Antitrust Compliance: Leveraging Lessons from the Apple Ruling to Mitigate Liability and Damages

Federal court's landmark ruling against Apple changes the game

Recording of a 90-minute CLE webinar with Q&A

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Conducted on Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Recorded event now available

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Course Materials

This CLE course will focus on practical antitrust compliance lessons from the federal court's U.S. v. Apple decision, including guidelines for supplier, distributor and competitor communications. The panel will outline best practices for antitrust compliance in light of the Apple ruling.

Description

Failing to follow standard antitrust compliance protocols can be evidence of an antitrust conspiracy and expose businesses to antitrust regulatory action and damages. The federal district court's U.S. v. Apple et al., July 10, 2013, ruling provides a dramatic illustration of where companies can go wrong.

Specific findings in the decision and evidence the court pointed out in its ruling against Apple and the "Big 6" publishers provide counsel with lessons on how antitrust compliance protocol failures by a business can cost a company in court.

Our panel of antitrust law specialists will demonstrate the mistakes Apple and the other publishers made and outline how antitrust compliance, properly implemented and maintained, can shield a business from antitrust liability and damages.

Listen as our panel of antitrust attorneys and professor of law reviews the key factual findings in the Apple decision, evidence the court relied on, and the factual findings that led to the court’s legal conclusions. The panel's focus will be on outlining practical antitrust compliance lessons from the court’s decision.

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Outline

  1. The decision and its implications
    1. What did the court decide?
    2. What comes next and what is the relevance of the court’s decision for other actions?
    3. What’s the monetary and other exposure of Apple and the other defendants?
  2. What are the compliance lessons from the decision?
    1. How does the evidence against Apple stack up against compliance protocols for distributors generally?
    2. How does the evidence against the publishers stack up against compliance protocols for competitor communications?
    3. Are there lessons from the opinion for the overall approach companies take to antitrust compliance?
  3. Could the outcome of the case have been different?
    1. How does the law determine whether a horizontal conspiracy exists?
    2. How does the law view a distributor’s participation in a supplier’s alleged conspiracy?
    3. Could standard antitrust compliance have changed the outcome?
  4. Counseling post-Apple decision
    1. How should distributors and similar companies handle negotiations with suppliers?
    2. What strategies might Apple have employed to enter the eBooks market to mitigate its antitrust exposure?
    3. Questions

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key questions:

  • What were the key factual findings in the Apple decision, what evidence did the court rely on, and how did the factual findings lead to the court’s legal conclusions?
  • What are the practical antitrust compliance lessons to be learned from the court’s decision?
  • What should be the overall culture and direction of well-managed antitrust compliance programs?
  • What specific guidelines for supplier (publishers) and distributor (Apple) communications, and specific guidelines for competitor communications and meetings should counsel urge clients to incorporate in antitrust compliance programs?
  • How might the outcome in the case have been different if Apple and the publishers followed such guidelines?

Following the speaker presentations, you'll have an opportunity to get answers to your specific questions during the interactive Q&A.

Faculty

Anthony W. Swisher
Anthony W. Swisher
Partner
Squire Patton Boggs

Mr. Swisher has extensive experience representing clients before the FTC and the Antitrust Division of the DOJ in...  |  Read More

Christopher L. Sagers
Christopher L. Sagers
Professor
Cleveland-Marshall College of Law

He practiced law for four years in Washington, D.C., first at Arnold & Porter and then at Shea & Gardner. At...  |  Read More

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