Tech Platforms are on a mission: to ensure that the US FTC Chair Khan and DoJ antitrust division head Kanter recuse themselves

The collection and storage of biometric data is now occurring on an industrial scale in the United States.

Black underrepresentation in the acquisition of divested assets raises questions at FTC and DOJ

Killer acquisitions are back on the agenda and it’s disrupting the EU's review of an acquisition by Meta

FTC approves only the most experienced, well-financed divestiture buyers to ensure that competition lost from a merger will be replaced or even enhanced.

Administration plan to fight corruption rests on staid principles, adds new initiatives

Facebook was accused of illegally copying the world’s largest repository of digitized and realistic three-dimension objects and scenes from a Lithuanian startup.

Facebook was accused of illegally copying the world’s largest repository of digitized and realistic three-dimensional objects and scenes

FTC Chair Lina Khan’s bold attempts to reshape the agency’s enforcement priorities could cause pushback from her adversaries on Capitol Hill.

US government antitrust agencies take a dim view when a market is described as an “oligopoly” by a company evaluating a potential acquisition

Commissioner Christine Wilson issued a scathing public indictment of the Democratic leadership of the US Federal Trade Commission.

The EU's court ruling upholding the EC's 2.42 billion euro antitrust fine against Google is a vindication of the enforcer’s decision to go after the tech giant.

US automotive industry urges the government to take regulatory action to support the deployment of driverless vehicles

Facebook has undertaken a radical project in rebranding and reframing. The tech company will now be known as Meta.

Head of the US SEC terse remarks about its plans to bring more transparency and competition to the Treasury market.

Mark Zuckerberg sees the immersive computing platform of the "metaverse" as the future of his company, now rebranded from Facebook to Meta.

On Capitol Hill, it appears privacy policymaking has hit a wall. That’s been a challenge for the FTC.

Both Apple and Google are grappling with mounting antitrust concerns over the way they manage their app stores.

Facebook’s Marketplace is fast becoming your neighborhood’s go-to e-commerce platform.

Google announced that it will reduce its up-front commission fee for digital subscriptions on its Play Store.

Apple hopes to shore up its control of the App Store by convincing a California federal judge to sign off on a contentious settlement.

Credit Suisse’s $475 million hit for serious financial-crime failings warns banks of the risks in doing business in parts of the world dogged by corruption.

Marketplace is now one of the world’s most popular e-commerce sites, serving dozens of countries

Can a law enforcement agency relying on secrecy to do its work be democratized? Federal Trade Commission Chair

Momentum is building among congressional Democrats to give the FTC funding to create a new bureau to focus on data security and privacy matters,

Facebook’s finances have never looked better, with the social-media platform posting earnings of $29 billion

Google’s clash with South Korea’s antitrust enforcer over allegations the search giant engaged in abuse of dominance

Facebook’s senior leaders have long warned that privacy would soon affect its bottom line, as new privacy laws in Europe

The Fortnite developer’s recent US court fight to force changes to the App Store.

Republican commissioners have complained about being cut out of the information flow at the FTC.

Facebook’s internal response to its landmark $5 billion privacy settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission

Apple may have hoped that its decision to search the contents of its iPhones to identify images of child sexual abuse

A single whistleblower has received a near-record $110 million US Securities and Exchange Commission payout

US banks, faced with an end-of-year halt to new Libor-linked contracts, are moving to alternative rates far too slowly

Apple’s qualified court victory against Epic Games in the antitrust case over the App Store.

A slate of US anticorruption legislation, including a bill that would outlaw the solicitation of bribes by foreign officials

US FTC Christine Wilson, in an interview with MLex, outlined a broad critique of agency Chair Lina Khan

Apple’s attempt to thread the needle between privacy and combatting child exploitation.

Google and Facebook executives should face criminal antitrust scrutiny from US federal prosecutors

Artificial intelligence to process massive data volumes creates market concentration that poses systemic risk.

One thing is clear since the CCPA took effect: obtaining damages under the law in US federal court is difficult.

State AGs are decisive allies to the FTC and are on the vanguard of protecting American consumers.

The new head of a national task force geared at coordinating state competition enforcement

A United States review of the combination between Lockheed Martin and Aerojet Rocketdyne is set to continue.

FTC to embrace the theories of “New Brandeisian” antirust could alienate some of the agency’s most valuable staffers.

Facebook’s top lawyer, Jennifer Newstead, is focused on present-day regulatory problems like the legal uncertainty

Zoom’s offer to pay $85 million to settle privacy litigation over so-called Zoombomings

BitMEX is likely just the first overseas cryptocurrency exchange with US customers that will get whacked by American regulators

Subpoenas sent to Facebook show that investigators working for Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey.

When Congress discusses ways to change the rules regarding how the Federal Trade Commission operates.

Apple and a handful of Big Tech companies make unique products that can't be replicated by competitors.

Zoom has agreed to pay $85 million to settle privacy litigation over Zoombombings that disrupted meetings.

US antitrust enforcers are partway through an investigation of the Lockheed Martin-Aerojet Rocketdyne combination

In the biggest merger regulatory challenge to hit the US under the Biden Administration,

Aon's decision was also a victory for antitrust enforcement in the tradition of recent decades.

President Joe Biden’s moves to ramp up antitrust enforcement could impact how companies do business

The European Union’s ambitious plan to transform the region’s economy in a bid to combat climate change

EU Commission tells US court to limit the disclosure of documents in a class action against salmon companies.

Two former foreign exchange traders have been effectively vindicated in an obscure US agency's enforcement action.

Federal Trade Commission is fending off attacks from a growing chorus of congressional critics. Next steps are crucial

Executive order from US President Joe Biden on marketplace competition reserves a few sections for data privacy and net neutrality.

US President Joe Biden unveiled a sweeping executive order on competition which boasts of strong measures

A Bank of England official made a plea to corporations to identify “absolutely pervasive” Libor exposures outside the financial sector

California’s new attorney general, Rob Bonta, plans to work in close partnership with the state’s new privacy enforcer.

If personnel drives policy, look for the FTC to wallop Big Tech with Lina Khan sworn in as the youngest-ever chairwoman.

Big Tech’s use of your vocal-cord vibrations as the access point to a world of services and products.

A growing number of companies deploy voice-recognition software in their everyday business dealings with customers

Congressional Democrats are speeding up their efforts to ensure the FTC is given statutory power to recover ill-gotten gains.

