James O’Connell is a partner with Covington, based in Washington, D.C. After over five years of public service with the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where he served in several leadership roles, including as Deputy Assistant Attorney General and Chief of Staff. As Deputy AAG, he had responsibility for the Division’s appellate program and for the development of its major legislative and policy positions, such as those regarding intellectual property and the enforcement of Section 2 of the Sherman Act. His duties also included managing the Division’s relations with its enforcement counterparts around the world, including those in the European Union, China, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and Japan. This extensive international enforcement experience enables him to provide his clients highly informed and practical assessments of their U.S. and non-U.S. antitrust risks. Prior to his government service, Mr. O’Connell practiced antitrust law at an international New York-based firm.
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On October 17, 2023, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) published a report on mergers and acquisitions (“M&A”) in the defense industrial base. The report details the current M&A review process of the Department of Defense (“DOD”) and provides recommendations to (...)
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On July 19, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (collectively, “the Agencies”) issued a new set of merger guidelines in draft form for public comment (the “Draft Guidelines”). The Draft Guidelines, if adopted, will replace the (...)
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On June 27, 2023, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), with the concurrence of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) (together, “the Agencies”), issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (the “Notice”) that proposes extensive changes to the Hart-Scott-Rodino (“HSR”) (...)
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When its Anti-Monopoly Law (“AML”) went into effect in August 2008, China immediately became a significant antitrust enforcer on the world stage. On June 24, 2022, the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature, passed the Amendment to the Anti-Monopoly Law of the PRC (the (...)
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Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) published revised thresholds for the Hart-Scott-Rodino (“HSR”) Act, which will take effect on February 23, 2022. Earlier, the FTC also announced new thresholds for Section 8 of the Clayton Act, which governs interlocking directorates. Each of (...)
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The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced on February 4, 2021, that it is temporarily suspending the discretionary practice of granting “early termination” of the Hart-Scott-Rodino (“HSR”) Act waiting period, with support from the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (...)
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Today, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) published revised thresholds for the Hart-Scott-Rodino (“HSR”) Act, which will take effect on March 4, 2021. Earlier, the FTC also announced new thresholds for Section 8 of the Clayton Act, which governs interlocking directorates. Each of these (...)
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Agencies Also Seek Public Comments that Could Lead to Additional Changes to the HSR Rules The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) (the “Agencies”) announced proposed changes to the premerger notification rules (“Rules”) promulgated (...)
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Yesterday, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it has settled its lawsuit against ValueAct Capital Management L.P. (“ValueAct”) for violating the Hart- Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (the “HSR Act”). The settlement is noteworthy for two (...)
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Following several years of drafting and public consultations, on April 13 the State Administration for Industry and Commerce of the People’s Republic of China (“SAIC”) released its Rules on the Prohibition of Abuses of Intellectual Property Rights for the Purposes of Eliminating or Restricting (...)
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The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has announced its annual revisions to the monetary thresholds that determine whether a transaction must be notified to the FTC and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act (“HSR (...)
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The Federal Trade Commission has brought its first suit alleging anticompetitive conduct in connection with the prosecution and settlement of pharmaceutical patent litigation since the Supreme Court’s June 2013 decision in FTC v. Actavis. Although two commissioners dissented from the decision (...)
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On November 6, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) amended the implementation rules of the Hart Scott Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act (the “HSR Act”) to specify when parties to pharmaceutical patent license agreements must observe the HSR Act’s notification and pre-closing waiting period (...)
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Earlier this month, China’s National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC”) announced that it is conducting a wide-ranging probe into the costs and prices of pharmaceutical products sold by more than 60 multinational and domestic companies. NDRC has broad powers to enforce China’s Price (...)
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Yesterday, the influential Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, sitting en banc, held that foreign anticompetitive conduct can be regulated by U.S. antitrust law if it has “a reasonably proximate causal nexus” with an injury to a U.S. purchaser. The Seventh Circuit explicitly rejected the (...)
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On May 8, China’s Supreme People’s Court (“SPC”) issued its Rules on the Application of Laws for Adjudicating Civil Disputes Arising From Monopolistic Conduct (“the Rules”). According to the SPC, the Rules, which take effect June 1, are intended to ease plaintiffs’ burdens and are thus likely (...)
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On January 5, China’s Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”) issued new regulations regarding investigations and sanctioning of companies that fail to notify transactions under China’s Anti- Monopoly Law (“AML”). Under the regulations, which take effect on February 1, non-compliant companies may be (...)
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The US and China have taken a step towards closer coordination of their investigations of mergers and other transactions under their respective antitrust laws. Yesterday, after high-level consultations in Washington, the two countries’ antitrust merger control agencies released Guidance for (...)
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China’s National Development & Reform Commission (“NDRC”) announced this week that it has fined two domestic pharmaceutical companies for monopolizing bulk sales of promethazine hydrochloride in violation of the country’s Anti-Monopoly Law (“AML”). The decision, NDRC’s first AML action in (...)
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On July 7, 2011, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice (“the Agencies”) announced significant changes to the form and accompanying materials that companies must submit when reporting transactions under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act (“HSR Act”). Although (...)
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China has established a new process for reviewing the national security implications of foreign investments in Chinese companies. On February 12, 2011, China’s State Council published the “Notice of the General Office of the State Council on Establishment of a Security Review System for the (...)
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Last week, the U.S. Justice Department (“DOJ”) and Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) (together, the “Agencies”) issued revised Horizontal Merger Guidelines (the “Guidelines”) describing how the Agencies seek to determine whether a merger of competing companies will substantially lessen (...)
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In the latest development in the Federal Trade Commission’s efforts to challenge Hatch-Waxman patent litigation settlements, earlier this week a federal district court in Pennsylvania denied in part defendants’ motions to dismiss antitrust complaints challenging a series of such settlements. (...)
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The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has announced new monetary thresholds for the Hart-Scott-Rodino (“HSR”) Act effective February 22, 2010. See 75 Fed. Reg. 3468 (Jan. 21, 2010). The new thresholds will be approximately 3% lower than those currently in effect. For example, the minimum (...)
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China’s Anti-Monopoly Law (“AML”) has required review and approval of proposed transactions that meet the AML’s filing thresholds by the Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”) since August 2008. MOFCOM has publicly acknowledged that its merger review process under the AML often results in delayed (...)
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On August 2, following a public comment period, the Federal Trade Commission approved the issuance of two consent orders that separately resolved (1) its 2003 monopolization complaint against Union Oil Company of California ( Unocal ) alleging anticompetitive abuses of the regulatory (...)
