antitrust issues

Maryland is joining with nine other states, the District of Columbia and the Federal Trade Commission in opposing a merger of the country's two largest food distribution companies on grounds that the union would create a near monopoly in this region and potentially raise prices for consumers.

The Democratic presidential nominee will campaign on reviving the middle class, but will she take on the moneyed interests?

A lawsuit filed by Merriweather Post Pavilion operator It's My Amphitheatre Inc. (I.M.A.) claiming competitor Live Nation has a national and regional monopoly over the promotion of live music events was dismissed by a Federal judge last week, prohibiting the lawsuit from going to trial.

A Tokyo-based shipping line will pay a $59.4 million fine for conspiring with other ocean carriers to fix prices and rig bids on automobile shipments in and out of Baltimore and other U.S. ports, federal law enforcement officials said Monday.

A Japanese company will pay a nearly $70 million fine after agreeing to plead guilty to fixing prices and rigging bids for shipping services at the Port of Baltimore, the Justice Department said Friday.

"K" Line and others conspired ¿to suppress and eliminate competition by allocating customers and routes, rigging bids, and fixing prices for international ocean shipping services for roll-on, roll-off cargo, such as cars and trucks, to and from the United States and elsewhere¿ between 1997 and 2012.

The U.S. Senate is considering stripping the NFL of its tax-exempt status — a warning analysts say the image-damaged league can't afford to ignore even if the threat proves hollow.

How is the SAT not an anti-trust violation?

More than 30 Maryland cab companies filed a lawsuit against the popular ride-sharing company Uber on Thursday

Hampstead-based Jos. A. Bank Clothiers will be acquired by rival Men's Wearhouse for $65 a share in cash, a $1.8 billion deal that ends a months-long hostile takeover fight.

The U.S. Department of Justice has identified and begun targeting a broad conspiracy to fix prices on automobile shipments out of Baltimore and other U.S. ports, with a Chilean company recently pleading guilty to violating federal antitrust laws in the scheme.

Safeway Inc.'s announcement Thursday that private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management would acquire the company in a deal valued at about $9.4 billion is the latest sign from the troubled grocery industry that supermarkets have fallen out of style.

On Thursday, Jos. A. Bank rejected Men's Wearhouse's latest bid, a $63.50-per-share offer to buy the Hampstead-based clothier, but in the first sign of thawing, its board has agreed to meet with Wearhouse to discuss a possible acquisition.

How did we find ourselves in this predicament, where physicians may not know, from day to day, whether the drugs they need will be available? The main reason is that most of these drugs are purchased through a handful of supply chain middlemen called hospital group purchasing organizations, or GPOs, whose anticompetitive practices and self-dealing have been documented in Senate antitrust hearings, media reports, government investigations and lawsuits.

As the prospect of a $1.6 billion merger between Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. and Men's Wearhouse dimmed, investors retrenched Monday morning, pushing down shares of both retailers much more than the broader market decline.

Maryland has filed a $157 million counterclaim against the Atlantic Coast Conference in which it alleges that ACC schools tried to recruit two Big Ten universities to join the ACC.

As Congress considers legislation aimed at limiting lawsuits filed by so-called patent "trolls" -- those who collect patents solely so they can sue others for infringing upon them -- there is another kind of intellectual property abuse that members should look into: patent pools.

Sysco Corp will buy US Foods Inc., a former Columbia-based company, for about $3.5 billion from its private equity owners in a deal that will combine the top two U.S. food distributors and create a company commanding at least a quarter of the $235 billion North American market.

Nielsen, which acquired Columbia-based Arbitron in September, plans to lay off 333 workers at Arbitron's former headquarters complex, state regulators said Friday.

The battle between two pharmaceutical companies over an AIDS drug has sparked a debate over whether gay men and lesbians can be removed from juries due to their sexual orientations.

Maryland fought back against the ACC's $52 million exit fee in a battle that could have wide ramifications

Nielsen Holdings announced Tuesday that it reached an agreement to acquire Columbia-based Arbitron Inc. in a deal valued at nearly $1.26 billion in cash.

Wilbur D. "Woody" Preston Jr., a retired partner in the Baltimore law firm of Whiteford, Taylor & Preston who was Maryland's special counsel during the 1985 savings and loan crisis, died Monday from complications of Alzheimer's disease at Gilchrist Hospice in Towson. He was 90.

Several companies have shown interest in bidding on bankrupt RG Steel's mill at Sparrows Point, according to a source with knowledge of the bankruptcy proceedings.

Europe's single currency has made the continent's problems worse

As anticipated, the NFL lockout will remain in place after the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals overturns a previous decision to lift the ruling.

Antitrust case that Microsoft 'lost' finally ends with a whimper, and the company's Windows OS monopoly intact