The US Federal Reserve will try to finalize the last phase of the Basel III capital reforms by January 2023.

The Supreme Court reversed a lower court's broad reading of the US's principal anti-hacking statute.

The Fortnite developer’s recent US court fight to force changes to the App Store.

After three years on the Federal Trade Commission, Noah Phillips says comity still exists among commissioners.

The legal clash between Epic, the maker of the popular videogame Fortnite, and tech company Apple has prompted some unusual exchanges in a US court.

US corporations are expressing frustration that banks aren’t extending loans tied to an officially endorsed Libor alternative.

Tuxedo-wearing bananas and pornography are two subjects that have come up with surprisingly regularity at the Epic Games versus Apple antirust trial.

The Biden administration and lawmakers are working on ways to beef up antitrust enforcement in the healthcare sector.

US antitrust authorities could gain a powerful ally in Frank Kendall if former Pentagon acquisitions chief is confirmed.

Former Barbados cabinet minister Donville Inniss, sentenced last week in the US for laundering bribe money.

Taboola today disclosed that the company and others in its industry are under criminal investigation by the US Department of Justice antitrust division for their hiring activities.

House Democrats unveiled language that grants the Federal Trade Commission the right to seek financial restitution for unfair and deceptive practices.

Petroecuador's recent loss in a bid to secure payment from a bribe payer reinforces an emerging legal bulwark.

State and local officials are asking federal regulators to go back to the drawing board on money-market mutual fund.

US Federal Trade Commission challenged Illumina’s proposed acquisition of cancer diagnostic startup Grail

Unprecedented plunge of West Texas Intermediate crude-oil futures April 2020 stemmed from both small investors’

If the Supreme Court limits the FTC’s ability to obtain redress, the agency will likely concentrate on alternate ways of enforcing existing rules.

Google’s United States Supreme Court copyright win against Oracle over the development of the Android operating system was a huge development.

Google's promise of a 10 percent “win rate” for Facebook in display advertising auctions is at the heart of the antitrust argument by several US states.

Google has acknowledged its advertising agreement with Facebook allowed the companies to terminate the deal “in the event of certain government investigations"

Capping a decade of litigation ruling Google’s copying elements of Java to create Android OS was legal fair use.

US corporate treasurers are calling for a single approach to calculating the Secured Overnight Financing Rate designated to replace Libor.

Spending on expert witnesses at the US Federal Trade Commission reached a five-year peak.

Rebecca Kelly Slaughter is reshaping the political and policy aspects of her role of Federal Trade Commission chair to get the job permanently.

The California Privacy Protection Agency has become the first standalone privacy enforcer to be established in the United States.

Privacy litigation in the US has been difficult for plaintiffs. Whether it stays that way could hinge on a case before the Supreme Court.

Biden administration may still struggle to have its ambitious plans for an antitrust revamp adopted.

The three women and two men picked to lead the new California Privacy Protection Agency.

The tech industry expressed strong support for Washington state's latest consumer privacy bill during a public hearing.

Thyssenkrupp Materials' discrimination challenge against the US Commerce Department left out relief on steel and aluminum imports.

Senate and House lawmakers are beginning the hard work of trying to find common ground between the parties about how to overhaul the nation’s antitrust laws.

Renewed interest among US lawmakers in antitrust legislation is unlikely to produce radical policy shifts.

A moderate Democratic US lawmaker is rekindling a push for national privacy legislation with hopes for bipartisan support.

A regulatory process the US FTC hasn’t fully used since the early 1980s is likely to be resurrected in a bid to set baseline data privacy and data security rules.

The rollercoaster ride that shares of GameStop went on earlier this year had little to do with the value of the US videogame and electronics retailer.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ reaccreditation by the American National Standards Institute has stirred controversy.

Rohit Chopra said the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau needs to understand how tech giants’ entry into financial services will affect consumers.

At least 18 US state legislatures have proposed consumer privacy bills, giving their residents more control over their personal online information.

Virginia’s governor signed the state’s privacy legislation into law, following California to become the second US state to enact a baseline privacy law.

Learn more about Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Rebecca Slaughter's strategy for dealing with privacy issues.

US bank syndicates’ high-interest loans to heavily indebted companies pose credit risks that are “high and increasing,” banking regulators said.

US banks’ disclosures about the impact of climate change on their finances should be required over time to be uniform.

For years, North Korean-led hackers allegedly slipped into the computers of banks around the world.

The US SEC plans to develop disclosure regimes for companies facing climate change that could impact their finances.

Twist ties from China have been assigned a final US antisubsidy rate of 111.96 percent, with no offsetting for the devaluation of Chinese currency.

The FTC has gained allies on Capitol Hill as House Democrats appear willing to give the agency more to go after companies that hurt consumers.

A landmark antitrust lawsuit targeting Google over its management of digital advertising services is underway in a Texas court.

Lawyers for Google, Texas and nine other states had their first in-person skirmish in a US federal courthouse.

A Wall Street banking group said it was “fundamentally unfair” of the US stock and options exchanges to propose limiting their liability for data breaches.

US regulators and private law firms have struggled to attract African American talent to their ranks, leading to poor representation at the most senior levels.

The financial-sector entry of technology giants such as Amazon, Facebook and Alibaba poses financial stability, competition and privacy threats.

US Federal Reserve Official Kevin Stiroh has been named chief of a new group that will study the impact of global warming on financial institutions and markets.

In US anticorruption enforcement, a new administration means new bosses at the US Justice Department. New policies, probably not so much...

Lawmakers in a least 10 states have introduced more than a dozen online privacy bills.

US SEC Chairman Nominee Gary Gensler is sure to grapple with money-market mutual fund and Treasury market reforms in the wake of the pandemic.

The Biden administration plans to resuscitate Obama-era assessments of financial stability risks posed by hedge fund leverage.

The small number of African American attorneys practicing antitrust, both in government and the private sector, hasn’t gone unnoticed.

US regulators are exploring how to oversee banks’ use of artificial intelligence to prevent fraud and evaluate creditworthiness of potential borrowers.

A quiet death at the US Federal Communications Commission of a Trump-era attempt to weaken the legal liability shield for online platforms won’t be the end.

Proposed US cryptocurrency regulations for virtual currencies has generated comments from users who say they're impractical and an assault on their rights.

Mergers and US antitrust filings are expected to remain strong through the first half of 2021, fueled by acquisitions in the wake of the global pandemic.

