ANTITRUST TEXAS 2022

Antitrust Texas has created a regional platform for in-house counsel to share best practice as well as the challenges they face

• Speakers and delegates represent Texas’ most important industries and leading organizations
• Connect with local and national in-house antitrust experts
• Plenty of breaks and socials ensure you have the opportunity to get to know everyone

Listen to experts as they analyse what reform will look like and how enforcement priorities could shift

• The new Administration – updates on potential reform / shifting enforcement priorities
• Target industry sectors – real and imagined
• The coming clash between “new” enforcement and “old” jurisprudence – consumer welfare and alternative standards
• FTC developments – FTC Act 5, competition rulemaking, industry bans
• Proposed legislation and likelihood of enactment – will Congress follow through?
• Expectations for criminal enforcement – employment agreements, monopolization

Gain practical insights on procedural challenges and learn more about ongoing merger debates 

• New horizontal merger guidelines
• New vertical merger guidelines
• Realistic expectations for tougher remedies
• Updates around killer acquisitions
• Implications of a potential review of standards and theories of harm – compulsory licensing, SEPS, IoT
• Challenges in implementing remedies, potential for retroactive breakups
• Economic perspectives on the ongoing debates

Discover how non-tech companies are assessing the competition risks relating to platforms and data

• Assessing competition risk relating to online platforms managed by tech and non-tech companies
• Review key developments within the major GAFA cases currently under way
• Breakups and other remedies threatened for tech companies
• Key EU and global developments – potential ripple effects into U.S. antitrust
• Comparing the Digital Markets Act to the American Innovation & Choice Act
• Tech theories of harm applied to other industries – AI and algorithms, self-preferencing, two-sided markets

We explore the key antitrust challenges being faced within oil & gas, consumer products and pharma:

• Consumer Products and Services
  • Increased hostility to exclusivity clauses and MFNs in commercial contracts/commerce and distribution challenges
    
    
• Pharma
  • Excessive pricing, discounts & rebates/pricing considerations in a post-pandemic world
    
    
• Challenges for Oil, Gas and Chemicals: Antitrust in a Volatile Industry Worldwide
  • State of U.S. and worldwide energy industries

Learn what constitutes an effective compliance program

• Best practices for implementing and operating a successful compliance program
• What is an “effective” competition compliance program for a global company?
• Compliance program benefits in criminal investigations and enforcement
• Changes in U.S. criminal prosecution – expansion of criminally-prosecuted conduct, tightening leniency requirements, prosecution of executives, DOJ track record
• Responsible responses to current major trends – such as employment antitrust issues