Antitrust & Trade Regulation

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The Düsseldorf Court of Appeals (“DCA”) has now published its full reasoning rejecting the Federal Cartel Office’s (“FCO”) expansive interpretation of Germany’s transaction value-based test in Adobe’s acquisitions of Magento (e-commerce software) and Marketo (B2B marketing automation software).[1]  The decisions clarify that the transaction value-based threshold is a subsidiary test, triggered only where the…

On June 2, 2025, the Commission fined Delivery Hero and Glovo €329 million for a cartel in the online food delivery sector.  During Delivery Hero’s non-controlling minority shareholding in Glovo from 2018 to 2022, the parties (1) agreed not to poach each other’s employees; (2) divided national markets among themselves, and (3) exchanged commercially sensitive information.…

Wiggin and Dana’s Antitrust and Technology Disputes Practice Group is excited to launch Blog of Reason, named for the so-called “rule of reason” under U.S. antitrust law. As followers of antitrust law know, a “rule of reason” analysis is expansive, searching, and nuanced. Blog of Reason aspires to be the same. But our blog’s coverage will be broader…

As we previously reported, on October 16, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), after receiving thousands of public comments, released the final version of its Negative Option Rule. The Rule is now scheduled to go into effect on July 14, 2025.[1] Any company with automatic renewal subscriptions or memberships will be impacted by the Rule.…

In Lawson v. Spirit AeroSystems, Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit upheld the forfeiture of certain stock awards for violating a covenant not to compete.  Like the Seventh Circuit in LKQ Corp. v. Rutledge(which applied Delaware law), the Tenth Circuit concluded that, under Kansas law, the remedy of forfeiting…

On April 22, 2025, the Tenth Circuit affirmed summary judgment in favor of a sales manager and his new employer on claims under the Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”), the Oklahoma Uniform Trade Secrets Act (“OUTSA”), and common law claims for misappropriation of confidential business information and civil conspiracy, which were brought by his former…

On May 8, 2025, the European Commission (the “EC”) launched a public consultation on the EU Merger Guidelines (together, the “Guidelines”), which describe the framework applied by the EC to assess the competitive impact of horizontal and non-horizontal mergers (the “Consultation”).[1]  The Consultation responds to the Draghi Report’s call for “more forward-looking and…

State antitrust enforcement is becoming increasingly significant, with a diverse array of laws across 51 jurisdictions, including the District of Columbia. State Attorneys General (AGs) are not merely filling gaps left by federal enforcement but are actively shaping the landscape with robust state-specific laws. This post provides an overview of the current trends and legislative…