Dale Collins
Georgetown University Law Center
NB: "±" indicates that the hyperlink will take you to another site.
This page contains the memorandum introducing the course, class schedule, reading materials, and class notes for the Merger Antitrust Law course taught during the 2020 fall semester at Georgetown. It also contains links to related supplemental materials on the Applied Antitrust web site. There is no textbook for this course. Everything you need will be linked to this page.
Memorandum introducing the course
Class schedule 1.0 (revised August 6, 2010)--SUBJECT TO REVISION BEFORE CLASSES BEGINS
Required Reading
Comments and Optional Reading
Unit 1
Introduction to Merger Antitrust Law: Substance and Process
Class 1
Tuesday, September 1
Introduction
TransDigm/Takata
Memorandum introducing the course
Merger Antitrust Law: Introduction to Substance and Process (class notes)
Antitrust Law: Hornbooks and Other Antitrust Study Aids
Demand curves and consumer surplus (YouTube videos):
Marginal Revolution University, The Demand Curve
Marginal Revolution University, A Deeper Look at the Demand Curve
Marginal Revolution University, What Is Deadweight Loss?
Unit 2
Predicting Merger Antitrust Enforcement Challenges
Class 2
Thursday, September 3
Predicting merger antitrust enforcement challenges
DOJ/FTC 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines
Predicting Merger Antitrust Enforcement Challenges (class notes)
U.S. Dep't of Justice & Fed. Trade Comm'n, Horizontal Merger Guidelines (rev. Aug. 19, 2010)
Evolution of the Merger Guidelines
Unit 3
The DOJ/FTC Merger Review Process
For additional supplemental materials, see 13. DOJ/FTC Merger Review and Settlement Procedures in AppliedAntitrust.com
Class 3
Tuesday, September 8
The DOJ/FTC Merger Review Process (class notes)
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, Clayton Act § 7A, 18 U.S.C. § 18a (Premerger notification and waiting period)
HSR form instructions (June 7, 2019)
Second request investigations
DOJ Model Second Request (Nov. 28, 2016)
FTC Model Second Request (August 2015)
Other supplemental materials
± DOJ Merger Enforcement web page
DOJ and FTC, Annual Report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2018
Makan Delrahim, It Takes Two:Modernizing the Merger Review Process, Prepared Remarks Before the 2018 Global Antitrust Enforcement Symposium, Washington, DC (Sept. 25, 2018)
Case study for homework assignment
Albertsons/Safeway case study (complete)
Unit 4
Merger Antitrust Litigation and Settlements
For additional supplemental materials, see 14. Merger Antitrust Litigation and 15. DOJ/FTC Merger Review and Settlement Procedures in AppliedAntitrust.com
Class 4
Thursday, September 10
Litigation
Settlements
Unit 4A. Merger Antitrust Litigation (class notes)
Unit 4B. Merger Antitrust Settlements (class notes)
There is no homework assignment for this class
The Course of Litigation: EnergySolutions’ Acquisition of Waste Control Specialists (Nov. 16, 2016)
Albertsons/Safeway case study (complete)
TransDigm/Takata case study (complete)
Agency materials: FTC
Fed. Trade Comm'n, The FTC’s Merger Remedies 2006-2012: A Report of the Bureaus of Competition and Economics (Jan. 2017) (FTC news release)
Dan Ducore & Naomi Licker, Bureau of Competition, Fed. Trade Comm'n, Looking Back (Again) at FTC Merger Remedies (Feb. 3, 2017)
Fed. Trade Comm'n, Bur. of Competition, Frequently Asked Questions About Merger Consent Order Provisions (downloaded August 8, 2019)
