On June 4, 2014, the DOJ announced that it will review consent decrees entered in 1941 as part of settlements with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI). The consent decrees were intended to remedy concerns that the organizations' aggregation of public performance rights (held by their member songwriters and music publishers) gave them anticompetitive market power in licensing those rights under Section 1 of the Sherman Act.

This is not the first time the DOJ has reviewed the ASCAP and BMI consent decrees. The ASCAP consent decree was last modified in 2001, and the BMI consent decree was last modified in 1994. The DOJ stated that opening the consent decrees for review again is necessary to account for how the Internet has changed how music is delivered to listeners. The DOJ is currently taking public comments on the proposed review and is particularly interested in any competitive concerns about joint licensing.

The DOJ's announcement to review these consent decrees comes just two months after the FTC approved a petition by Toys "R" Us to reopen and modify a final order entered in 1998. These two announcements demonstrate that the antitrust agencies continue to take into account market changes when enforcing the antitrust laws.

For more information on the FTC's Toy "R" Us decision, see Legal Update, FTC to Reopen and Modify 1998 Final Order in In the Matter of Toys "R" Us.