U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division

Rule Changes

Joint merger review authority with FTC

The United States raised the minimum deal size requiring federal antitrust review to $133.9 million on February 15, 2026—up from $126.4 million the previous year. Companies planning mergers or acquisitions above this threshold must now file premerger notifications with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) and wait for government clearance before closing their deals.

Updated Feb 16

Rule Changes

Lead plaintiff; appealing for Chrome divestiture

Google has paid Apple roughly $20 billion per year to be the default search engine on iPhones and Safari. In August 2024, a federal judge ruled this arrangement—and similar deals with Samsung and others—constituted an illegal monopoly. Now both sides are appealing: the Department of Justice wants Google broken up, while Google wants the entire case thrown out.

Updated Feb 11

Rule Changes

Prosecuting monopolization case against Apple, survived motion to dismiss

Apple controls what apps you can install, what features they can offer, and how much they cost. On January 8, 2026, the Ninth Circuit ruled that's perfectly legal—at least when it comes to shutting out a competitor's heart monitoring app. The decision caps a five-year battle with medical device maker AliveCor, which claimed Apple killed its SmartRhythm app by changing the Apple Watch heart rate algorithm in 2018. Judge Michelle Friedland held that Apple had no obligation to share its technology with rivals, invoking the rarely-successful refusal-to-deal defense. The same day, India doubled down on its right to impose antitrust penalties based on Apple's $380 billion global revenue—not just its Indian earnings—putting the company at risk of a $38 billion fine.

Updated Jan 8