Recent DOJ Action in the No-Poach Arena

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2016 published Antitrust Guidance for Human Resource Professionals warning of criminal remedies for those participating in illegal no-poach agreements. Recently, the DOJ and FTC made good on that promise by filing the first public criminal indictment alleging a conspiracy between companies in which they agreed not to poach each other’s employees. The DOJ and FTC warned they could take such actions when “naked” wage-fixing and no-poach agreements were per se illegal violations under the antitrust laws.

Antitrust Agency Turf War Over Big Tech Investigations

Temple Law alumnus Carl Hittinger discusses the positions of the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice as calls for antitrust investigations into “Big Tech” companies escalate. The agencies, which share civil antitrust enforcement authority, reportedly are tussling over the right to investigate social media, online retail, search engine, and app store companies, raising the possibility of wasted resources, duplicative investigations, inconsistent positions, and confusion.

Lessons Learned from the Staples/Office Depot Merger Challenge

Kathleen Mullen

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia recently granted the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) motion to preliminarily enjoin the merger of Staples and Office Depot, the country’s two largest brick-and-mortar retailers and distributors of office supplies.[1] The injunction caused the companies to abandon the merger. Background Interestingly, the FTC’s theory was not based