Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, WORTH NOTING—Other Antitrust and Trade Regulation developments, (Apr 9, 2015)

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

ANTITRUST NEWS: Contact lens purchasers have filed a class action complaint against the four leading contact lens manufacturers and the leading contact lens distributor in the United States alleging that the companies conspired to impose so-called “Unilateral Pricing Policies” on certain contact lens lines. The conspiracy was allegedly aimed at putting a stop to big box stores, buying clubs, and Internet-based retailers discounting contact lenses through the imposition of a minimum resale price maintenance scheme, which caused consumers to pay higher prices for contact lenses (Gaston v. ABB/Con-Cise Optical Group LLC, April 8, 2015).

ANTITRUST NEWS: Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism granted All Nippon Airways (ANA) antitrust immunity for the proposed trans-Pacific cargo joint venture between All Nippon Airways and United Airlines. This antitrust immunity enables ANA and United to jointly manage activities covered by the air cargo joint venture on specified trans-Pacific routes. This cargo joint venture is the first of its kind between Asia and the Americas.

ANTITRUST NEWS: After a review of public comments, the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) has revised its “Guidelines Concerning Distribution Systems and Business Practices Under the Antimonopoly Act.” The Distribution Guidelines set out specific types of conduct among Japanese distribution systems and business practices that may impede free and fair competition.

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS: The FTC approved a final order settling charges that Novartis AG’s $16 billion acquisition of GlaxoSmithKline’s portfolio of cancer-treatment drugs likely would be anticompetitive. Novartis agreed to divest all assets related to its BRAF- and MEK-inhibitor drugs, currently in development, to Array BioPharma.

CONSUMER PROTECTION NEWS: The FTC approved a final consent order barring a company that sold “brain training” game from making unsupported claims regarding its products’ ability to permanently improve children’s cognitive abilities, school performance, and behavior. Ads for the game claimed that it had “scientifically proven memory and attention brain training exercises, designed to improve focus, concentration and memory” and touted the game as giving children “the ability to focus, complete school work, homework, and to stay on task.”

INDUSTRY NEWS: The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced the appointment of Kate Collyer as its Deputy Chief Economic Adviser, who currently serves as the Economics Director for Markets and Mergers at the CMA. The Deputy Chief Economic Adviser will be a key member of the Chief Economic Adviser’s leadership team, with a shared responsibility for leading the economics profession at the CMA and being responsible for the quality of economic work it carries out. CMA’s Chief Economic Adviser, Dr. Mike Walker said “We had very strong competition for this role from private practice, other regulators and internally, but Kate was the outstanding candidate, so I am very pleased that she has accepted the job of Deputy Chief Economic Adviser.”

PRIVACY: The Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information ordered Google Inc. to comply with Germany’s privacy laws by changing how it collects German users’ data and compiles user profiles, saying the Internet giant must make changes to ensure users can decide on their own if and how data is used for profiling. The agency overruled Google’s objection to an administrative order issued last year, which found Google was able to unlawfully access private information without a user’s express consent. “It's now in Google's hands to implement our stipulations by a transparent mechanism for consent to process user data,” said the Commissioner.

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