Authors: Steve Cernak, Luis Blanquez, and Kristen Harris
The comment period on the FTC and DOJ’s request for information on the HSR premerger notification form closed May 26, 2026, with 55 comments on the docket (FTC-2026-0298). That’s a small number for a rule that governs every reportable deal in the country,
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Apple’s Gemini-Siri Deal Is the Next Microsoft Antitrust Case, Not the Next App Store Fight
The Gate to the Kingdom May Be Closing for Good: Apple Puts Google Inside SiriAuthor: Luis Blanquez
On January 12, 2026, Apple and Google announced a multi-year deal—reported at roughly $1 billion a year—under which a custom Google Gemini model will run as the backend “brain” of the rebuilt Siri and the next
Beyond the DOJ Complaint: Potential Exclusionary Conduct Theories in the Apple Ecosystem
Authors: Pat Pascarella & Luke Hasskamp
Recent proceedings involving Apple Inc.—including the U.S. Department of Justice case and Epic Games v. Apple—together with developments in AI markets, suggest an evolving framework for platform-focused antitrust analysis. This article considers how those threads may fit together.
I. The DOJ Has Done Substantial Groundwork
Begin with market power.
Antitrust Lawyers: AI’s Wartime Consiglieres
Author: Pat Pascarella
AI will weaponize antitrust. AI markets have high fixed costs, winner-take-all dynamics, platform leverage, bundling power, and data lock-in. These dynamics predict concentration. And market concentration is an accelerant for antitrust litigation—both private and government. We saw it with IBM, Microsoft, and the telecom wars.
Private actions will move faster than government
Antitrust Law and Dynamic Competition
Author: Nicolas Petit
This is a guest post from noted antitrust and competition law scholar Nicolas Petit. Petit is a Professor of Competition Law in the Department of Law at the European University Institute. He is also the co-founder of the Dynamic Competition Initiative with the University of California – Berkeley. Longtime blog readers
Mergers & Acquisitions, AI and Antitrust: The New Creative Ways for Big Tech to Enter the AI Market and Avoid HSR Rules
Author: Luis Blanquez
Two of the main pillars from the Biden Administration Antitrust Policy in 2023 have been an aggressive merger enforcement agenda and its crusade against Big Tech and vertical integration.
On the merger side, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have published new Merger Guidelines (see also here)
The FTC has Algorithmic Price-Fixing in its Antitrust Crosshairs
Author: Luis Blanquez
Are you delegating your pricing decisions to a common algorithm software platform? If so, you might violate the antitrust laws. It may not even matter whether you actually communicated with your competitors. All it might take is for the antitrust agencies—The Department of Justice or the Federal Trade Commission—to allege
Best Antitrust Practices for Exchanging Competitive Information via Third Parties
Authors: Steve Cernak & Molly Donovan
There is no guaranteed safety zone for exchanging competitively sensitive information amongst competitors. Practices once deemed relatively safe—like subscribing to a third-party data services provider to manage the exchange—now carry increased risks. This is mostly because machine learning and AI have made it possible to predict a specific competitor’s