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Competition
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Featured
DOJ's Google Ad Tech Suit Bound For Sept. Trial
A Virginia federal judge said Friday that the U.S. Department of Justice's lawsuit accusing Google of monopolizing technology used to place ads on third-party websites will go to trial, finding too many factual disputes to let the search giant nix the case.
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June 17, 2024
NFL Commish Goodell Takes Stand To Deny TV Price Controls
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell testified Monday in front of a California federal jury considering multibillion-dollar antitrust claims against the league that the NFL does not control the price of DirecTV's Sunday Ticket with any secret deals, insisting instead that the broadcast strategy is shouted "from the mountaintops."
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June 17, 2024
'What Am I Supposed To Do?': Epic-Apple Doc Row Irks Judge
A California federal judge presiding over Epic Games' high-stakes antitrust compliance fight against Apple expressed frustration Monday with the parties' disagreement over the scope of Apple's document production, asking counsel repeatedly "What am I supposed to do?" and "Do I need to get somebody on the stand to explain this?"
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June 17, 2024
Startup Wants To Add More Than $200M To Boeing IP Verdict
Zunum Aero Inc. is urging a Washington federal judge to significantly boost a $72 million jury verdict against the Boeing Co. for misappropriating the electric jet startup's trade secrets, including adding $162.5 million in exemplary damages and nearly $52 million in legal costs and interest.
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June 17, 2024
Milbank Snags FTC Competition Trial Chief For DC Office
Milbank LLP announced Monday it has hired the chief trial counsel for the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Competition, bulking up its Washington, D.C., antitrust and competition practice with a veteran litigator who led the government's challenge to Microsoft Corp.'s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
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June 17, 2024
Teamsters Plan Says Health Network Has Monopoly In Conn.
A Teamsters healthcare benefits plan and a Connecticut public transit provider have sued the healthcare network Hartford Healthcare Corp., accusing it of having a monopoly over healthcare in a half-dozen regions of the state.
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June 17, 2024
Discover Unit Settles Visa Card Transfers Antitrust Suit
Pulse Network LLC gave notice Friday that it has settled its antitrust suit accusing Visa of locking banks and merchants into its debit network, resolving decade-old litigation two years after the Fifth Circuit revived the suit and ordered its reassignment away from a judge harboring "ingrained skepticism."
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June 17, 2024
Ad Tech Judge Says No 'Moving Target' Damages, No Jury
A Virginia federal judge refused to consider the government's "late-arriving" math on how much federal agencies were overcharged by Google's digital advertising placement technology, according to an order unsealed Friday, a decision that allowed Google to successfully short-circuit the U.S. Department of Justice's damages claim and avoid a jury trial sought by the agency.
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June 17, 2024
Male Enhancement Pills Infringe RAW Trademark, Co. Says
HBI International, the American distributor of the RAW line of smoking products, has filed a lawsuit in Georgia federal court alleging Mash Enterprise LLC used "identical copies" of its trademarks, trade dress and copyrighted packaging to sell male enhancement pills and beverages.
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June 17, 2024
Exxon Investor Deal Ends Suit Over Emissions Proposal
Activist investor Arjuna Capital has escaped Exxon Mobil Corp.'s lawsuit over a contentious greenhouse gas-related shareholder proposal the investor sought to include in the company's 2024 proxy statement after a Texas federal judge on Monday accepted the investor's promises not to resubmit the proposal.
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June 17, 2024
Google Says Texas Took Opposing Positions On Key Law
Google told a Texas federal court the state attorney general's office made arguments in the case accusing the tech giant of monopolizing display advertising technology that directly contradict arguments the state is making in a case challenging the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
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June 17, 2024
Bookstores Appeal Denied Bid To Join FTC's Amazon Case
A trade association for bookstores is appealing to the Ninth Circuit after a lower court refused its request to intervene in the Federal Trade Commission's antitrust suit against Amazon that raises concerns about the e-commerce giant's sale of books and contracts with publishers.
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June 17, 2024
Huawei Slams Netgear's 'Tenuous' RICO Case
Huawei has responded to a racketeering and antitrust case from a major U.S. maker of Wi-Fi routers by calling it "rife with tenuous legal and factual claims" and comparing its reworking of patent infringement allegations to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's failed antitrust case against Qualcomm.
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June 17, 2024
Fed. Circ. Says Errors Led To Injunction In Trade Secrets Suit
A Federal Circuit panel on Monday overturned a preliminary injunction against a South Korean insulin pump patch manufacturer that allegedly stole trade secrets from a rival, saying a Massachusetts federal court made a series of errors in its determination to grant an injunction.
