Competition Matters

Today the FTC and DOJ released the 38th Annual Hart-Scott-Rodino Report, which details the agencies’ merger review and enforcement program for Fiscal Year 2015 (October 1, 2014 through September 30, 2015). This report, like the 37 previous versions, is a snapshot of one year’s worth of HSR filings, Second Requests and merger enforcement actions, including HSR compliance and merger cases filed by the agencies in federal court.

Look at any recent merger settlement accepted by the Commission and the answer is clear: An acceptable merger remedy must eliminate the potential for anticompetitive effects that would likely occur if the merger were to proceed. Typically this means creating another competitor to take the place of one of the merging companies so that customers are not harmed by the merger. In short, a merger remedy must fix the specific competitive problems created by the merger.

Last year, federal agencies, including the FTC, were instructed to adjust the maximum civil penalties for violations of laws they enforce. The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 requires agencies to adjust penalty amounts using the “catch-up” inflation adjustment methodology contained in the Act.

The legal services marketplace, like many sectors of the economy, is experiencing dynamic change. Among other things, clients have demanded more cost-effective and efficient services, and legal services providers increasingly use computer technologies to deliver their services. Dynamic changes in the legal services marketplace continue to raise questions about how to define the scope of the licensed practice of law.

Under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act and Rules, determining whether a U.S. entity is a corporation or a non-corporate entity (like an LLC or LP) is relatively clear.  For foreign entities, the answer is often not so clear. Yet this determination can have important implications for HSR reportability and the applicability of certain exemptions (e.g., 16 CFR §§ 802.9, 802.51).

Recently, President Obama issued a call to all executive departments and agencies “to promote competition, arm consumers and workers with the information they need to make informed choices, and eliminate regulations that restrict competition without corresponding benefits to the American public.” We here at the Federal Trade Commission are uniquely positioned to help in this effort.

For more than 15 years, one of the FTC’s top priorities has been to put an end to anticompetitive reverse-payment settlements between brand-name drug makers and their potential generic rivals. In our view, these settlements are anticompetitive agreements not to compete in which the brand pays the generic to refrain from marketing a lower cost, generic product for a period of time.

“Oh, if I could but live another century and see the fruition of all the work for women. There is so much yet to be done.” – Suffragist Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906)

The consumer movement, trust-busting, the women’s movement, and the work of the FTC have traveled parallel (and often intersecting) paths. Women’s History Month offers us a chance to consider the contribution women have made to the mission of the FTC and the unprecedented moment in women’s history we’re witnessing at the FTC today.