On January 4, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission
("FTC") published for public comment a proposed consent
agreement with Sigma Corporation ("Sigma") resolving FTC
claims that Sigma violated Section 5 of the Federal Trade
Commission Act. The consent agreement stems from a larger FTC
investigation of alleged price fixing and other anticompetitive
behavior involving three of the largest U.S. suppliers of ductile
iron pipe fittings ("DIPF"), which are used in municipal
water systems.
One of the FTC's primary allegations is that Sigma and its two
competitors, McWane Inc....
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A number of cases involving former executives have received national attention recently and serve as a good reminder that trade-secret, non-solicitation, and non-competition controversies can arise at the highest level of a company.
On March 30, United States District Court Judge Denise Page Hood (E.D. Mich.) handed Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan a victory, dismissing an antitrust action filed against it by the City of Pontiac in which the City alleged that Blue Cross’s use of "most favored nation" clauses in its provider contracts violated the antitrust laws.
On 28 March 2012 the European Commission (EC) imposed another fine for obstruction of one of its "inspections" (dawn raids). This was the first fine for obstructing the EC’s access to emails during a dawn raid.
A plea agreement entered into last week with the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) provides a sobering reminder of the serious consequence of obstruction of justice, and highlights the fact that such obstruction issues can arise even in connection with seemingly routine merger investigations if key documents intentionally are altered before being submitted to the government.
On March 27, the New York Court of Appeals (New York’s highest state court), held that the state’s antitrust law does not have extraterritorial reach in Global Reinsurance Corp. v. Equitas Ltd.
A senior executive of a Korean manufacturer of Automated Teller Machines recently agreed to serve a five-month prison sentence in the United States for tampering with business documents during the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) review of the proposed acquisition by his employer, Hyosung Corporation, of one of its US competitors.
The district court in the Southeastern Milk Antitrust Litigation5 excluded a plaintiffs’ expert because the expert testified that his definition of the relevant geographic market did not comport with the standard enunciated by the U.S. Supreme Court in Tampa Electric v. Nashville Coal Co.
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