One of Morrison & Foerster’s greatest strengths is its competition practice. Our lawyers deal on a regular basis with the European Commission in Brussels and antitrust agencies in the EU Member States and have significant experience advising companies with respect to the EU Merger Control Regulation and national merger control filings. We are a market leader in assisting global businesses in devising practical and strategic solutions to the challenges posed by international privacy and data protection laws and frequently consult and negotiate on privacy and data protection matters with the European institutions and national data protection authorities.
Investigations
Our competition lawyers represent major international companies in antitrust investigations in numerous industries, including telecommunications, IT, banking, food additives and chemicals. We have a particular expertise in dealing with IP and antitrust-related issues. For example, we are currently involved in a number of Commission investigations of patent pools as well as the Commission’s investigation of standard setting in the mobile industry. Together with our colleagues in the U.S., we have also represented European companies and individuals in criminal price fixing investigations in the U.S.
Merger control proceedings
We frequently counsel companies contemplating mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures, and represent them in reviews by the European Commission or Member State antitrust agencies. Lawyers in our Brussels office have assisted clients in obtaining approval of significant mergers and acquisitions in a variety of industries in recent years, including Digital Rights Management, LCD technology, hardware (hard disks and other recording media), and software.
Counseling practice
The firm’s lawyers counsel clients regarding a wide range of antitrust issues. Lawyers in the Brussels office regularly provide advice with reference to IP licensing, life sciences, collaboration agreements and patent pools. In this respect, we have developed a particular expertise in advising bio-tech companies with respect to antitrust issues relating to their collaboration, marketing and licensing agreements.