The executive committee of state attorneys general heading the antitrust investigation into Google convened for another regular planning call.

Jay Clayton’s legacy as US Securities and Exchange Commission chairman will include his reluctance to address climate change.

Freshly filed antitrust cases against Google and Facebook are slated to play out in the months, and almost certainly years, ahead.

Google colluded with Facebook in a bid to maintain its dominance over the online display-advertising market, alleges an antitrust lawsuit filed.

The US Federal Reserve is exploring how to improve its ratings of banks’ overall condition and how much to disclose of these figures.

Andrew Smith is confident the Federal Trade Commission is in a better place today than when he arrived more than two years ago.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission could recover ill-gotten gains from wrongdoers for up to 10 years after fraudulent conduct, rather than just five.

The US CFTC’s decision to make only minor changes to swap execution facility rules amounted to a repudiation of a more sweeping overhaul.

This MLex special report focuses on trade in a post-Trump world. Joe Biden will bring many starkly new policies, but also may find his hands tied on others.

The US Federal Reserve and other boards are looking into the possibility that bankruptcies, especially among small businesses, will swell next year.

FTC’s two Democratic members set out a possible roadmap for the future in their dissents over the agency’s settlement with Zoom.

US regulators said they've been moving to improve oversight of mortgage-backed securities after volatility in March 2019 exposed structural shortcomings.

Google will soon face a pair of new multistate antitrust suits backed by bipartisan groups of US state attorneys general.

Digital-payment vehicles that don’t depend on banks could be a more effective US approach to serving low-income cash users than traditional US policy.

Following Joe Biden’s victory in the US presidential election, attention has now turned to what policy settings are likely to be affected by the new administration.

US authorities should consider Treasury market reform that includes expanding use of central clearing in Treasury cash markets and increasing access to trading platforms with more direct trading

The possibility of a rocky Libor transition is prompting the Group of 20 economic powers to review the progress of 50 jurisdictions in moving away from the tarnished interest-rate benchmark.

It seems like a safe bet that Federal Trade Commission member Rohit Chopra is a pessimist.

At a time when once arcane issues involving antitrust are making headlines, it’s doubtful a newly elected Congress will succeed in tackling such big matters.

The risk of committing a privacy violation in California just went up substantially for companies.

US antitrust policy hasn’t seen major shifts in enforcement between presidential administrations in decades.

The derivatives and mutual fund industries convinced the US Securities and Exchange Commission to back off some investor safeguards.

A US Senate hearing featuring chief executives of America’s largest online platforms saw its putative subject — Section 230 of Communications Decency Act of 1996 — reduced to brief mentions.

Detailed analysis of US Department of Justice charges that Google's agreements with Apple and Android have stifled competition.

Goldman Sach's milestone Foreign Corrupt Practices Act settlement with US agencies cements what has become a new reality in anticorruption enforcement: the multibillion-dollar mega settlement.

It’s hard to overstate the US government’s lawsuit targeting Google over agreements with phonemakers that have made it too difficult for rivals to compete.

The Financial Stability Board’s identification of US shortcomings in money-market mutual funds oversight backs Democratic policymakers’ criticisms.

Google pushed back on the US Department of Justice’s claim that it used a network of exclusivity agreements to illegally extend the company's monopoly on search and digital advertising.

A complaint against Google filed today by the US Department of Justice is the spitting image of EU findings from 2018 into Android.

A recommendation in the House Judiciary Committee’s 452-page report on competition in digital markets is sparking debate.

The chief executives of big US banks, asset managers and corporations must focus their firms on switching from Libor by the end-of-2021 deadline.

US banks’ dividend payments would significantly cut into firms’ capital and lending ability over the life of the pandemic, Federal Reserve researchers said.

Canadian tech companies will soon be subject to tougher privacy laws as lawmakers face intense pressure to keep pace with European privacy standards.

US banks and investment firms hoping for a forward-looking Secured Overnight Financing Rate to replace Libor might not get it.

Rarely has an antitrust suit generated as much public hype as Epic’s move to take on Apple.

The US Federal Reserve’s planned instant-payments service is seeking nationwide reach to ensure speedy government relief.

Facebook is seeking a forensic investigation into the electronic communications of an app developer accused of leaking sensitive company documents.

The US Treasury Department, which is responsible for coordinating cyber defenses in the financial sector, is failing to track efforts.

US corporate stock buybacks can pose a risk to financial stability if they result in too much company leverage, a Bank for International Settlements study said.

US Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Slaughter wants to start a conversation about how antitrust enforcement can reckon with systemic racism.

The US Federal Reserve should join a group of central banks that’s trying to identify and manage systemic stability risks posed by climate change.

Google is facing a multistate investigation into whether its privacy practices violate state consumer protection law.

Sweeping changes to US trade enforcement regulations are underway, and the Commerce Department appears to be intent on finalizing them.

The announcement that Senator Kamala Harris was to be the Democratic vice-presidential nomination sparked intense interest.

A revised merger-remedies manual doubles down on antitrust chief Makan Delrahim’s strong preference for divestitures.

US life insurers met with CFTC chief Heath Tarbert to seek more anonymity in using large, privately negotiated futures contracts to hedge unusual liabilities.

California’s investigation into Facebook’s data-sharing practices has pushed forward and deepened in recent months.

A growing number of UK banks are choosing to follow US recommendations on how to structure contractual fallbacks.

Years ago, Harris announced a deal with the largest app platforms that would require a privacy policy display before users download an app.

Connected-car patent pool Avanci’s 5G licensing program was approved by the US Department of Justice.

Many banks are lagging far behind where they should be in switching from the Libor benchmark to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate.

An advocate for US student-loan borrowers expressed concern that many will be “left holding the bag” for costs assumed by banks and asset managers.

In US antidumping cases, the Commerce Department believes it has discretion to significantly increase import duties on dumped products.

The most damaging cyberattack ever in 2017, caused a $15 billion loss to customers of companies directly hit, a federal study said.

US derivatives market participants lack adequate understanding of how a key step in the transition of clearinghouses to Libor’s successor is to work in October.

Facebook's digital advertising is under scrutiny, with both US antitrust regulators investigating the company's conduct in the online ad market.

The New York state Department of Financial Services notched a milestone when it filed its first data security enforcement action.

US Federal Reserve nominee Judy Shelton is a supply-side economist who would bring the strongest deregulatory views of any of its current governors.

