to bring new surprises.

When I concluded by summer of 2015 that our next President would be Donald Trump, my closest friends and associates were skeptical. Having grown up in the New York media market and reading the “Art of the Deal” after college, I studied Donald Trump because he was interesting. You are free to see it differently,…
Brad Geyer (Geyer Gorey LLP)
The election of Donald Trump as President of the United States adds to a cascade of political events that have surprised observers and may have profound effects on global flows of people, capital, and goods.
Nader Hasan (Cartel Capers)
The Zambian Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (‘CCPC’) has recently published draft settlement guidelines (‘Draft Guidelines’) for respondents who have allegedly engaged in conduct in contravention of the domestic Competition and Consumer Protection Act (‘Act’).
Michael-James Currie & Mweshi Mutuna (African Antitrust Law)
Highest fine ever for gun-jumping
On 8 November 2016, the French Competition Authority (FCA) fined French-based Altice group and its telecommunications subsidiary SFR 80 million euros for the coordination of their commercial behaviour in the period between the acceptance of Altice’s purchase offer of SFR and the FCA’s merger clearance decision.
Eric Paroche (Hogan & Lovells, Kluwer Competition)
It has been over three years since the Supreme Court’s Actavisdecision.  Since then, numerous putative class actions alleging harm to competition as a result of “reverse-payment” settlements have flooded the courts.
David Kleban and William F. Cavanaugh, Jr.  (Antitrust Update Blog)
Sadaaki Suwazono of the Japanese Fair Trade Commission provides fascinating insights on competition law enforcement, compliance, cartels and more.
Sadaaki Suwazono (Competition Law Blog)
A little piece of paper goes a long way to promote contact lens competition
More than 40 million U.S. consumers benefit from contact lens competition. Demand for contact lenses has been growing over the past decade, and there are more places for consumers to shop for contact lenses and refill their prescriptions – in-person from eye-care providers, optical chains, and wholesale clubs, and on-line as well.
Dan Gilman (FTC Office of Policy Planning)
New Administration, Congress Likely to Renew ‘FTC Reform’ Efforts
Long-stalled efforts proposed by some federal lawmakers to bring “reform” to the FTC will likely be reintroduced in the 115th Congress. With a Republican majority in both the House of Representatives and Senate, and President Donald J. Trump in the White House, measures that could not get sufficient support in in the current Congress and faced a likely veto from President Barack Obama will certainly be back next year.
Jeffrey May (Antitrust Connect)
Germany to Introduce Wider Merger Control Regime to Catch Tech Start-Ups
On 28 September 2016, the German government proposed legislation to amend the Act Against Restraints of Competition (GWB) for the ninth time. Presuming that it will pass the further steps required, the proposed amendment is going to expand the merger control for mergers and acquisitions of start-ups, particularly of internet companies.
 Eckart Budelmann (EU Competition Law)
Five months after Brexit: domestic UK M&A drops to 30 year low
In the days leading up to the June 23, 2016 Brexit referendum, we discussed Brexit’s potential impact on the M&A market. Today, we take a look at how those predictions have held up five months after the historic vote.
Matthew Lau (Norton Rose Fulbright)
The Underrated Virtue of Changing Your Mind
At Bona Law, nobody owns any ideas. If I come up with an argument for a brief, it isn’t the Jarod-Bona idea. If a client or a paralegal or a junior attorney or my six-year-old son tells me that the strategy that I have set on a complex antitrust case has a flaw, he or she is not criticizing my idea or strategy.
Jarod Bona (The Antitrust Attorney Blog)
Tax arrangements under the State aid spotlight: the case of Apple
Since 2014, the tax arrangements of multinationals with EU-based subsidiaries have been under the European Commission’s State aid spotlight. This culminated in August 2016 with the European Commission’s announcement that Apple’s tax arrangements in Ireland constituted illegal State aid, with Ireland required to recover €13bn from Apple’s Irish subsidiaries.
Nicole Robins, Mohammed Khalil and Vidur Taneja (Competition Law Blog)
CMA Continues Crackdown against Price Fixing Online
On the 7th November 2016, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched a campaign to remind online sellers that agreeing and discussing price level with competitors is illegal and can result in serious penalties.
Robert Bell (EU Competition Law)