DOJ's Compliance Focus On Business Use Of Communication Platforms & Personal Devices: A Practical Guide

On January 18, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") and Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") jointly announced their intention to begin a sweeping rewrite of their merger guidelines...

On Friday, July 9, 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order (EO) 14036, "Promoting Competition in the American Economy".

The Federal Trade Commission and five State Attorneys General have reached a landmark settlement with Deere & Company in a year-and-a-half antitrust litigation over the agricultural equipment manufacturer's restrictions on repair resources. The stipulated order, if approved, will require Deere to provide farmers and independent repair providers with the same repair tools and technical resources available to authorized dealers for a period of ten years.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has significantly escalated its antitrust investigation into Nvidia Corp., the world's leading AI chipmaker, by issuing subpoenas not only to Nvidia but also to third-party companies.

A federal court ruling against New York Presbyterian Hospital validates DOJ theories that market power can be proven through supracompetitive pricing rather than market share alone, and that exclusionary conduct is not required for antitrust claims. This decision expands potential antitrust exposure for hospital systems employing restrictive contracting practices like all-products provisions, anti-tiering terms, and gag clauses...

Major antitrust developments from August 2026 span multiple jurisdictions, including U.S. court rulings on oil price-fixing and printer cartridge restrictions, FTC quantum computing merger reviews...

The Federal Trade Commission’s 2024 amendments to the Negative Option Rule (commonly called “Click-to-Cancel”) may have been vacated by the Eighth Circuit for failing to comply with required rulemaking procedures...

Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft has entered a critical second phase, shifting from questions about nonprofit mission betrayal to antitrust and competition law issues.

On August 7, 2026, the Delaware Court of Chancery ordered Verisk Analytics, Inc. to move forward with its purportedly terminated $2.35 billion proposed acquisition of AccuLynx.com.

The General Court of the European Union has upheld the European Commission's prohibition of Booking Holdings' acquisition of eTraveli Group, endorsing for the first time a 'reverse leveraging' theory of harm in conglomerate mergers. This landmark judgment establishes that dominant companies can be blocked from acquiring complementary businesses even when the target operates in a market where the acquirer lacks dominance, fundamentally reshaping merger control enforcement in digital and ecosystem-driven mark

The Federal Trade Commission and five State Attorneys General have reached a landmark settlement with Deere & Company in a year-and-a-half antitrust litigation over the agricultural equipment manufacturer's restrictions on repair resources. The stipulated order, if approved, will require Deere to provide farmers and independent repair providers with the same repair tools and technical resources available to authorized dealers for a period of ten years.

On August 7, 2026, the Delaware Court of Chancery ordered Verisk Analytics, Inc. to move forward with its purportedly terminated $2.35 billion proposed acquisition of AccuLynx.com.

Verisk's $2.35 billion acquisition of AccuLynx faced unexpected FTC scrutiny, leading to a Delaware Court of Chancery ruling that prevented Verisk from abandoning the deal. Legal experts dissect the antitrust challenges, the FTC's novel "market reset" theory, and critical lessons for drafting merger agreements in an evolving regulatory landscape.

The Southern District of New York’s decision permanently enjoining Henkel’s proposed $725 million acquisition of Liquid Nails from American Industrial Partners (AIP) shows how courts may evaluate horizontal mergers of established, differentiated brands sold through concentrated retail channels. It also shows how the current FTC approaches deal challenges. The Court described Loctite and Liquid Nails as “the true behemoths of the industry.” It granted the injunction on August 14, 2026, after a seven-day trial, and released the full redacted decision on September 11.

The Department of Justice has secured a proposed $250 million settlement with KKR & Co. Inc. for alleged Hart-Scott-Rodino Act violations spanning at least 16 transactions in 2021 and 2022. This unprecedented penalty, more than twenty times the previous record, marks a dramatic escalation in HSR enforcement and raises critical questions about filing compliance standards across the investment industry.

Two healthcare providers face class action lawsuits challenging their use of anti-steering and anti-tiering contract provisions that allegedly prevent insurers from designing cost-effective healthcare plans. These follow-on cases emerge after government enforcement actions, with courts finding sufficient evidence of market power and anticompetitive effects to allow the litigation to proceed.

California's new COMPETE Act introduces a "substantial market power" standard for monopolization cases that may reach companies below federal antitrust thresholds. The law takes effect January 1, 2027, and applies to exclusive contracts, bundled offerings, platform rules, and decisions affecting rivals, suppliers, or workers. Companies with significant California operations face potential scrutiny from the Attorney General and district attorneys under this broader enforcement framework.

Now a year in, the Trump 2.0 commitment to continued and aggressive criminal antitrust enforcement is bearing fruit, bolstered by a "frenzy" of tips from the first-ever whistleblower rewards program.

The Department of Justice's Criminal Deputy outlines how antitrust enforcement applies to algorithmic pricing tools, distinguishing between legitimate software use and illegal collusion. When do pricing algorithms cross the line from benign business tools into criminal price-fixing conspiracies, and what evidence will prosecutors seek to prove competitors knowingly coordinated through shared data and common models?

Axinn partners Mike Keeley and Jackie Lem and counsel Carol Liu recently traveled to Japan to visit clients and partner law firms. In this post, they highlight the latest developments in Japan's competition law.