Deborah L. Feinstein, Dir., Bureau of Competition, Fed. Trade Comm'n, The Significance of Consent Orders in the Federal Trade Commission’s Competition Enforcement Efforts (Sept. 17, 2013)
Agency materials: DOJ
Makan Delrahim,Ass't Att'y Gen., U.S. Dep't f Justice, Antitrust Div., Improving the Antitrust Consensus, Prepared Remarks Before the New York State Bar Association Antitrust Section, New York, NY (Jan. 25, 2018)
U.S. Dep't of Justice, Antitrust Div., Antitrust Division Manual Ch. 4 D: Negotiating and Entering Consent Decrees (5th ed. updated Mar. 2014)
U.S. Dep't of Justice, Antitrust Div., Antitrust Division Policy Guide to Merger Remedies (rev. June 2011) (news release)
Other materials
Jonathan M. Jacobson, Issues in Antitrust Consent Decrees, Presented to the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (Apr. 26, 2018)
Unit 5
Hertz/Avis Budget/Dollar Thrifty
Class 5
Tuesday, September 15
The 2010 Hertz/Dollar Thrifty deal
Class 6
Thursday, September 17
Antitrust considerations and the merger agreement
The bidding war with Avis
FTC review and settlement
Aftermath
Unit 6
A Case Study Problem: Atlanta Newspaper Merger
Class 7
Tuesday, September 22
Unit 7
Competition Economics
Class 8
Thursday, September 25
Part 1. Demand, Costs, and Profit-Maximization
Class 9
Tuesday, September 29
Part 2. Markets and Market Equilibria
Wednesday, September 30
Optional economics review session
Unit 8
Sanford Health/Mid Dakota Clinic
.
Class 10
Thursday, October 17
Analysis of the Eight Circuit's opinion
Institutional setting
Relevant product markets
Relevant geographic markets
The PNB presumption
Class 11
Tuesday, October 6
Analysis of the Eight Circuit's opinion
Power buyers defense
Entry defense
Efficiencies defense
Unit 9
H&R Block/TaxACT
Class 12
Tuesday, October 8
H&R Block/TaxACT
Institutional setting
Market definition
Class 13
Thursday, October 15
Market definition
Class 14
Tuesday, October 20
Coordinated Effects
Class 17
Thursday, October 31
Unilateral effects
Class 18
Tuesday, November 5
Unilateral effects
Efficiencies defense
Wednesday, November 6
Market definition
Optional review session
Class 19
Thursday, November 7
Catchup and review of homework assignment
Unit 11
Sysco/U.S. Foods
Class 20
Tuesday November 12
Analysis of the district court opinion
Targeted customers
Second price auction theory of unilateral effects
Power buyer defense
Wednesday, November 13
Anticompetitive effects
Downward-pricing pressure defenses
Optional review session
Unit 12
Staples/Office Depot
Class 21
Thursday, November 14
Analysis of the district court opinion
Graded Homework Assignment
Posted Friday, November 6
Due Wednesday, November 18
Unit 13
Short Horizontal Cases
Class 22
Tuesday, November 19
Analysis of short case studies
ABI/Grupo Modelo
Heinz/Beech-Nut
Adobe/Aldus
Class 23
Thursday, November 21
Analysis of short case studies
SGI/Alias/Wavefront
Energy Solutions/Waste Control Specialists
(failing company defense)
Dollar General/Dollar Tree/Family Dollar
Sirius/XM
Boston Scientific/CVIS
Unit 14
Potential Competition Mergers
Class 24
Tuesday, November 26
Mylan/Perrigo
Medtronic/Covidien
Mallinckrodt (Questcor)/Novartis
Steris/Synergy Health
Nielsen/Arbitron
Akron/VersaPharm
Unit 15
Vertical Mergers
Class 25
Wednesday, December 4
General Electric/Avio
Comcast/NBCUniversal
AT&T/Time Warner
Class 26
Thursday, December 5
AT&T/Time Warner (con't)
Coca-Cola/Coca-Cola Enterprises
Unit 16
Sabre/Farelogix
Class 26
Thursday, December 3
Analysis of the district court opinion
Final Review Session (optional)
Friday, December 4
Optional review session
FINAL EXAM
Tuesday, December 10 –
Thursday, December 19
5-hour
Open book
Take home