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Competition
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May 01, 2024
5th Circ. Judge Skeptical Of Medicare Drug 'Price-Setting'
A Fifth Circuit judge on Wednesday sharply criticized the Biden administration's Medicare drug pricing program, characterizing it as government "price-setting" and questioning "what possible procompetitive justification" there can be for penalizing companies that don't participate.
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May 01, 2024
Food Supplier Can't Shake Off $5M DOD Bid-Rigging Claim
A food supplier must face a U.S. Department of Defense agency's efforts to recoup the purported $5 million lost to an ex-employee's bid-rigging scheme, after a contract appeals board ruled the contractor was required to provide fair, unrigged prices.
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May 01, 2024
Attys Seek $95M In Fees For Elite Schools' Aid-Fixing Deals
Class counsel representing students who accused 17 top universities of colluding to fix student aid packages have asked an Illinois federal judge to award them $94.7 million in fees plus $3.5 million in expenses for securing $284 million in settlements with 10 schools.
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May 01, 2024
CMA Worries DJs Might Pay More If Equipment Makers Merge
The antitrust regulator of the U.K. on Wednesday said that DJ equipment maker AlphaTheta's proposed acquisition of audio technology company Serato could increase costs for DJs in the country to keep partygoers entertained.
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April 30, 2024
5th Circ. Nixes Software Co.'s $1.6B Win In IBM Contract Row
The Fifth Circuit on Tuesday reversed a Texas federal court's $1.6 billion ruling against IBM, finding that Houston-based software company BMC lost out to IBM "fair and square" when IBM fulfilled a request by their mutual client AT&T to replace BMC's software in AT&T's mainframe with IBM's.
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April 30, 2024
Where VLSI-Intel's High-Stakes Patent Battle Stands Now
Intel has managed to turn the tide on litigation where it had faced the daunting possibility of owing VLSI Technology more than $3 billion for infringing microchip patents, with the tech company winning patent invalidations and a large verdict do-over. Here's a look at where the multifaceted litigation between the companies stands.
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April 30, 2024
7th Circ. Backs Costco's Win In Gas Price-Matching Feud
The Seventh Circuit on Tuesday upheld Costco's victory against a dozen Wisconsin gas stations that claimed the warehouse giant sold regular unleaded fuel below a statutory minimum markup price that allegedly caused a decline in revenue, finding no evidence showing that Costco's pricing practices caused the stations a single lost sale.
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April 30, 2024
3rd Circ. Preview: Kavanaugh Classmate Takes On HuffPost
The Third Circuit's May lineup will find the court weighing HuffPost's battle with an allegedly libeled former classmate of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and claims by consumers alleging they bought defective Bayer antifungal medicine.
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April 30, 2024
FTC Puts $26B Permian Basin Gas Deal Under Scrutiny
The Federal Trade Commission is taking an in-depth look at the proposed oil and gas merger between Diamondback Energy and Endeavor Energy Resources by issuing a second request for additional information about the deal, according to new securities filings.
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April 30, 2024
Monthly Merger Review Snapshot
The U.S. Department of Justice pressured the abandonment of a nearly $1 billion insulation deal while the Federal Trade Commission challenged, scrutinized, and battled, deals in the private equity, fashion, grocery, energy and healthcare spaces. Here are some of the major merger review developments from April.
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April 30, 2024
Ex-Enforcers Back CoStar At 9th Circ. Against Antitrust Claims
Several former antitrust enforcers told the Ninth Circuit that a lower court was right to toss a rival's claims that CoStar monopolizes commercial real estate information markets despite concerns from the Federal Trade Commission about the allegations.
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April 30, 2024
$626M Fee Award In BCBS Deal Is Unjust, High Court Told
A member of the class that settled multidistrict litigation with Blue Cross Blue Shield for $2.67 billion over anti-competitive practices has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up his challenge to the $626 million attorney fees award in the settlement, arguing the Eleventh Circuit's approval of the award runs counter to high court precedent.
