Some Current and Emerging Trends and Areas of Interest


1. Increasingly over the last fifteen years a number of countries have adopted some form of antitrust or "competition" law. Presently more than 100 nations have competition laws, and over 60 have merger control rules. U.S. agencies cooperate closely with various other enforcement authorities with the governments of other countries (including those of the European Union, Canada, Japan and Mexico) in investigating cartels and other anticompetitive behavior. This combination of increased antitrust enforcement abroad and intergovernmental cooperation points to the need for antitrust compliance efforts and sensitivity cooperation can be expected to increase in the future; it means that companies, particularly those who market internationally, will have to even be more vigilant about their antitrust compliance.

There is currently no international antitrust "code" binding on all or some group of nations. However, with increased dialogue and cooperation among antitrust authorities, many believe that enforcers in different countries will "converge" in some substantial ways in their approaches to antitrust theory, policy, enforcement and investigative techniques.

2. Experienced antitrust counselors in the U.S. monitor developments in the international arena and keep clients abreast of major developments abroad that may affect them. Many major U.S. corporations have antitrust attorneys familiar with international issues. Developing antitrust compliance programs that embrace international operations is a current challenge for firms with global activities.

3. Detection and punishment of international price-fixing cartels has been an increasing emphasis of U.S enforcers and other countries as well, and that trend can be expected to continue. Governmental cartel actions are inevitably followed by private class actions brought on behalf of direct purchasers (under federal law) and indirect purchasers (under the law of many states). These private actions, which may be brought by many plaintiffs and States in federal and state courts, can be enormously expensive in terms of potential risk of liability and in terms of costs of defense and disruption to the businesses of defendants. Private actions outside the U.S., brought in foreign courts and under foreign law, on behalf of citizens in other countries harmed by price-fixing and other cartel behavior, may well place a greater role on the antitrust enforcement scene. Criminal international cartel investigations may well play a number of other issues, including whether to seek amnesty under the amnesty programs of the Department of Justice and foreign competition law authorities.

4. While certain conduct (such as horizontal price- fixing, horizontal market and customer allocation, certain boycotts, and vertical minimum resale price-fixing) is per se illegal, over the last twenty-five years courts and agencies have developed a more refined analysis of and a more cautious approach to defining what conduct should be considered per se illegal. Antitrust "rule of reason" analysis is also more sophisticated, with courts and counsel considering when it is appropriate to apply a "truncated" or "abbreviated" determination that a practice unreasonably restrains trade.

5. With the expanded emphasis on cartel behavior, particularly international cartels, with strong policy statements from U.S. agencies on the need for timely , effective relief in merger cases (litigated or settled by consent ), and with debate over the role of the private action and, in particular, the treble damages remedy and the class action device in the remedies system, continuing debate over antitrust remedies can be expected.

6. Considerable attention has been given to the question of whether antitrust rules should be different or applied in some significantly different way in so-called "high technology" industries, where intellectual property is often the source of competitive advantage; where "network effects" may be significant; where cooperation among competitors may lead to standards that promote and ultimately lead to substantial benefits to consumers; and where markets often rapidly develop and are eclipsed. The intersection of antitrust law and intellectual property law, including the extent to which these bodies of legal doctrine are in conflict or really are complementary, is a related subject that has spawned much debate and discussion. Future cases can be expected to address these questions.

Mr. Joseph has extensive experience in the litigation and counseling of antitrust, trade regulation and franchising matters. The issues in these matters have frequently been complex, and they have covered a wide variety of substantive law issues and procedural litigation questions. He has also handled other commercial litigation issues and matters. Mr. Joseph's antitrust experience has involved cases and counseling with respect to all of the major antitrust laws and the subjects within them. He has participated in a number of antitrust cases encompassing distribution issues for McDonald's Corporation and other clients.

He has been actively involved in major cases alleging price fixing, such as the Corrugated Container Antitrust litigation and the Glass Containers litigation.

In addition to his just-completed term as Chair of the American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section, Mr. Joseph previously served as the Section's Chair-Elect and Vice-Chair, and as Committee Officer on the Section's Council, and as Chair of its Franchising Committee (1984-1987), Chair of its Videotapes Committee (1987-1990), and Chair of its Publications Committee (1991-1994). He also was Vice Chair of the Franchising Committee (1981-1984) and of the Publications Committee (1990-1991).

Prior to joining the Sonnenschein firm, Mr. Joseph was a staff attorney from 1971 to 1976 in the headquarters office of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Competition. He also served as the assistant to the director of the Bureau of Competition in 1973-74.

Mr. Joseph served as a member of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council of the Archdiocese of Chicago, a consultative body to the Archbishop of Chicago. He served as a Trustee of the Northbrook Public Library from 1979 to 1989, was its president from 1983 to 1985, and served in various other officer positions .

He graduated from the University of Michigan where he received his JD, cum laude, in 1971. He was a member of the Michigan Law Review, Alpha Sigma Nu, National Honor Society. He graduated from Xavier University with his AB, magna cum laude, in 1968.




Inside the Minds Stuff - Inside the Minds. Winning Antitrust Strategies
Inside the Minds Stuff - Inside the Minds. Winning Antitrust Strategies
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2004
Pages: 102

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