Expert Analysis

• Germany's Google Controls Illustrate Global Antitrust Trend

  

  Germany's recent move to rein in Google with extended restrictions on anti-competitive behavior provides an example of the new aggressive stance regulators around the world are adopting as tech giants grow their power in the digital economy, says Andrea Pomana at ADVANT Beiten.

• What To Expect From Merger Guideline Modernization

  

  The U.S. Department of Justice's and Federal Trade Commission's recent request for comment on amending the merger review guidelines provides perhaps the clearest indication yet of where guideline revisions might focus, including on structural presumptions, the role of market definition and the effect of transactions on labor, say attorneys at MoFo.

• Reevaluating Organizations' Cybersecurity Needs After Log4j

  

  A recently unearthed vulnerability in the popular Apache Log4j software is the latest cyber incident that shows the whack-a-mole response is not sufficient, but there are certain reorientation strategies that can effectively mitigate cybersecurity risk, say Colin Jennings and Ericka Johnson at Squire Patton and Michael McAndrews at PacketWatch.

• The Rising Demand For Commercial Litigators In 2022

  

  Amid broken supply chains, pandemic-induced bankruptcies and a rise in regulation by litigation, strong commercial litigators — strategists who are adept in trying a range of tortious and contractual disputes — are becoming a must-have for many law firms, making this year an opportune moment to make the career switch, say Michael Ascher and Kimberly Donlon at Major Lindsey.

• Import Best Practices Under New Uyghur Forced Labor Law

  

  Rachel Alpert and Grace Signorelli-Cassady at Jenner & Block discuss key provisions of the recently enacted Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, and offer compliance strategies that may position importers to demonstrate their supply chains are free from forced labor when the act's provisions presumptively barring many Chinese imports go into effect in June.

• Antitrust's 1900s Nostalgia In The US And Beyond

  

  President Joe Biden's appointees will continue to pursue a return to a previous antitrust era this year — the Federal Trade Commission, in particular, is dusting off its old tools — and similar developments are occurring in Europe and Asia, says Maureen Ohlhausen at Baker Botts.

• 5 Global Digital Markets Regulatory Issues To Watch In 2022

  

  Francesco Liberatore at Squire Patton lays out the key regulatory developments that will affect global digital markets this year, from new enforcement measures aimed at electronic communications services in the European Union to increased cooperation between antitrust officials in the U.S., U.K. and EU.

• USPTO Pilot Program May Bring Welcome If Limited Efficiency

  

  The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's new Deferred Subject Matter Eligibility Response Pilot Program, in aiming to improve examination efficiency, should appeal to applicants, but its impact may be limited because it is invite-only and applies only to nonfinal office actions, says Kelvin Varghese at Haynes and Boone.

• Opinion

  FTC Should Rethink Market Issues In Facebook Case

  

  The Federal Trade Commission's antitrust prosecution of Meta Platforms, formerly Facebook, may have survived the initial litigation stage this week, but the case still does not embrace the markets it purports to fix, says David Reichenberg at Cozen O'Connor.

• Takeaways From White Collar Criminal Enforcement In 2021

  

  White collar criminal prosecutions were up in 2021, with recent high-profile fraud trials, the Biden administration's enforcement priorities and the continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic potentially reversing the previous trend of slumping white collar prosecutions, say attorneys at Keker Van Nest.

• 5 Advertising Law Trends To Watch

  

  For the world of advertising, 2022 will bring new compliance challenges and considerations shaped by legal developments in everything from nonfungible-token commerce in the metaverse to the ever-growing impact of social media on young users, say Jason Gordon and Deborah Bessner at Reed Smith.

• How In-House Counsel Can Make The Case For Settling Early

  

  Following the recent settlement in McDonald's v. Easterbrook, in-house counsel should consider decision-tree analyses and values-driven communications plans to secure effective, early resolutions in litigation, saving time and money and moving the company mission forward, say Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein and Richard Torrenzano at The Torrenzano Group.

• New Anti-Dumping Rules Both Clarify And Complicate

  

  The U.S. Department of Commerce's recent regulatory changes concerning anti-dumping and countervailing duty proceedings refine the process and helpfully eliminate steps for petitioners, but also create new hurdles for nonpetitioning parties, say William Isasi and Jordan Bakst at Covington.

• To Retain Talent, GCs Should Prioritize Mission Statements

  

  With greater legal demands and an increasing number of workers resigning during the pandemic, general counsel should take steps to articulate their teams' values in departmental mission statements, which will help them better prioritize corporate values and attract and retain talent, says Catherine Kemnitz at Axiom.

• What Attys Can Learn From Harvard Professor's Conviction

  

  The recent conviction of Harvard professor Charles Lieber, on charges of lying about ties to China, highlights the perils that even highly educated white collar targets face in an FBI interview without counsel present, and it provides urgent lessons for attorneys on guiding their clients through stressful circumstances, say Jack Sharman and Tatum Jackson at Lightfoot Franklin.