Legal Library: Cases and Proceedings

Canon Inc. and Toshiba Corporation have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that the companies violated the premerger notification and waiting period requirements of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, or HSR Act, when Canon acquired Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation from Toshiba in 2016.

Thomas Wells and his payment processing company, Priority Payout Corp. (formerly known as InterBill, Ltd), have agreed to settle FTC charges that they repeatedly violated a 2009 court order issued against them. The settlement permanently bans Wells and Priority Payout Corp, from engaging in, and assisting others with, payment processing, and includes a $1.8 million contempt judgment against them.

In October 2018, the FTC announced that online student loan refinancer SoFi Lending Corp. (SoFi) agreed to stop misrepresenting how much money student loan borrowers have saved, or will save, by refinancing their loans with the company. The Commission approved the final consent in February 2019. In its administrative complaint, announced concurrently with the proposed settlement, the FTC alleged that since April 2016 SoFi made prominent false statements about loan refinancing savings in television, print, and Internet advertisements.

Following a public comment period, the FTC has approved two final orders settling allegations that Creaxion Corporation, Inside Publications, LLC, and their respective principals misrepresented that paid endorsements were independent consumer opinions and that commercial advertising was independent journalistic content.

Following a public comment period, the FTC has approved two final orders settling allegations that Creaxion Corporation, Inside Publications, LLC, and their respective principals misrepresented that paid endorsements were independent consumer opinions and that commercial advertising was independent journalistic content.

Following a public comment period, the Federal Trade Commission has approved a final order settling charges that Marathon Petroleum Corp.’s proposed acquisition of Express Mart would violate federal antitrust law.

The FTC required global healthcare company Grifols S.A. to divest blood plasma collection centers in three U.S. cities, among other conditions, as part of a settlement resolving charges that Grifols’ acquisition of Florida-based Biotest US Corporation is anticompetitive and violates federal antitrust law. The complaint alleges that, as proposed, the acquisition would harm competition in the markets for collection of human blood plasma in Lincoln, Nebraska, Augusta, Georgia, and Youngstown, Ohio. Grifols and Biotest US are the only companies that operate plasma collection centers in these cities, and, without a remedy, the merger would result in a merger-to-monopoly in these cities. Under the terms of the proposed settlement, Grifols will divest its plasma collection centers in these three cities to KedPlasma, which is a subsidiary of Kedrion Biopharma Inc., a leading manufacturer of protein products and the fifth-largest producer of plasma proteins worldwide. 

The complaint also alleges that, absent a remedy, the acquisition would harm the U.S. market for hepatitis B immune globulin, or HBIG, a plasma-derived injectable medicine that provides hepatitis B antibodies for preventing hepatitis B infections. When Grifols announced the proposed acquisition in December 2017, Biotest US owned 41 percent of ADMA Biologics, Inc., which has the largest share in the U.S. market for HBIG and competes with Grifols and one other supplier.  Biotest US has recently transferred its ownership share in ADMA to The Biotest Divestiture Trust, the parent company of Biotest US. Because Grifols is only seeking to acquire Biotest US and not its parent, Grifols will not acquire any ownership interest in ADMA under the proposed acquisition. Under the proposed consent agreement, Grifols is prohibited, without prior notification, from acquiring any ownership interest in ADMA or obtaining any rights to nominate or obtain representation on the ADMA Board of Directors.