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April 30, 2024
FTC To Help FCC Enforce 'Net Neutrality' Rules
The Federal Communications Commission has called on a sister agency, the Federal Trade Commission, to cooperate on enforcing the FCC's restored "net neutrality" rules to require the free flow of network traffic.
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April 30, 2024
Kroger, Albertsons Say FTC Distorts Markets In Merger Case
Kroger and Albertsons told an Oregon federal court to reject a pending merger challenge by the Federal Trade Commission and a group of states, saying it distorts the competitive landscape for the grocery and labor markets.
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April 30, 2024
FTC Continues To Target 'Junk' Drug Patents
Federal trade officials told a series of pharmaceutical companies — including the makers of the controversial diabetes and weight loss drug Ozempic — that they may have listed faulty patents in a key register of a federal drug database.
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April 30, 2024
Chicago Hoopsters Drop NIL Antitrust Suit Against NCAA
Two Chicago State University freshman basketball players on Tuesday dropped their suit alleging that the NCAA violated antitrust laws by declaring them ineligible to compete because they received compensation for their names, images and likenesses while in high school.
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April 30, 2024
1st Circ. Says Flyers' JetBlue-Spirit Deal Challenge Moot
The First Circuit has tossed an appeal brought by airline customers who had challenged a since-abandoned merger between JetBlue Airways Corp. and Spirit Airlines in light of the government's successful antitrust intervention.
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April 30, 2024
FTC Digging Into $2.3B Walmart-Vizio Deal
The Federal Trade Commission wants information about Walmart's $2.3 billion plan to take over smart television maker Vizio before it decides whether to sign off on the controversial acquisition.
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April 30, 2024
FTC Says Novant Wants Court To Ignore Local Competition
Novant Health can't ask a federal judge to ignore evidence that buying two North Carolina hospitals will stymie competition in the region just because those facilities are supposedly struggling and the proposed deal might shore up resources, the Federal Trade Commission said in a brief doubling down on its bid to block the $320 million buyout.
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April 30, 2024
Ex-DOJ Antitrust Atty Joins Kressin Meador As Name Partner
A former U.S. Department of Justice official who most recently worked at Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLC has joined antitrust boutique Kressin Meador Powers LLC, formerly known as Kressin Meador LLC, as a name partner.
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April 30, 2024
Tesco Sues Truckmaker Over Emissions Price Fixing Cartel
Supermarket giant Tesco is seeking damages from Scania after the Swedish truck manufacturer was fined by the European Commission over its role in a price-fixing cartel, according to a claim filed with the U.K.'s antitrust court Tuesday.
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April 30, 2024
UAE-Backed Firm Walks Away From Telegraph Deal, Eyes Sale
RedBird IMI said Tuesday that it will ditch its takeover of Telegraph Media Group and sell the business as the Abu Dhabi-backed private equity firm added that its plans are "no longer feasible," citing a push to ban foreign ownership of British media groups.
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April 30, 2024
State Telecom Roundup: Tech Companies As Public Utilities
It's long-settled law that common carriers and public utilities can't discriminate or deny service without good reason, which is perhaps why there is a push in at least three different states to have the definition of a common carrier expanded to cover tech titans like Google and Facebook.
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April 30, 2024
FIFA Player Transfer Rules Could Break EU Antitrust Laws
FIFA's transfer rules that entitle football clubs to compensation from players and their new clubs when they cut their contract short to switch teams could be unlawful under European Union antitrust laws, an adviser to the bloc's top court said on Tuesday.
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April 29, 2024
Pfizer Inks $25M Deal Ending Leftover Effexor Antitrust Claims
A proposed class of indirect buyers have asked a New Jersey federal judge to greenlight a $25.5 million settlement to end allegations that Pfizer unit Wyeth engaged in a scheme with Teva Pharmaceuticals to delay generic competition for the antidepressant Effexor XR.
Expert Analysis
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HHS Advisory Highlights Free Product Inducement Risks
A recent U.S. Department of Health and Human Services advisory opinion highlights concerns that valuable free products and other inducements may influence patients and providers to choose one manufacturer’s product over another, notwithstanding that such free healthcare products may be a benefit, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Attorneys' Busiest Times Can Be Business Opportunities
Attorneys who resolve to grow their revenue and client base in 2024 should be careful not to abandon their goals when they get too busy with client work, because these periods of zero bandwidth can actually be a catalyst for future growth, says Amy Drysdale at Alchemy Consulting.
