Department of Justice/Federal Trade Commission Hearings on Single-Firm Conduct to Continue on May 1

WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission today announced that the second-to-last panel in a series of joint public hearings designed to examine the implications of single-firm conduct under the antitrust laws will take place on May 1 in Washington, D.C. The final panel will be held on May 8.

These hearings have been examining whether and when specific types of single-firm conduct may violate section 2 of the Sherman Act (which prohibits monopolization and attempted monopolization) by harming competition and consumer welfare and when they are procompetitive and lawful.

The May 1 panel will be conducted in a roundtable format and will explore a wide range of enforcement and policy issues regarding single-firm conduct, including the analysis of monopoly power, various proposed standards for exclusionary conduct, and the application of those standards to specific practices. Dennis Carlton, Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, and William Blumenthal, general counsel of the Federal Trade Commission, will moderate the panel. The panel will be held at the Federal Trade Commission’s Conference Center, 601 New Jersey Avenue NW, Washington, D.C., Room A.