US hedge funds’ participation in shadow banking remains risky even after the Federal Reserve’s rescue of these markets.

Eight years ago, prosecutors lacked evidence to link Yevgeniy Nikulin to the hacks of LinkedIn and Dropbox. But it's another story now.

Coronavirus infections are mounting, and so are threats to Americans’ privacy. FTC member Christine Wilson is on a mission to decry the latter.

US investor stampedes from money-market mutual funds & Treasuries during the pandemic panic in March highlight the need for regulatory fixes in those markets.

The Texas Attorney General’s Office hit Google with a long list of questions about its ad-tech business and previewing a forthcoming antitrust lawsuit.

Deutsche Bank's $150 million settlement with New York over financier Epstein has drawn large headlines, but the fine for the bank was relatively small.

Banks, insurers and hedge funds could face large losses in a prolonged downturn from their holdings of high-risk loans to troubled companies.

The US Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s biggest financial stability worries are possible cyberattacks on the banking system.

Financial Stability Oversight Council powers over money market mutual funds, hedge funds, insurers and other nonbanks have been weakened during the Trump administration

A privacy backlash has led South Carolina to bar its health department from using smartphone contact-tracing apps.

The first stand-alone privacy enforcement agency in the US could be established in California if voters approve in November.

John Elias, a prosecutor at the US Department of Justice's antitrust division, testified before the House Judiciary Committee about political pressure from Attorney General William Barr.

Banks and other swap dealers have launched a full-court press on officials to ease dealer-capital requirements in a CFTC proposal.

US Attorney General Bill Barr last year ordered the in-depth probe of a cannabis industry merger that later collapsed, overruling Justice Department staff.

A US proposal to require the use of legal entity identifiers by investment companies that trade swaps doesn’t open a big enough window.

The US Federal Reserve’s Municipal Liquidity Facility may continue to exclude Deep South cities with a majority of black residents.

Facebook's purchase of the animated image company Giphy is sparking feedback to the US Federal Trade Commission, MLex has learned.

US Federal Reserve should make all banks suspend common dividends and share repurchases

The US Federal Reserve may include nonprofits in its pending Main Street Lending Program for small and mid-sized businesses.

The NY Stock Exchange Group ripped a US Securities and Exchange Commission proposal to spur competition in market-data sales.

Powell said “fully appropriate” for mid-sized banks to use Ameribor interest-rate benchmark instead of Libor

The signatures submitted to election officials remains too close to call for a landmark privacy law to go before California voters in November.

US banks will be allowed to use the Libor benchmark in loans issued to small and mid-sized businesses under the Main Street Lending Program.

Arizona’s chief law enforcement official wants Google to know he’s girding for “the long slog” of litigation after filing suit over location tracking of consumers.

Clearview AI is invoking a legal shield used by social media companies hoping to defeat Vermont privacy lawsuit

The US Justice Department, ramping up plans for potential antitrust litigation against Google, is contacting outside attorneys to lead the government's case.

The US Federal Reserve panel overseeing the transition from tarnished Libor said it would support any active benchmark as an alternative if...

The US Federal Reserve’s current stress tests on the largest banks include an assessment of the potential effect of the pandemic on commercial real estate.

The US Federal Reserve is weeks away from getting loan facilities for mid-sized businesses, as well as states and localities, up and running.

The Trump administration will investigate the national security impact of foreign-sourced materials used to make electrical transformers.

The US Department of Justice withdrew comments it filed last week in a trade remedy investigation on mattresses from eight countries.

The call for a merger moratorium due to the novel coronavirus pandemic likely won’t become law.

MLex reports from the 68th ABA Antitrust Law virtual Spring meeting in Washington D.C.

Companies providing in-home health care services are facing antitrust scrutiny from criminal prosecutors at the US Department of Justice.

Smartphones’ potential in disease tracking lies in two areas: tracing populace movements, and Bluetooth-enabled proximity tracking.

The US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation had failed as of a year ago to develop an agency-wide readiness or personnel-training plan for economic crises.

Energizer Holdings and Duracell say their operations won’t be able to meet an upcoming surge of demand for batteries during the coronavirus pandemic.

Apple is under increasing antitrust scrutiny at the US Department of Justice, with investigators fielding complaints about multiple business practices at the iPhone maker, MLex has learned.

Federal Trade Commission chairmen try for unanimity on big cases and policy statements. But the agency’s partisan divide on new vertical merger guidelines is symptomatic of the broader ideological division on antitrust issues.

Equifax faces a bill of slightly more than $2 billion to settle consumer complaints stemming from the credit reporting agency’s massive 2017 data breach.

Buried more than 50 pages into Facebook’s annual 10-K report is an item that may flag a fuller measure of the cost of its proposed $5 billion privacy settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission: Facebook is hiring a lot more lawyers.

Whistleblowers wishing to report fraud, bribery and other violations to the US Securities and Exchange Commission can still do so, and the commission will still process the reports in the face of coronavirus protection protocols, the SEC said.

US derivatives markets that are parched by the Covid-19 pandemic could benefit from a liquidity injection that a speedier introduction of a new bank capital rule could provide, Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Heath Tarbert said.

As the states' antitrust probe of Google takes shape, Iowa, Utah, Tennessee and New York have emerged as additional key states in investigations of the three pillars of Google’s business: advertising, search and Android, MLex has learned.

US Libor transition authorities are unlikely to get a change in law they hoped would come this year from New York state authorities who are giving urgent priority to the coronavirus pandemic and its economic impacts.

The US Federal Reserve’s encouragement of banks to stop exceeding capital requirements and use the surplus to lend to virus-affected borrowers received a conditional welcome from economists who asserted that the central bank needs to be clearer about what it will allow.

California’s new consumer privacy act is likely to remain the only comprehensive data privacy law in the US for a while.

US corporations’ transition from Libor has been retarded by their hesitation to issue bonds linked to the official alternative, a JPMorgan Securities managing director said.

A trial set to begin Monday of a Russian man charged with hacking into LinkedIn and Dropbox may open a window on a shadowy international network of hackers — “a criminal clique” — that sought to use cyberattacks to manipulate financial markets as well as breach online platforms.

When American intelligence consultant Edward Snowden revealed the breadth of personal data collection by US intelligence agencies back in 2013, many saw a massive privacy violation. Kristina Bergman saw a massive business opportunity.

US steel importers plan to bring their legal bid against the Trump administration’s metal tariffs to the Supreme Court after a federal appeals court today rejected claims the national security authority used to justify the levies violates the Constitution.