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In The World Of Legal Ethics, 10 Trends To Note From 2023
Lucian Pera at Adams and Reese and Trisha Rich at Holland & Knight identify the top legal ethics trends from 2023 — including issues related to hot documents, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity — that lawyers should be aware of to put their best foot forward.
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Opinion
Why Challenges To FTC Authority Are Needed
In spite of skepticism from courts, the Federal Trade Commission continues to advance novel legal theories — and Meta's recent federal suit against the agency over its alleged "structurally unconstitutional" administrative proceedings is arguably an expression of backlash to regulatory overreach, says Daniel Gilman at the International Center for Law & Economics.
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The Year In FRAND: What To Know Heading Into 2024
In 2023, there were eight significant developments concerning the fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory patent licensing regime that undergirds technical standardization, say Tom Millikan and Kevin Zeck at Perkins Coie.
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Volume-Based Transaction Pricing Proposal Raises Questions
A rule recently proposed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which would prohibit securities exchanges from offering volume-based transaction pricing for agency or riskless principal orders in certain stocks, is meant to address competitive concerns — but there are reasons to question the logic behind this proposal, say attorneys at Sidley.
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NCAA Proposal Points To A New NIL Compensation Frontier
Although NCAA President Charlie Baker's recent proposal for Division I institutions to pay student-athletes for name, image and likeness licensing deals is unlikely to pass in its current form, it shows that direct compensation for student-athletes is a looming reality — and member institutions should begin preparing in earnest, say attorneys at Pillsbury.
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Fed's New Swipe At Debit Fees Stirs Up Dilemma For Banks
The Federal Reserve's proposal to reduce the cap on debit card interchange fees charged or received by card issuers and payment networks comes as other bank account fees are taking regulatory hits, which could all culminate in an overall decline in access to banking products and services, says Kristen Larson at Ballard Spahr.
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Behind Antitrust Enforcers' 2023 Labor And Employment Push
This year, the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission stepped up their already-considerable efforts to expand antitrust enforcement to labor and employment, a trend that is likely to continue into next year, say Benjamin Dryden and Richard Flannery at Foley & Lardner.
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How Attorneys Can Be More Efficient This Holiday Season
Attorneys should consider a few key tips to speed up their work during the holidays so they can join the festivities — from streamlining the document review process to creating similar folder structures, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.
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Exploring Middle-Market M&A Trends In 2023 And Beyond
Middle-market merger and acquisition activity this year was affected by a number of economic, legal and regulatory shifts, with certain trends pointing to favorable transaction conditions in 2024, say Jason Brauser and William Goodling at Stoel Rives.
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Series
Children's Book Writing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Becoming a children's book author has opened doors to incredible new experiences of which I barely dared to dream, but the process has also changed my life by serving as a reminder that strong writing, networking and public speaking skills are hugely beneficial to a legal career, says Shaunna Bailey at Sheppard Mullin.
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Parsing 2023's Energy Markets Enforcement
A review of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's and Commodity Futures Trading Commission's recently released fiscal year 2023 enforcement reports highlight the significant energy market enforcement activities, litigation pursued and settlements reached by both agencies, as well as their respective strategic goals and focus areas, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Hoopers In NCAA Suit Respark Eligibility Framework Debate
A decision by two brothers involved in a recent antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA — to play college basketball rather than go professional after graduating from the Overtime Elite league — has aimed the spotlight on what exactly the NCAA deems permissible compensation under its current framework, say Brady Foster and Dan Lust at Moritt Hock.
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Lessons From DOJ's Wave Of Labor Market Prosecutions
Attorneys at Patterson Belknap consider lessons learned and future meaningful challenges following the U.S. Department of Justice's first six criminal antitrust cases targeting employee no-poach and wage-fixing agreements, in which just one case resulted in a guilty plea.