Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, WORTH NOTING—Other Antitrust and Trade Regulation developments, (Jan 20, 2017)

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

ANTITRUST NEWS: A Northern California real estate investor who pleaded guilty in September 2016 for his role in a conspiracy to rig bids at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California was sentenced to ten months in prison on January 17. Stephan Alexander Florida was charged in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Oakland in November 2014. In addition to the jail time, Florida was fined and order to pay $20,206 in restitution (U.S. v. Florida, Case No. 4:14-cr-00582-PJH).

ANTITRUST NEWS: The Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has filed suit against liquid aluminum sulfate producer General Chemical Corporation and its affiliates, GEO Specialty Chemicals, Inc., and C&S Chemicals, Inc., for allegedly conspiring to restrain trade, rig bids, and reduce competition in Florida for liquid aluminum sulfate, a water treatment chemical. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, claims that, from 1997 to February 2012, the chemical producers conspired with each other to allocate certain customer accounts in order to charge higher prices for liquid aluminum sulfate (State of Florida v. General Chemical Corporation, Case No. 2:17-cv-00384).

ANTITRUST NEWS: The European Commission (EC) announced that it welcomes a January 5 agreement between Amazon, Inc., and Apple Inc., to end all exclusivity obligations concerning audiobook distribution as a step that will improve competition in the downloadable audiobook market in Europe. Audible and Apple’s iTunes store are two of the world's largest distributors of downloadable audiobooks to consumers. The exclusivity obligations at issue predated Amazon's acquisition of Audible in 2008, and required Apple to source exclusively from Audible and Audible not to supply music digital platforms other than Apple’s iTunes store. Amazon/Audible and Apple have agreed to remove exclusivity obligations, following contacts with the EC and the German Federal Cartel Office. The agreement will allow Audible to supply its downloadable audiobooks to third party platforms and Apple to source audiobooks from alternative suppliers. Publishers and content aggregators will also be able to enter into distribution agreements directly with Apple as a result of the agreement. Finally, according to the EC, the removal of these exclusivity obligations will allow for further competition in a fast growing and innovative market and allow European consumers broader access to downloadable audiobooks. The EC opened its investigation into the exclusivity arrangement after receiving a complaint from the German Publishers and Booksellers Association. A substantially similar complaint was submitted by the same association to the German Federal Cartel Office, which opened an investigation against Audible and Apple in November 2015.

AGENCY NEWS: Bill Baer, the Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General and former head of the Antitrust Division, was set to depart the Justice Department at the conclusion of the Obama Administration today. "Bill has led the Associate’s Office and the Antitrust Division with exceptional talent and energy. Under his leadership, the Department secured major litigation victories and settlements that have yielded real benefit to American consumers. Bill deftly executed enforcement actions to address a wide range of misconduct, from fraud in the issuance of residential mortgage-backed securities, to international price-fixing cartels, to anticompetitive merger agreements. The Antitrust Division thrived under the close collaboration between Bill and his successor as head of the Division, Acting Assistant Attorney General Renata Hesse," said Attorney General Loretta Lynch. "Throughout his tenure at the Department, Bill has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to our mission, and I want to thank him for his extraordinary service and for his friendship."

CONFERENCES: The American Antitrust Institute (AAI) and Navigant Economics will be hosting a Healthcare Roundtable with experts from government, academia, industry, and advocacy discussing major competition enforcement and policy issues that face the healthcare industry. The Roundtable will be held on February 22, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. According to an announcement from the AAI, the Roundtable will focus on competitive issues and challenges in healthcare markets, and will help to frame the debate on key issues such as promoting rivalry, innovation, and consumer choice. There will be a ‘year in review’ segment, three panels, and a keynote address by the FTC’s Deborah Feinstein. The analysis presented at the Healthcare Roundtable will contribute to a special upcoming issue of the journal Research in Law and Economics.

CONFERENCES: During the Canadian Competition Bureau’s FinTech Market Study workshop, experts from the financial services (Fin Tech) community, including Canadian start-ups, banks, provincial and federal regulators, and international experts, are invited to examine the connections between competition, innovation, and regulation, as they plan for the future. The workshop will be held on February 21 in Ottawa. According to the agenda for the workshop, participants will discuss the changing face of the financial services industry, risks that should be identified and mitigated by regulation, and international best practices in bringing FinTech innovation to market.

RICO—Ga. App.: Georgia’s newly-amended statute of limitations for Georgia RICO claims (OCGA §16-14-8, effective July 1, 2015) should not have been retroactively applied to allow an action that was barred under the prior statute, a Georgia appellate court has ruled. Because the amended statute did not contain any language that imperatively required retroactivity, and nothing in the act as a whole required the conclusion that the Georgia legislature had intended the amendment to have retroactive effect, the appellate court reversed a trial court’s finding that the amended statute should be applied retroactively (Harper v. Glock, January 18, 2017, Andrews, G.).

Companies: Amazon, Inc.; Apple, Inc.; Glock, Inc.; General Chemical Corporation; GEO Specialty Chemicals, Inc.; C&S Chemicals, Inc.

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