Derivatives dealers would have to report the margin posted for uncleared transactions under a US Commodity Futures Trading Commission proposal that aims to improve identification of financial-stability threats.

A new US trade accord with China won't mean the end of the Trump administration's attempts to constrain its trans-Pacific rival.

A Democratic congressional representative from California today expressed support for federal preemption of state privacy laws and criticized his state's first-in-the-nation privacy law, pitting himself against others in the state delegation who have strongly supported the California Consumer Privacy Act.

Jurisdictions with the largest banks need to move more quickly to effect overdue Basel III standards and make sure they are consistent with each other, said Pablo Hernandez de Cos, head of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.

The federal judge who approved T-Mobile's plan to buy Sprint said the usual presumptions in antitrust law don't work in this case because of the specifics of the dynamic, rapidly changing mobile wireless industry.

State attorneys general are trying to build teams that will continue their bipartisan antitrust investigations into the tech industry, even if they don't win reelection, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser told MLex.

Real estate professionals and lawyers in the US are not subject to adequate anti-money laundering requirements, creating "significant vulnerabilities" that can be exploited, the Treasury Department said.

While the multistate antitrust investigation of Google is initially focused on its powerful and central position in the advertising technology business, the probe will soon broaden into other aspects of Google's business, the Texas attorney general's office has informed the Internet giant.

Cloud-based software company Salesforce and a high-end children's clothing retailer are among the first companies facing a data-breach lawsuit in federal court under California's landmark privacy law, which took effect Jan. 1.

The US Commodities Futures Trading Commission's proposal last week to cap speculative commodity trading seems likely to be changed following criticism of a hedging provision from three of the five commissioners.

News of a federal judge approving amendments sought by 16 states to Live Nation’s settlement with the Justice Department didn’t tell the full story.

As the infant California Consumer Privacy Act marks the completion of its first month, another California privacy law is opening a new window into the shadowy data-broker industry, with about 60 companies that trade in consumer data rushing to register with the state by today's deadline.

US banks' gaps in money-laundering controls are enabling a "large and growing" amount of illicit proceeds from international drug traffickers, terrorists, and financial fraudsters to be cycled through international trade transactions, a congressional watchdog said.

Facebook's assertion that it will voluntarily pay the US Federal Trade Commission far more than the consumer protection agency could have obtained through litigation over privacy violations may, ironically, bolster critics' argument against the settlement.

Recent and upcoming US sentencings in a Venezuelan oil sector bribery scheme are set to close about 20-related prosecutions that grew and lingered in US federal court for years. But these cases, based on crimes in Miami and Houston, are just a few of many emanating from Venezuela's political chaos and casting a range of risk on US businesses.

Facebook and the wider Internet industry are at risk of having to defend the first challenge before the US Supreme Court to a law that in the view of many created the legal foundation for the modern interactive Internet — Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Consumer-privacy legislation reintroduced in Washington state is closely modeled after California's sweeping new privacy law, giving residents the right to access, delete and correct their personal data, as well as the right to opt out of the collection of their personal data. But there are several notable differences when it comes to regulating facial-recognition technology and giving consumers the right to sue.

After a year that set a record for corporate settlements of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, the US is preparing new laws and regulations that would increase corporate transparency in a push to reduce corruption.

Legal challenges to California's sweeping new privacy law are inevitable.

Oil, gas and mining firms would still be able to hide important information about their payments to governments under a proposed US Securities and Exchange Commission "transparency" rule setting requirements for publicly traded extraction companies to disclose such payments, the two Democratic members of the SEC said today.

In a wide-ranging, hour-long telephone interview from Paris where he was attending the OECD Global Forum on Competition, Makan Delrahim pulled no punches.

This MLex report covers what CCPA means for businesses, how it is changing US approaches to data protection, and why its future is already clouded.

In the latest antitrust case against Facebook, the US FTC has to convince a judge that their acquisitions would have been significant competitors.

Google will be be defended by the former chairwoman of the US Federal Trade Commission, Edith Ramirez, in litigation filed in the wake of the FTC’s $170 million settlement of alleged children’s privacy violations by the online ad giant’s YouTube platform.

The US Libor transition has been slowed by policymakers’ inability to incorporate a bank risk premium into the replacement benchmark to make it more attractive to market participants.

United Therapeutics and Smiths Medical restricted shipments to pharmacies of specialized syringes that deliver a life-saving drug used to treat a serious lung condition, according to allegations in confidential material from a court filing in an antitrust suit.

A new watchdog memo raising flags about the US Department of Commerce’s metal tariff exclusion system may help shape congressional efforts to reform the president’s national security trade authority.

Facebook sent the US Federal Trade Commission confidential documents belonging to a now-defunct startup that has waged a closely watched four-and-a-half-year legal battle against the social network, MLex has learned.

Last week, a variety of attorneys and scholars crowded into a meeting hall at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City to discuss the future of antitrust enforcement.

An antitrust investigation into BMW, Ford, Honda and Volkswagen related to California car-emissions standards was recommended by policy officials, not prosecutors, at the US Department of Justice, MLex has learned.

A stalkerware app developer received a rare federal rebuke today at the hands of the US Federal Trade Commission. Companies behind mobile trackers almost never face penalties despite their high rate of usage by abusers, a state of affairs that may be slow to change even after the action taken by the consumer protection agency.

A portrait of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg as dishonest and indifferent to his company’s impact on society emerged from members of Congress within the first hour of the social media titan’s much-anticipated appearance before the House Financial Services Committee to discuss his planned digital currency, Libra.

Parents’ claims that Amazon illegally recorded their children’s voices on Alexa-enabled devices should stay in federal court, a magistrate judge in Seattle said.

Pharmaceutical industry mergers traditionally fall in the US Federal Trade Commission’s bailiwick, but the US Department of Justice over the last year has instead pushed to review some of those deals, along with other deals customarily examined by the FTC, MLex has learned.

Microblogging platform Twitter today said it used email addresses and phone numbers provided by consumers for security purposes for advertising ends — similar to behavior that got Facebook in trouble with the Federal Trade Commission.

The Justice Department has been weighing in on more antitrust cases over the past two years in an effort to help shape the law. In 19 instances where DOJ has weighed in, the courts have adopted the DOJ’s views in eight and rejected them in five, according to an MLex analysis. Six other matters resolved without a decision addressing the DOJ's concerns.

