US Merger Control In The High-Technology Sector

September 11, 2017

Thomas P. Brown and Michael S. Wise

2017 began with the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States. During his campaign, President Trump gave only limited insight into how his administration would tackle antitrust issues generally. Since the election, antitrust enforcement in the high-technology sector has been limited, with few cases reaching decision points that would shed light on future enforcement priorities. The uncertainty is compounded by the fact that key leaders for both the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) are either awaiting confirmation or yet to be identified. Although the DOJ and FTC will likely continue to pursue cases involving technology, the framework for analysing these cases will be developed after new leadership at both agencies is installed. In the meantime, we can expect to see continued grappling with concepts like innovation markets and future competition. In addition, one of the most interesting emerging issues in high-technology mergers is the impact of algorithmic pricing models and other automated systems that may change how we traditionally analyse factors such as incentives for coordination. Whether a new President.

This article was originally published in The Merger Control, - Edition 8

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