A practical perspective
Cox Smith’s antitrust practice as well as individual lawyers are recognized for their accomplishments in Chambers USA. Our lawyers know that sound antitrust advice requires a thorough understanding of our clients' business. We counsel a diverse group of domestic and international companies (from small startups to Fortune 50 multinationals) in a wide range of industries, from healthcare and telecommunications to energy and financial services. Our industry experience enables us to provide practical, focused antitrust counsel on a broad array of antitrust and competition law issues. We take a practical, common sense approach that helps our clients anticipate problems before they occur, respond to regulatory inquiries with confidence and achieve their business goals.

The foundation of our antitrust counsel is a thorough understanding of our clients’ business operations—their markets, competitors and regulatory environment. Our lawyers work closely with our clients’ senior management as well as sales, marketing, accounting and financial personnel to develop practical strategies for anticipating and managing the antitrust implications of all aspects of their business, including acquisitions, joint ventures, distribution channels, supply chain issues, marketing strategies and pricing.

When antitrust controversies do arise, we draw upon our experience in representing clients in federal and state courts as plaintiffs and defendants, and responding promptly and effectively to government investigations, administrative inquiries and hearings before federal and state antitrust enforcement agencies.

Antitrust and intellectual property
We are particularly sensitive to the need for helping clients navigate the increasingly complex intersection of intellectual property and antitrust law. In connection with licensing arrangements, joint ventures and strategic alliances, as well as distribution issues and the enforcement of intellectual property rights, clients rely on us to identify and analyze the regulatory and antitrust implications of patent or trademark ownership, and to protect their rights in court when necessary. Our firm works with clients to develop innovative strategies for harmonizing optimal IP protection with antitrust principles.

Business combinations
Many mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and joint ventures do not raise antitrust concerns. For those that do, Cox Smith knows how to develop a persuasive case for demonstrating the procompetitive merits of the transaction. If the parties to the transaction meet the government’s thresholds for either company size or dollar value of the deal, our lawyers work directly with the principals to guide the deal through the Hart-Scott-Rodino review process. No matter what the size and complexity of the transaction, we can analyze the relevant regulatory framework and industry data to make the case for approval. In those cases where the regulators serve a second request for information, we manage the response to the regulators’ request efficiently and effectively and, when necessary, secure an appropriate consent decree.

Distribution and pricing concerns
We counsel companies in multiple industries on the entire range of antitrust issues arising from their relationships with supply chain partners and distributors, including exclusive dealing, bundling and tying, resale price maintenance, and price discrimination issues. We prosecute and defend cases involving claims of monopolization in a variety of industries, and have litigated numerous cases involving predatory pricing and other exclusionary practices.

In addition to private civil litigation, the federal Sherman Act and Clayton Act, including the Robinson-Patman Act amendments, as well as many state laws, give antitrust regulators the power to investigate complaints involving restraints of trade, monopolization and price discrimination. Helping clients design and implement an effective compliance program often is the first line of defense in avoiding or mitigating antitrust problems. When regulators come knocking on the client’s door in the form of formal or informal investigations, civil investigative demands, subpoenas or information requests, we assist the client in crafting a direct and credible response.

Litigation
We are fully prepared to act as vigorous advocates for our clients in antitrust disputes, at trial and in administrative proceedings. Cox Smith lawyers have represented clients in several of the most significant antitrust matters litigated in the Texas federal and state courts, including class action proceedings, multi-district litigation, monopolization cases and government lawsuits and investigations. In antitrust matters brought by the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission or the Texas Attorney General's Office, we are equally comfortable with advocacy and settlement.

In addition to claims arising under the federal and state antitrust laws, when representing clients as private plaintiffs or defendants, our lawyers develop credible arguments involving the full range of business tort theories:

• Tortious interference with contract and prospective business relationships
• Commercial defamation and disparagement
• Unfair competition under federal and state statutes
• Fraud and misrepresentation
• Misappropriation of trade secrets

We have experience in handling challenges and other disputes arising under the Lanham Act, the Federal Trade Commission Act and other federal and state laws involving advertising and marketing claims and strategies. Our antitrust lawyers appear on behalf of clients before the courts, the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general to resolve issues involving advertising and other marketing practices.