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June 17, 2024
Pharmacy Groups Urge High Court To Hear Okla. PBM Case
Pharmacy industry groups asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a Tenth Circuit decision that overturned portions of an Oklahoma law regulating pharmacy benefit managers, saying these intermediaries have driven up costs for patients while raising their own bottom lines, and states should be allowed to keep them in check.
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June 17, 2024
FTC Says Hospital Won't Fail Without Novant Buyout
The Federal Trade Commission is pushing back against claims that North Carolina's Lake Norman Regional Medical Center will fail if the agency halts its acquisition by Novant Health, telling the Fourth Circuit that the hospital is, in fact, profitable and stable.
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June 17, 2024
Commercial Litigation Pro Joins Blank Rome In Pittsburgh
An attorney with more than 20 years of experience advising business clients on commercial litigation has joined Blank Rome LLP's Pittsburgh office after nearly four years as an in-house counsel for a healthcare technology provider.
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June 14, 2024
Electronics Cos. Fight 'Drastic' $2B Price-Fixing Default
Irico Group and a subsidiary on Thursday opposed a special masters report recommending the Chinese electronics companies should be on the hook for over $2 billion in default judgment in litigation alleging they participated in a cathode ray tube price-fixing conspiracy, telling a California federal court the remedy is "drastic" and unwarranted.
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June 14, 2024
Fed Limits Bank's Fintech Dealings Over Risk Concerns
The Federal Reserve filed a cease-and-desist order against an Arkansas bank Friday requiring it to obtain federal and state approval before partnering with any fintech companies going forward after the agency identified risk management deficiencies in recent safety and compliance exams.
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June 14, 2024
Amazon Sued For Locking Up Audiobooks, Charging Up To 75%
A romance novelist challenged Amazon.com Inc.'s control of up to 80% of the U.S. audiobook market Thursday in a Washington federal court proposed class action accusing the retail giant of using exclusivity restrictions to lock in independent authors, extracting up to 75% of the sales price on Audible.
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June 14, 2024
'Cockamamie' Live Nation Arbitration Rules Perplex 9th Circ.
An attorney for Live Nation Entertainment Inc. argued to skeptical Ninth Circuit judges on Friday that a California district judge was wrong to remove ticket buyers' antitrust class claims from arbitration by finding the arbitration agreements unconscionable, with one judge calling the language in the agreements "drafting malpractice," "cockamamie" and "just nuts."
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June 14, 2024
Justices Are Asked To Wade Into Blood Pressure Drug IP Fight
United Therapeutics is taking its patent case seeking to stop a rival from selling a drug that competes with its blockbuster treatment for high blood pressure to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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June 14, 2024
France Offers $750M For Atos' Cyber, Data Assets
Information technology firm Atos SE said Friday that it has received a nonbinding offer from the French government to buy certain big data and cybersecurity operations at an enterprise value of €700 million ($750 million).
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June 14, 2024
Zillow Settles Antitrust Case Against ShowingTime Rival
Zillow has reached a settlement ending its case in Arizona federal court accusing a pair of multiple listing services of blocking members from using its ShowingTime tool in order to protect a rival tool that allows real estate agents and others to manage property showings.
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June 14, 2024
9th Circ. Balks At Gas Buyers' Price-Fix Fight Over Trump Pact
A Ninth Circuit panel appeared skeptical Friday of efforts to revive a proposed antitrust class action alleging that Chevron, Exxon Mobil and others fixed gasoline prices following the Trump administration's 2020 oil production deal with Russia and Saudi Arabia, with each judge doubting that federal courts have jurisdiction over the dispute.
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June 14, 2024
3rd Circ. Won't Halt 'Made In America' False Ad Ruling
The Third Circuit will not pause an injunction against Albion Engineering Co. for falsely marketing its caulking guns as made in the United States, according to a Friday order declining to hold off the New Jersey federal court's order while the firm appeals.
Editor's Picks
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FTC's Bedoya Says Labor Concerns In Mergers Matter
Federal Trade Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya said Friday that it's important for enforcers to consider the impact mergers can have on labor, even if they never did in the past, contending that concentration can lead to lower wages and dangerous working conditions.
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What We've Learned From Biden-Era Merger Remedies
Amid the Biden administration's uniquely aggressive merger regime, companies making deals face much higher hurdles convincing competition enforcers to accept divestitures, licensing deals or other remedies designed to address antitrust concerns. However, officials have provided a few clues about what settlements they'll accept and when.
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Antitrust Cases And Issues To Watch In 2024
A string of cases testing the limits of antitrust law when it comes to Big Tech are among the developments practitioners are watching in 2024, as well as cases targeting information-sharing schemes and private equity investments and investigations of the real estate and alcoholic beverage industries.