Cloud services provided to banks by technology giants such as Amazon and Microsoft are being scrutinized by the international Financial Stability Board, US Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard said.

US investigators scrutinizing Facebook for potential antitrust violations have zeroed in on the social network’s acquisition in 2013 of an Israeli mobile analytics startup, Onavo.

Google’s controversial project to host and accelerate the delivery of mobile web pages has emerged as a centerpiece of a multistate group’s probe into whether the Internet giant violated state or federal antitrust laws by moving to dominate the online advertising ecosystem

California’s landmark privacy law would be significantly expanded with the creation of a specialized enforcement agency and broader privacy rules for children and teenagers, under a ballot initiative to be launched by the developer who led the campaign to create the current law.

Facebook disclosed today that its investigation into the data practices of apps on its platform resulted in the banning of more than 20,000 apps, even as some app developers and congressional investigators question whether Facebook violated antitrust and other laws by altering its platform policies.

At least 10 of the 13 financial institutions charged with improper handling of pre-release American Depositary Receipts have exited that activity in recent years amid a long-running US Securities and Exchange Commission investigation that has covered much of the industry.

Telecom manufacturer Huawei takes on the US government this week in a federal courthouse deep inside Texas, where attorneys for the Chinese company will argue Congress acted unconstitutionally by excluding it from obtaining contracts funded with federal money.

Cannabis company Curaleaf Holdings has received a second request for information from the US Department of Justice regarding its planned $875 million acquisition of GS Companies, also known as Grassroots, MLex has learned.

Learn more about why antitrust law has to come in different flavors and other insights from the George Washington, Georgetown and Fordham conferences.

US state attorneys general are seeking information from Google on its previous acquisitions of Double-Click, AdMob and Admeld, along with its advertising contracts and pricing. While Google has been the subject of dozens of antitrust investigations around the world, the state probe is among the first to directly question the search giant on how it has come to dominate the online advertising world.

A federal judge has rejected Facebook’s argument that users suing over the Cambridge Analytica scandal had no expectation of privacy after they shared information with their friends on social media.

LinkedIn can’t block a data analytics company from copying and scraping public profile data posted by users of the professional social network, a US federal appeals court ruled today in affirming a lower court’s preliminary injunction granted to analytics startup hiQ.

Curaleaf aims to create the US’s biggest cannabis company with its $875 million GrassRoots merger.

Officials at the US Federal Trade Commission today touted the tough signal they said their $170 million settlement with YouTube over alleged violations of children’s privacy law will send to the online video industry, even as activists and lawmakers panned the agency for being soft on Silicon Valley.

The number of states interested in joining an antitrust or privacy investigation of Google and other tech giants has significantly expanded in recent days, with a majority of US states now signing on to the effort, MLex has learned.

As US regulators gear up to examine competition among technology companies, international jurisdictions have identified a potential vulnerability for Apple: parental control apps.

The state attorneys general and US antitrust agencies have a long history of working together on major conduct cases, starting with the landmark Microsoft case in the 1990s. As the states move forward with antitrust probes into Google and Facebook, how well they are able to work with federal antitrust officials looking into the same conduct remains an open question.

Amazon's practice of penalizing sellers offering lower prices on other websites is emerging as a focus of third-party complaints in the US Federal Trade Commission's antitrust investigation of the e-commerce giant, MLex has learned.

Digital trade is slated to be one of the core issues in an upcoming trade deal between the US and Japan, and the Trump administration’s rewrite of the North American agreement will shed light on what’s to come.

Abbvie has withdrawn the antitrust paperwork for its $63 billion purchase of Allergan with the US Federal Trade Commission, MLex has learned.

US aluminium producer Novelis has offered to sell a plant in Belgium to assuage EU antitrust concerns over its plan to buy rival US rolled-aluminum products maker Aleris for $2.6 billion, MLex has learned.

Facebook and Google will be the preliminary focus as about 20 state attorneys general begin an antitrust investigation into the tech industry that could be formally announced as soon as next month, MLex has learned.

Legalized discrimination could return to the US as long as it’s perpetuated by machines, warn civil rights advocates alarmed at a regulatory filing by the Trump administration.

Chinese telecom giant Huawei and the US government will not be doing business, and the United States is not ready to make a bilateral trade deal with China, President Donald Trump said today.

Facebook must defend privacy litigation over facial recognition technology that puts the company at risk of billions of dollars in damages, following a US appeals court’s affirmation today of two lower court decisions that the plaintiffs have standing to sue and that the massive potential damages can’t obviate certification of a victims’ class.

State attorneys general are moving ahead with antitrust probes of major tech companies such as Google in the wake of a meeting with Justice Department officials last week.

JSW USA’s product-exclusion request from the 25 percent national security tariff on steel imports was mishandled by the Commerce Department, Indian manufacturer JSW Steel’s American unit said in a complaint filed today at the Court of International Trade.

The US Federal Trade Commission is seeking sales data from third-party retailers using Amazon to hawk their goods, MLex has learned.

Teva Pharmaceuticals will pay $69 million to settle allegations from California's attorney general that it unlawfully delayed generic entry of the sleep drug Provigil.

Whistleblowers are becoming an increasingly important resource for detecting Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, US enforcement officials said today.

Citing Qualcomm’s “likelihood of success on the merits,” the US Justice Department asked a federal appeals court to delay a decision that would require the company to renegotiate its licenses worldwide and on fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory terms.

Facebook agreed to pay out $5 billion to settle a privacy investigation with the US Federal Trade Commission, multiple press outlets reported this afternoon, an outcome dividing commissioners yet again along party lines.

A senior US lawmaker wants Congress to convey bipartisan disapproval of the EU’s new clearinghouse law but is running into resistance from a leading Republican lawmaker and divisions among market participants.

Walmart's compliance, investigatory and remediation efforts have already cost the retailing giant more than triple the $282 million it must pay the US to resolve Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations. Retaining a high-profile independent monitor and otherwise meeting the terms of a non-prosecution agreement will add to the compliance costs.

Federal prosecutors have asked a court to stay civil litigation accusing Tyson, Pilgrim's Pride and other chicken suppliers of price-fixing because of a criminal antitrust investigation.

Mergers in the cannabis industry are routinely being subject to in-depth competition probes by the US Department of Justice, MLex has learned.

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s program of clearinghouse stress tests has shown little improvement since technical shortcomings, mismanagement “dysfunction” and public deception were flagged last year, an internal review has found.

