Eric Mahr is a partner in the firm's Litigation and Regulatory Departments, and a member of the Antitrust and Competition, Antitrust Litigation, Intellectual Property Litigation, and Government and Regulatory Litigation Practice Groups. Mr. Mahr joined the firm in 1999 and became a partner in 2003.
Mr. Mahr focuses on complex civil and class action litigation and arbitration in the United States, Europe, and around the world. His practice has a particular emphasis on antitrust and competition, as well as intellectual property, heath care, telecommunications, energy, and other areas in which federal legislation and regulation are prominent features of the legal landscape.
Practice
Mr. Mahr has represented clients at trial and on appeal in federal district and appellate courts throughout the United States, as well as before arbitral panels in international disputes. While concentrating on antitrust and federal regulatory issues, over the course of his career he has handled a wide variety of civil litigation and arbitration for both plaintiffs and defendants, including in the areas of fraud, intellectual property, RICO, unfair competition/business torts, insurance coverage, contracts, bankruptcy, employment and health care.
Mr. Mahr also represents clients in investigations, enforcement actions, and other regulatory proceedings both in the United States before the US Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, Securities Exchange Commission, and Federal Communications Commission, among others, and in Europe before the European Commission and numerous national Competition Authorities. He has conducted internal investigations for clients in the United States, the Czech Republic, Spain and the Netherlands.
Currently based in Washington DC, Mr. Mahr was resident in the firm's Brussels, Belgium office from 1999 to 2003, where he focused on antitrust and competition issues before regulators in the United States, Europe and around the world. He has represented clients in second phase merger proceedings in both the United States and Europe, including in International Paper/Temple Inland, Verizon/Alltel, AOL/Time Warner, Tetra Laval/Sidel, Unilever/Bestfoods, Andritz/Ahlström, Outokumpu/Lennox, AOL/Banco Santander Central Hispano, Aramark/Ogden, and Duke Energy/Phillips Petroleum. He has assisted clients in complying with their international regulatory obligations around the world, and has worked closely with local counsel to secure clearance in jurisdictions such as the Czech Republic, Poland, Ireland, Spain, Austria, Mexico, Finland, Germany and Brazil.
Prior to joining the firm in 1999, Mr. Mahr spent five years as a trial attorney in the US Department of Justice's Civil Division (Federal Programs Branch), and two years clerking for the Honorable Raymond J. Broderick in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Recent Highlights
- Represents Deutsche Lufthansa, Lufthansa Cargo, and Swiss International Air Lines in more than 100 consolidated class actions under Section 1 of the Sherman Act alleging price-fixing in the international air cargo sector, and coordinates related litigation in Europe, Canada and Australia. (In re Air Cargo Shipping Services Antitrust Litigation, US District Court for the Eastern District of New York)
- Defended Intel Corporation in Federal Trade Commission Part 3 litigation, in which the FTC claimed violations of Section 5 of the FTC Act and Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act for alleged unlawful monopolization of markets related to computer microprocessors and graphics processing. (In the matter of Intel Corporation, FTC Docket Number 9341)
- Represents International Paper Company in securing antitrust clearance from the US Department of Justice for its $4.4B acquisition of Temple-Inland, Inc. (United States v. International Paper Company, US District Court for the District of Columbia)
- Represents Deutsche Lufthansa and Swiss International Air Lines in multidistrict class action litigation alleging price-fixing on air passenger routes between the United States and Asia/Oceania in violation of Sherman Act Section 1. (In re Transpacific Air Transportation Antitrust Litigation, US District Court for the Northern District of California)
- Represents a major European industrial copper tube producer and its US affiliates in several related treble damage class actions brought by direct and indirect purchasers alleging price-fixing and market allocation arising out of cartel proceedings before the European Commission. Succeeded in securing the dismissal of all direct purchaser claims in the district court, and currently defending that dismissal on appeal in the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. (In re ACR Copper Tubing Litigation; Brooks v. Outokumpu Oyj; and Carrier Corp. v. Outokumpu Oyj, US District Court for the Western District of Tennessee; Georgia Street Appliances v. Outokumpu Oyj, US District Court for the Northern District of California)
- Represents Cephalon, Inc., in a number of so-called "reverse payment" Hatch Waxman patent settlement cases claiming violations of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act and Section 5 of the FTC Act, including actions brought by the Federal Trade Commission, a generic competitor, as well as individual and proposed classes of direct and indirect purchasers. (FTC v. Cephalon; Apotex v. Cephalon; King Drug Co. of Florence v. Cephalon; Vista Healthplan v. Cephalon; US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania)
- Prevailed at trial on behalf of a branded pharmaceutical company against a generic competitor's antitrust counterclaim to a withdrawn patent infringement action under the Hatch-Waxman Act. (Braintree Laboratories, Inc. v. Schwarz Pharma, Inc., US District Court for the District of Delaware)
- Represented Deutsche Lufthansa against class action claims alleging price-fixing violations with respect to passenger traffic between Europe and Japan. Succeeded in obtaining dismissal of all claims on subject matter jurisdiction grounds. (McLafferty v. Deutsche Lufthansa AG, et al., US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania)
- Represented Deutsche Lufthansa in class action litigation alleging violations of Section 1 of the Sherman Act in connection with alleged price-fixing of passenger fares between Europe and the United States. Succeeded in obtaining dismissal of all claims. (LaFlamme v. Société Air France, et al., US District Court for the Eastern District of New York)
- Assisted Verizon Communications in securing antitrust clearance from the US Department of Justice for its acquisition of Alltel Corporation (United States of America, et al., v. Verizon Communications, Inc., et al., US District Court for the District of Columbia)
- Represented a leading Spanish energy company in an international arbitration over contract rights relating to the sale of liquid natural gas.
- Represented Fannie Mae in regulatory proceedings before the Securities Exchange Commission and the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight in connection with allegations of accounting improprieties and earnings management.
- Represented the Audit Committee of the Supervisory Board of Royal Ahold, NV, a leading international food distributor. Conducted internal investigations concerning alleged accounting issues at Royal Ahold's operating companies in the Czech Republic and Spain, and at its headquarters in the Netherlands.
- Assisted Tetra Laval in seeking clearance of its acquisition of Sidel before the European Commission's Merger Task Force, including the appeal of the Commission's prohibition of the transaction—one of the first merger appeals taken under the European Court of First Instance's expedited procedure and the very first successful appeal of a European Commission merger prohibition in which the parties were actually able to secure clearance post-appeal and complete their transaction.
- Represented Bell Operating Companies in a variety of disputes under the Telecommunications Act of 1996 before the Federal Communications Commission and state regulatory commissions in the states of Maryland and Washington and in the District of Columbia.
- Represented Time Warner affiliate America Online, Inc. and former affiliate Warner Music Group in the European Commission's Article 81/82 EC investigation of MusicNet, an online music B2B venture among AOL, Warner Music, Bertelsmann, EMI and RealNetworks.
Professional Activities
Mr. Mahr has authored numerous articles on antitrust and competition law in both American and European publications, including Business Law International, Global Competition Review, International Business Lawyer, Lawyer's Europe, National Law Journal, and International Financial Law Review. He has lectured in both the United States and Europe on subjects ranging from providing deposition and trial testimony in fraud prosecutions to lobbying the European Commission in antitrust and competition matters.
Honors and Awards
- Selected by his peers as a leading attorney in the area of Antitrust Litigation in Washington, DC in the 2011 edition of Super Lawyers
