Andrew G. Berg

Andrew G. Berg

Andrew G. Berg is a Shareholder in the firm's Litigation Practice Group. He advises clients on litigation, mergers and acquisitions, and other antitrust and competition-related matters before the Federal Trade Commission, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice, state attorneys general, and in private litigation. Mr. Berg's practice also includes a full range of antitrust transactional and mergers- and acquisitions-related expertise including "Hart-Scott-Rodino" filings at the FTC and DOJ and related merger analysis issues. He also counsels and litigates unfair and deceptive trade practice matters involving advertising, marketing, and financial and credit practices.

Mr. Berg represents clients in every aspect of FTC and DOJ investigations, inquiries, and litigation. At the FTC this includes pre-complaint investigations; discovery and investigational hearings; complaint recommendations before the Bureau Directors' offices and the Commissioners' offices; and enforcement litigation in both federal and administrative law courts. At the DOJ this also includes complaint recommendations before the Assistant Attorney General. His practice also involves interfacing with congressional and other federal regulatory agencies on issues relating to law enforcement and public policy issues at the FTC and DOJ and on related trade regulation issues.

Mr. Berg has represented clients in a large number of industry sectors over his twenty-eight years in private law practice in the antitrust and trade regulation area. These include:

· consumer retailing (supermarkets, general merchandise, department stores and specialty retailers such as office products, hospitality and gasoline retailing);

· computers, computer software, and semi-conductor chips;

· travel and transportation-related services (automobile rentals, airlines, global distribution systems, and freight shipping);

· media and publishing (newspapers, bookpublishing and retailing, and music);

· entertainment (motion pictures and satellite radio);

· telecommunications;

· electricity and energy-related products and services;

· forest products, including newsprint;

· consumer products, goods and services;

· health-care services and pharmaceutical products, including branded and generic drugs and nutraceuticals;

· natural resources discovery and mining, including oil and gas;

· securities-industry and related financial sector services (including banking, credit card services, credit reporting, and third-party debt collection);

· trade associations and standards-setting organizations; and

· a wide variety of manufacturing industry products and services.

Mr. Berg has represented clients in nearly every industry sector that falls within the FTC's and the DOJ Antitrust Division's law enforcement jurisdictions.

Prior to joining Greenberg Traurig, Mr. Berg practiced law as a partner in the Washington, D.C. offices of three national law firms. He also has served as Senior Attorney Advisor to a Federal Trade Commissioner where he formulated policy and voting recommendations on FTC enforcement and regulatory matters and prepared Commission adjudicatory opinions and congressional testimony. Before joining the FTC in 1983, he was in private practice in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, concentrating in antitrust, trade regulation, and government regulation matters.

Mr. Berg has authored numerous law review articles and has participated in many professional panels examining current antitrust and mergers and acquisitions-related issues, as well as deceptive and unfair practices issues.

Areas of Concentration

I. Antitrust and Competition:

· Mergers and acquisitions and competitor collaborations under Section 7 of the Clayton Act.

· "Hart-Scott-Rodino" pre-merger notification filings and related transactional issues under Section 7A of the Clayton Act.

· Restraints of trade (including price-fixing; group boycotts; exclusive dealing arrangements; customer and territorial allocations; resale price maintenance; and pre-merger coordination) under Section 1 of the Sherman Act.

· Monopolization and attempts to monopolize (including predatory conduct) under Section 2 of the Sherman Act.

· Discrimination in pricing and promotional services and allowances under the Robinson-Patman Act.

· Unfair methods of competition under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act.

· Related acts or practices under state antitrust acts and state "baby" FTC Acts.

II. Unfair and Deceptive Acts and Practices:

· Marketing practices, including deceptive telemarketing and direct mail marketing; retail point-of-sale disclosures and related consumer disclosure requirements; internet and telecommunications fraud; fraudulent business opportunities; deceptive commercial emailing under the CAN-SPAM Act and Rule; pay-per-call services; warranty rules; fraudulent business, investment and work-at-home schemes; and sweepstakes and games of chance.

· Advertising practices, including deceptive advertising and internet marketing such as spyware.

· Financial practices, including data security and privacy; identity theft; predatory or discriminatory lending practices; unfair or deceptive loan services; debt collection; credit counseling and debt assistance practices; and consumer credit reporting.

· Related acts or practices under state deceptive acts statutes and state "baby" Federal Trade Commission Acts.

· Self-regulatory proceedings, including National Advertising Division/Better Business Bureau advertising challenges, and Section 43(a) cases under the Lanham Act.

Significant Representations

I. Significant Competition/Antitrust Representations:

A. FTC and DOJ merger/transactional matters and investigations:

· Alamo Car Rental's acquisition of National Car Rental.

· Delhaize America's separate acquisitions of the Hannaford, Harvey's, and Kash 'n Karry supermarket chains.