Business groups have managed to defeat or significantly weaken a flurry of comprehensive consumer privacy bills in states across the US this year.

The auto industry won’t have to fear new restrictions on connected cars in Nevada after winning a broad exemption from a new privacy law, in what could be a harbinger of more state-level lobbying efforts.

A US Federal Reserve-sponsored Libor panel hopes to decide in the next few months whether to seek legislative relief from some existing contract requirements that are impeding a shift from the benchmark, said Tom Wipf, head of the Alternative Reference Rates Committee.

Daniel Tarullo, the former US Federal Reserve governor most responsible for crafting post-financial crisis Washington policies, said a cyberattack on a bank could set off widespread panic by eradicating ownership records held by the institution.

Key aspects of a federal court decision that Qualcomm’s patent-licensing practices violate the law rest on controversial antitrust and patent precedents, opening obvious avenues of appeal for the chipmaker.

​Accusations that Deutsche Bank did not file suspicious activity reports on certain transactions by Donald Trump and Jared Kushner should be investigated by the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, Democratic senators today told FinCEN's director, Kenneth Blanco.

Consumer privacy and security have been harmed by Facebook’s domination of the social networking market, and it needs to be broken up and regulated, the company’s co-founder said.

Israel’s Teva Pharmaceuticals, the world’s largest generic drug manufacturer, conspired with more than a dozen other generic drug makers to fix prices on a myriad of generic drugs, attorneys general from 43 states and Puerto Rico said.

Merging companies that want to use Canada's efficiency defense will have to offer detailed data or face a potential merger challenge, Canada's Competition Bureau chief said today.

Canada's Competition Bureau intends to step up enforcement and more quickly challenge companies in court, bureau head Matthew Boswell said today.

Berkshire Hathaway Chief Executive Warren Buffett said the conglomerate will likely increase its stake in Wells Fargo and other banks if the US Federal Reserve finalizes a proposal to ease a current restriction on bank investors.

Siblings often squabble. The two US antitrust authorities, the Department of Justice and its sister agency the Federal Trade Commission, usually do it behind closed doors.

US antitrust enforcers may have been too quick to discard ideas about predatory pricing and essential facilities, especially in connection with big technology companies, a US appeals court judge and antitrust expert said.

Surescripts, the US's largest e-prescription network, has been sued by the US Federal Trade Commission, which alleged that the company monopolized the market by including loyalty provisions in its contracts with customers since 2009.

Cybersecurity vendors including CrowdStrike, Symantec and ESET are under the microscope at the Justice Department for their role in potentially excluding third-party testing services that don’t adhere to particular standards, MLex has learned.

Technologists may have discovered a secret vulnerability in online platforms’ otherwise impenetrable legal shield.

The settlement announced today between Apple and Qualcomm is a huge win for both companies, but much less so for the US Federal Trade Commission.

​Carl Icahn’s fight with Conduent intensified as Michael Nevin, an Icahn representative who resigned his board seat in protest of actions taken by Conduent Chairman William Parrett, denied that that his departure was part of a premeditated plot by Icahn to overthrow the board.

A group of US steel suppliers and importers is seeking to bypass an appeal and take its constitutional challenge to the Trump administration’s national security metal tariff order directly to the nation’s highest court.

After years of intensive litigation and licensing negotiations, Qualcomm and Apple settled their multibillion dollar dispute on confidential terms today as opening arguments in an antitrust and breach of contract trial were wrapping up.

A rapacious Qualcomm has held the smartphone industry hostage, using its monopoly power over cellular modem chips to extract unreasonable patent fees from Apple and the rest of the market.

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center should have known better, a federal administrative law judge admonished in imposing a $4.3 million fine last year. Entities that hold sensitive medical and insurance data would be wise to view Anderson’s story as a cautionary tale.

The already small chances of a bipartisan federal privacy bill becoming law this year have shrunk even further in recent weeks.

Democrats vying to challenge President Donald Trump in 2020 told Iowa voters Saturday that the US needs to rethink its antitrust laws.

Read all about the 67th Annual ABA Antitrust Meeting from Spring 2019.

Antitrust regulators need to reconsider which tech companies are immune from any liability related to the content they publish, US Federal Trade Commission member Rohit Chopra said today. Tech companies’ convergence with digital advertising has pushed them outside the protection of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the Democrat said.

Since a recent change in policy by the US Department of Justice to streamline merger reviews, all new investigations are on track for closing within six months, a senior DOJ official said.

The proposed merger of Fidelity National Information Services and Worldpay will further consolidate debit processing, a key function in the payment ecosystem.

T-Mobile’s plan to buy Sprint has spurred a serious investigation from state attorneys general who have been prepared from the start to litigate if needed, MLex has learned, posing a potential threat to the deal's closure.

HealthTronics and NextMed, two mobile health care providers, have agreed to merge, and the US Federal Trade Commission is investigating the deal's potential impact on competition with a focus on the companies' urology treatments, MLex has learned.

Over the past 18 months, the Justice Department has announced only three new criminal cases, only one of which involved corporate charges — against several South Korean oil refiners for rigging bids on contracts with the Department of Defense. During that same time period, senior officials in the DOJ’s antitrust division have also nixed a number of proposed indictments and charges in several other cases, MLex has learned.

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission should push to alter swap execution facility rules by the November 2020 presidential election to capitalize on the pro-market bent of the current Republican majority, Commissioner Brian Quintenz said.

US Senator Elizabeth Warren wants to wrest power from the world’s biggest tech companies, but the Democratic presidential hopeful's plan would require legislation from a Congress increasingly lobbied by Big Tech, and the assent of an increasingly conservative federal judiciary.

In a first trial against Apple before a local jury, a federal jury in San Diego agreed with Qualcomm's claims that the iPhone maker should pay $31.6 million in damages, or $1.41 per iPhone, for infringing Qualcomm patents on technology that allows Apple's smartphone to connect with cellular networks and use power more efficiently.

Semiconductor company Broadcom is under scrutiny at the US Federal Trade Commission for potential anticompetitive conduct related to semiconductors used in data centers, MLex has learned.

Punishing corrupt corporate employees is the most effective form of deterrence against bribery and is a key element of the US Justice Department's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement policy, said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

The US Federal Trade Commission is reviewing its light-touch approach to company compliance with the agency's security and privacy programs amid criticism it lets corporations such as Facebook and Google chose the terms of their own oversight.