Expert Analysis
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Inside Antitrust Agencies' Rollup And Serial Acquisition Moves
The recent request for public comments on serial acquisitions and rollup strategies from the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Justice Department mark the antitrust agencies' continued focus on actions that fall below premerger reporting thresholds, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Always Be Closing
When a lawyer presents their case with the right propulsive structure throughout trial, there is little need for further argument after the close of evidence — and in fact, rehashing it all may test jurors’ patience — so attorneys should consider other strategies for closing arguments, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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Rare Robinson-Patman Ruling Exhibits Key Antitrust Risk
A rare federal court decision under the Robinson-Patman Act, which prohibits certain kinds of price discrimination, highlights the antitrust risks faced by certain suppliers and is likely to be cited by future plaintiffs and enforcement officials calling for renewed scrutiny of pricing and discounting practices, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.
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Takeaways From Nat'l Security Division's Historic Declination
The Justice Department National Security Division's recent decision not to prosecute a biochemical company for an employee's export control violation marks its first declination under a new corporate enforcement policy, sending a clear message to companies that self-disclosure of misconduct may confer material benefits, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.
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Wiretap Use In Cartel Probes Likely To Remain An Exception
Although the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division has recently signaled interest in wiretaps, the use of this technology to capture evidence of antitrust conspiracies and pursue monopolization as a criminal matter has been rare historically, and is likely to remain so, say Carsten Reichel and Will Conway at DLA Piper.
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Playing The Odds: Criminal Charges Related To Sports Betting
In light of recent sports betting scandals involving MLB player Shohei Ohtani and NBA player Jontay Porter, institutions and individuals involved in athletics should be aware of and prepared to address the legal issues, including potential criminal charges, that sports gambling may bring to their door, say attorneys at Steptoe.
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Series
Playing Chess Makes Me A Better Lawyer
There are many ways that chess skills translate directly into lawyer skills, but for me, the bigger career lessons go beyond the direct parallels — playing chess has shown me the value of seeing gradual improvement in and focusing deep concentration on a nonwork endeavor, says attorney Steven Fink.
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Key FCC Enforcement Issues In AT&T Location Data Appeal
AT&T’s decision to challenge a $57 million fine from the Federal Communications Commission for its alleged treatment of customer location information highlights interesting and fundamental issues about the constitutionality of FCC enforcement, say Patrick O’Donnell and Jason Neal at HWG.
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Litigation Inspiration: Attys Can Be Heroic Like Olympians
Although litigation won’t earn anyone an Olympic medal in Paris this summer, it can be worthy of the same lasting honor if attorneys exercise focused restraint — seeking both their clients’ interests and those of the court — instead of merely pursuing every advantage short of sanctionable conduct, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.
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What TikTok's Race Against The Clock Teaches Chinese Firms
The Biden administration's recent divestiture deadline on TikTok parent ByteDance provides useful information for other China-based companies looking to do business in the U.S., including the need to keep products for each market separate and implement firewalls at the design stage, says Richard Lomuscio at Stinson.
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Updated Federal Rules Can Improve Product Liability MDLs
The recent amendment of a federal evidence rule regarding expert testimony and the proposal of a civil rule on managing early discovery in multidistrict legislation hold great promise for promoting the uniform and efficient processes that high-stakes product liability cases particularly need, say Alan Klein and William Heaston at Duane Morris.
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Lean Into The 'Great Restoration' To Retain Legal Talent
As the “great resignation,” in which employees voluntarily left their jobs in droves, has largely dissipated, legal employers should now work toward the idea of a “great restoration,” adopting strategies to effectively hire, onboard and retain top legal talent, says Molly McGrath at Hiring & Empowering Solutions.
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Live Nation May Shake It Off In A Long Game With The DOJ
Don't expect a swift resolution in the U.S. Department of Justice's case against Live Nation, but a long litigation, with the company likely to represent itself as the creator of a competitive ecosystem, and the government faced with explaining how the ticketing giant formed under its watch, say Thomas Kliebhan and Taylor Hixon at GRSM50.
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NCAA Settlement May End The NIL Model As We Know It
The recent House v. NCAA settlement in California federal court, in which the NCAA agreed to allow schools to directly pay March Madness television revenue to their athletes, may send outside name, image and likeness collectives in-house, says Mike Ingersoll at Womble Bond.
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Opinion
The FTC And DOJ Should Backtrack On RealPage
The antitrust agencies ought to reverse course on their enforcement actions against RealPage, which are based on a faulty legal premise, risk further property shortages and threaten the use of algorithms that are central to the U.S. economy, says Thomas Stratmann at George Mason University.