· Georgetown Partners' acquisition of the automobile emissions testing assets of General Motors/Hughes.

· Giant Eagle's separate acquisitions of Dave's and the Rini Rigo supermarket chains, and certain stores of Topps Supermarkets.

· Griffith Oil's separate acquisitions of Shore Stop and Petro.

· GTE's acquisition of Puerto Rico Telephone Company.

· Matsushita's asset acquisition of semi-conductor chip fabrication facilities in Puyallop, Washington.

· Matsushita's acquisition of MCA.

· Ohio Edison's acquisition of Centerior Energy.

· Republic Industries/AutoNation's separate acquisitions of Alamo Car Rental, Snappy Car Rental, Spirit Rent-a-Car, and Value Rent-a-Car.

· Ritchie Brothers acquisition of Forke Brothers.

· RSI's acquisition of Sterigenics.

· Starbuck's retail joint venture with Kraft General Foods.

· Tenet Healthcare's acquisition of St. Mary's Hospital.

· The Belk Stores' separate acquisitions of the Proffit/McCrae's and Parisian divisions of Sak's Fifth Avenue.

· U.S. Filter's acquisition of Culligan.

· Viacom's acquisition of Paramount.

· Hindalco's acquisition of Novelis.

· National Car Rental's sale of its EuropeCar division to Eurazeo and its global marketing joint venture with Eurazeo.

· Pueblo International in the acquisition of Amigo Supermarkets by WalMart.

· Secure Computing's acquisition of CiberTrust.

· Multiple separate Waste Management Inc. acquisitions of local and regional waste haulers.

· Multiple separate AutoNation acquisitions of local retail automobile dealerships.

· Boater's World in connection with the FTC investigation of West Marine's acquisition of the BOAT US retail stores.

· Multiple separate proposed acquisitions by Mesa Petroleum/T. Boone Pickens-affiliated entities.

· Hoylake/Sir James Goldsmith's proposed acquisition of British American Tobacco.

· Georgetown Partners' acquisition of cellular-phone licenses and spectrum from Ameritech.

· Georgetown Partners' proposed licensing of satellite radio spectrum in connection with Sirius Radio's acquisition of XM Satellite Radio.

· SP Newsprint in connection with the DOJ investigation of Abitibi's acquisition of Bowater and separately in connection with the acquisition of SP Newsprint by White Birch Company.

· William Farley in connection with the FTC Hart-Scott-Rodino compliance investigation of the acquisition of West Point Pepperil.

· Matheson Trigas in connection with the FTC investigation of the AirLiquide/BOC merger.

· American Stores in its acquisition of Lucky Stores.

B. FTC and DOJ non-merger/non-transactional matters and investigations:

· Putnam-Berkeley in the FTC's Robinson-Patman Act book publishing investigation and administrative litigation.

· Lotus Development and Adobe in multiple FTC and DOJ investigations of Microsoft.

· Winn-Dixie and Albertson's in the FTC's separate slotting fee investigations.

· Lotus Development in the FTC's software GSA price-fixing investigation.

· Sidmak Laboratories in the FTC's generics pricing investigation.

· Shell Oil in the FTC's price-gouging investigation following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

· Stamps.com in the Department of Justice's Sherman Act investigation of Pitney-Bowes.

II. Significant Unfair and Deceptive Acts and Practices Representations:

· Risk Management Alternatives in the FTC's Fair Debt Collection Practices Act/Fair Credit Reporting Act financial practices investigation.

· Savvier Inc. in the FTC's federal court advertising practices enforcement action.

· Motion Picture Association of America in the FTC's media violence marketing practices investigation following the Columbine High School massacre.

· Samsung in several FTC, California Attorney General, and California District Attorney investigations and follow-on class action litigation in the computer monitor cases.

· National Car Rental in multiple separate marketing, advertising, and financial practices investigations by the FTC.

· Revlon in two separate advertising practices investigations and FTC Act Section 5 litigation by the FTC.

· IBM and Time Warner in FTC rulemakings under the Telemarketing Sales Rule.

· Billing Concepts and Billing Services Group in multiple separate marketing practices investigations and enforcement litigation by the FTC, numerous state Attorneys General, and numerous state public service and public utility commissions.

· ILD Communications in the FTC's 800 Number investigation.

· Sidney Frank Inc. in the FTC's marketing practices investigation.

· Samsung in Lanham Act 43(a) complaint brought by a competitor for various Samsung computer monitor advertising performance claims.

· A national debt collections agency in connection with a pending FTC multi-year investigation of its compliance with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

· Chantal Pharmaceutical in connection with the FTC investigation of its advertising practices.

· William Shell and NutraCorp in connection with an FTC order compliance investigation.

*Certain of the representations listed above were handled by Mr. Berg prior to his joining Greenberg Traurig, LLP.

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