Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, WORTH NOTING—Other Antitrust and Trade Regulation developments, (Apr 17, 2015)

A periodic roundup of other items of interest to the Antitrust and Trade Regulation community:

ANTITRUST NEWS: The FTC praised this week’s appellate court decision upholding its order halting a ductile iron pipefittings producer’s requirement that distributors purchase all their domestic pipefittings from the producer. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed an FTC Decision and Order finding that McWane, Inc., the largest U.S. supplier of ductile iron pipe fittings used in municipal and regional water distribution systems, unlawfully maintained its monopoly in the domestic fittings market through exclusionary conduct. “The Eleventh Circuit’s decision affirms that monopolists must compete on the merits rather than resorting to anticompetitive tactics to exclude would-be market entrants,” said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez. “By limiting competition, McWane was able to maintain inflated prices for key components in municipal water systems around the country, costs ultimately borne by cities and taxpayers.”

FRANCHISING & DISTRIBUTION NEWS: Deborah S. Coldwell, Chair of the American Bar Association Forum on Franchising, has announced the appointment of the following members to the 2015 Nominating Committee: Joseph J. Fittante, Jr. (Larkin Hoffman Daly & Lindgren, Ltd.), Steven M. Goldman (Quarles and Brady, LP), Leslie Smith (Foley & Lardner, LLP), Nicole Micklich (Garcia & Milas, PC) and Tao Xu (DLA Piper). This year's Nominating Committee will recommend candidates for four Member-at-Large positions on the Governing Committee, all beginning August 2016. An election to fill these positions will take place at the Forum's Annual Business Meeting, which will be held in conjunction with the 38th Annual Forum on Franchising, on October 15-16, 2015, in New Orleans, Louisiana.

CONFERENCES: The 16th Annual Conference of the American Antitrust Institute (AAI), entitled Antitrust and the 2016 Presidential Transition, will be held on June 18, 2015 in Washington, D.C. The event, part of AAI’s larger effort to formulate a comprehensive set of policy recommendations to the 45th President of the United States, will explore pathways to, and the reforms needed to create effective, progressive, consumer-oriented antitrust policy from three perspectives: (1) the core competition policies reflected in modern case law and economic analysis; (2) the institutions of antitrust enforcement and policymaking, including the Federal Trade Commission, U.S. Department of Justice, State Attorneys’ General, and Congress; and (3) the successes and failures of antitrust as applied in the nation’s critical business sectors and industries.

News: Antitrust FranchisingDistribution Conferences FederalTradeCommissionNews