The centerpiece of the years-long legal battle between Apple and Qualcomm, an antitrust and contract fight scheduled to begin in fedral court in April, could yield more than $30 billion in damages.

Bristol-Myers Squibb and Magellan Health last week became the latest targets of activist fund Starboard Value, joining a growing list of healthcare stocks attracting activist interest, drawn by the sector’s robust M&A activity.

Revenge porn site operators should well fear the privacy enforcement powers of the Federal Trade Commission. Other online businesses, not so much — as long as they avoid lying to consumers.

Veteran practitioners were surprised by news of the Federal Trade Commission securing monetary relief against personal finance website LendEDU, which engaged in a pay-to-play scheme.

Apple has told the International Trade Commission that if iPhone imports are banned by the agency, a six-month delay in carrying out the order would be appropriate. Qualcomm, however, said it opposes any holdup because Apple and its chip supplier, Intel, already had ample time to redesign a smartphone that avoids infringing a Qualcomm patent.

The US Department of Justice’s antitrust division will examine in the coming months whether institutional investing can have anticompetitive effects, the US Justice Department’s top antitrust enforcer said this week.

Canada's new deferred prosecution agreement regime, a legal change that brought the country in line with the US and UK, has been the center of attention after a report alleging that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pressured an attorney general to grant a deal to bribery-accused engineering firm SNC-Lavalin.

Nexstar Media’s plan to buy broadcasting rival Tribune Media is expected to prompt a second request for more information from the US Department of Justice, MLex has learned.

A three-judge federal appeals court panel wrestled today with whether the transmission of data and the manipulation of it by a website are an “inextricably" linked or potentially divisible component of broadband service, a distinction upon which the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality policy may live or die.

Ten US oil equipment firms were at the center of a bribery scheme the US Treasury Department referenced when it sanctioned Venezuela's national oil company this week. The owners and former employees of those firms are facing sentencing for Foreign Corrupt Practices Act charges.

The president of Qualcomm’s patent-licensing business testified today that the company never threatened to cut off the supply of modem chips to smartphone makers, even those that stopped paying royalties to the chipmaker.

Struggling healthcare providers often view consolidation as the only means of shouldering the ever-skyrocketing cost of care.

Jana Partners, with its decision to sell hundreds of thousands of Jack in the Box shares, is at the lower limit of the number of shares it must hold to gain representation on the company's board.

Qualcomm co-founder Irwin Jacobs, an eminence grise in the creation of modern wireless broadband service, took the witness stand in Silicon Valley today to defend his company’s patent-licensing model as one intended to seed the development of new wireless technology, not block competition.

Activist investor Jana Partners reduced its stake in Jack in the Box by almost half, according to a securities filing today.

President Donald Trump’s choice for his next attorney general, William Barr, has a track record of high-profile advocacy both for and against major telecommunications deals based on the interests of his corporate employers.

The US Federal Reserve will try to leverage its upcoming proposal on insurance capital requirements in an effort to make an international plan more suitable for the US market, Fed Governor Randal Quarles said.

The massive Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which happens each year on neutral ground between Washington and Silicon Valley, has been a demilitarized zone where tech companies and regulators can rub elbows without rancor.

US Federal Reserve efforts to improve stress tests by measuring shocks to the whole financial system will likely be hobbled by a recent deregulatory law that shrinks the universe of available test data.

A top executive at Intel accused Qualcomm of engaging in a patent-licensing policy designed specifically to thwart competition in the cellular modem market, and refused to concede that her company was unable to compete because of technological inferiority.

During the first day of trial in the Federal Trade Commission's antitrust case against mobile chipmaker Qualcomm, a federal judge heard from the company's licensees about how Qualcomm's unique business model allowed it to extract anticompetitive royalties on its patented technology standards.

Qualcomm launched its defense against the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust claims by invoking 30 years of corporate R&D history that it says fostered a vibrant global smartphone market, as a 10-day trial began today in Silicon Valley that will illuminate the heart of the smartphone connectivity industry.

Get inside the courtroom with our latest special report, “Qualcomm Faces US Antitrust Test; the Story of the FTC – Qualcomm Trial” report.

This has been a record year for activist funds in terms of campaigns launched and board seats won. But for fund performance, it’s been the worst year since 2011, leading to an accelerating outflow of investor capital.

​Apple and Qualcomm are poised to face off in a trial over Qualcomm’s alleged anticompetitive patent-licensing business on April 15 in San Diego in a tech industry blockbuster jury trial that could last up to 20 days with billions of dollars at stake.

Activist fund Mangrove Partners disclosed on Wednesday that it met with senior management of Denbury Resources and Penn Virginia to express opposition to their deal and to convey that the fund "is not alone in disliking this transaction."

The US Justice Department has filed a final motion for forfeiture of $891,730 of bribe proceeds that a Petroleos de Venezuela SA official obtained from two US businessmen in exchange for illicitly promoting their firms in the PDVSA bidding process.

A US case involving an international cohort accused of laundering money embezzled from the Venezuelan government through bribery and fraud began when a banker reported extremely suspicious banking activity, court documents said.

LinkedIn is locked in a heated battle with a data analytics company trying to use the social network’s publicly available data as the basis for products sold to human resources departments. The company wants to block HiQ Labs from using the data, but at a Thursday afternoon hearing in San Francisco, it was unclear where a three-judge panel on the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit would land.

A new cartel case is keeping federal prosecutors and civil litigants focused on familiar territory: Japanese companies manufacturing small but critical components of myriad electronic products.

Celgene, the only maker of once-banned thalidomide, stands accused of using drug safety procedures to keep rivals from offering cheaper, generic alternatives to its cancer treatment. Pharmaceutical companies have long tried to minimize competitive threats and Celgene's tactics may prove to be legal, despite the protests of regulators and patients. In the meantime, patients are stuck facing rising costs.

Electronics manufacturers have been subpoenaed by US antitrust prosecutors as part of a price-fixing investigation involving the inductor market, MLex has learned.

A cartel in the promotional products industry was disclosed to prosecutors by a whistleblower who flagged seemingly illicit price-fixing discussions, MLex has learned.

Last month, the US Department of Justice announced that it had hired Donald Kempf, 80, as the agency's head of antitrust litigation. A go-to merger litigator in the 1970s and 80s who retired in 2005, Kempf is known for a "take-no-prisoners" approach to litigation, which has, in some cases, hampered his success.