On March 28, 2014, the U.S. Department of Justice's
Antitrust Division announced that it has updated procedures for
parties seeking to modify or terminate perpetual
decrees—settlements and litigated judgments—entered
prior to 1980. Perpetual decrees entered into before 1980 cannot be
terminated or modified except by court order. Going forward, the
department will advise courts that pre-1980 "legacy"
decrees, except in limited circumstances, are presumptively no
longer in the public interest. According to the DOJ's press
release:
"The updated procedure differs from the present procedure
in two important ways. First, the party seeking termination or
modification will no longer be subject to the extensive discovery
that was required by the 1999 protocol. This should result in a
substantial reduction in the cost of seeking decree termination.
Second, when responding to a request to terminate or modify
qualifying legacy decrees, the department will no longer conduct
