The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ruled that the only domestic manufacturer of iron pipe fittings violated antitrust law when it implemented exclusive dealing arrangements that foreclosed foreign importers from the U.S. market. The Department of Justice won a trial charging that the combination of two online ratings and reviews platforms was an unlawful merger to monopoly, persuading a federal judge to accept a limited relevant market definition and reject the claim that social media companies could enter the market rapidly. The FTC also won a merger trial involving the acquisition of a medical practice group by an Idaho hospital system.
Other antitrust developments of note included the imposition of the longest antitrust prison sentence on a former executive of a water freight carrier for participating in a price-fixing and bid-rigging conspiracy and the European Commission’s acceptance of Google’s proposed remedies to resolve concerns that the online search company abused its dominant position by displaying biased search results.
