DOJ Deepens Probe Into Fox's $22B Roku Deal

By Bryan Koenig

Fox Corp. and Roku disclosed Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Justice has launched an in-depth probe into Fox's purchase of Roku, stalling their ability to close the deal until the investigation wraps.

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Justices Call For Early Response Over Paramount Merger

By Matthew Perlman

The U.S. Supreme Court is giving California and other state enforcers that are challenging Paramount Skydance Corp.'s planned $110 billion purchase of Warner Bros. until later this month to respond to Iowa and Montana's bid to block the merger challenge.

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Paramount Doubles Down On $1.9B Bond Bid In Merger Suit

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

Paramount has insisted the Writers Guild of America and state attorneys general cannot avoid putting up a roughly $1.9 billion bond as they challenge the media company's $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, saying their arguments against its bond bid fail under the Clayton Act.

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9th Circ. Deems NCAA's 5-Year Rule Injunction Appeals Moot

By Rachel Riley

A Ninth Circuit panel on Wednesday tossed the NCAA's appeals of court orders barring it from enforcing its five-year rule to sideline two football players from the 2025 season, finding the cases are moot because the "clock has run out" on the season and the athletes' collegiate careers have wrapped.

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Nektar CEO Opens Door To Finance Questions In Eli Lilly Trial

By Bonnie Eslinger

Nektar Therapeutics failed Wednesday to block evidence of its financial condition from entering into a California federal trial over a failed deal to codevelop its drug Rezpeg with Eli Lilly, after its CEO's testimony on cross-examination prompted the judge to allow the evidence for impeachment purposes.

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Disney Gets Fubo Streaming Rate Claims Sent To Arbitration

By Matthew Perlman

A California federal court ordered Fubo subscribers to arbitrate their antitrust claims in a case accusing Disney of driving up the cost of subscriptions by forcing the streaming platform to carry a package of channels instead of just ESPN.

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Mass. Justices Wary Of Easing Restrictions On Noncompetes

By Julie Manganis

Massachusetts top court justices hearing a case over a state law restricting noncompete provisions appeared reluctant Wednesday to carve out high-level employees who might sign such agreements as part of a separate deal for equity or other incentives.

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NC State Football Player Settles NCAA Eligibility Challenge

By Alex Lawson

A North Carolina State University football player dropped his suit against the NCAA on Wednesday after the organization granted him a waiver declaring him eligible to play this season.

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Mastercard Sued By 300 Hotels In Latest Swipe-Fees Case

By Laura Stewart Liberty

A group of 300 hotel companies has brought a competition claim against Mastercard, the latest in a series of swipe-fee dispute claims the payments giant has faced.

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3rd Circ. Stands By Upholding Lipitor Pay-For-Delay Suit Toss

By Bryan Koenig

The Third Circuit has refused to rethink its decision backing a New Jersey district court's dismissal of an antitrust suit alleging Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. conspired to delay a generic version of the cholesterol drug Lipitor.

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General Mills, Mars Allege Sugar Price-Fixing Scheme

By Craig Clough

General Mills, Kellanova, Mars and Little Debbie maker McKee Foods are suing several major U.S. sugar producers in Illinois federal court, accusing them of conspiring to inflate granulated sugar prices for years by secretly sharing sensitive pricing, sales and supply information through an intermediary.

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Humana Says Mylan 'Gamesmanship' Can't Keep Trial Paused

By Bryan Koenig

Humana Inc. asked a Pennsylvania federal judge to restart the countdown to the first trial in the generic-drug price-fixing multidistrict litigation, arguing that Mylan Inc.'s "eleventh-hour delay gambit" of a potential conflict of interest is just the latest in a "carefully choreographed campaign of delaying trial to prevent accountability."

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Sugar Buyers Want Paul Weiss DQ'd From Price-Fixing MDL

By Dorothy Atkins

Hershey, J.M. Smucker and other food makers urged a Minnesota federal judge Tuesday to disqualify Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP from representing Domino Foods in sugar price-fixing multidistrict litigation, arguing the firm is conflicted out because it saw their confidential sugar-purchasing data when it was being considered as plaintiffs' counsel.

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Class Settlement MDL Plaintiffs Say Cos. Hinder Disclosure

By Jared Foretek

Plaintiffs in a sprawling multidistrict case accusing class action settlement administrators of hiding kickbacks from financial institutions are accusing the defendant companies of stalling prediscovery planning through "piecemeal and inadequate" disclosures and are asking the D.C. federal judge presiding over the case to order disclosures.

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Calif. Judge Hands Eli Lilly Mixed Bag In Compound Drug Suit

By Gianna Ferrarin

Eli Lilly failed to plausibly allege that a physician group and pharmacy conspired to falsely advertise compounded versions of its diabetes and weight loss drugs, but can continue with allegations they conspired to unfairly compete with Lilly, a California federal judge held.

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Pa. Athletes Challenge Exclusion From NCAA Eligibility Rule

By Matthew Santoni

More than a dozen student-athletes who graduated from high school in 2022 say they were unfairly excluded from a new NCAA rule granting five years of eligibility for competition, and asked a Pennsylvania state court for an order allowing them to reenroll for sports in the new school year.

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Amazon Urges NY Court To Deny E-Book Antitrust Class Cert.

By Rachel Riley

Amazon on Tuesday objected to a New York federal magistrate judge's recommendation to certify a class of over 30 million customers in a suit accusing it of monopolizing the e-book market, saying the judge disregarded proof that a significant share of the consumers benefited from the challenged practices.

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Justice Roberts Won't Pause Dutch Software Co.'s IP Trial

By Hayley Fowler

U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday rejected a Dutch software company's bid to postpone an upcoming trademark trial with its former U.S. partner while it petitions for review of the lower court's injunction and contempt orders.

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Genius Settles With Panda Ahead Of Sports Tech Patent Trial

By Hailey Konnath

Sports technology company Genius Sports Ltd. and Panda Interactive have agreed to settle a patent dispute over technology that allows viewers to see real-time odds and place a bet while watching a sporting event, according to a notice filed in Texas federal court Wednesday.

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Deckers Denied New Trial On Ugg Boot Design Patent Validity

By Rae Ann Varona

A California federal judge denied Deckers Outdoor Corp.'s bid for a new trial over the validity of its design patent for its Ugg Classic Ultra Mini Boot, finding no error in submitting a question of indefiniteness to a jury.

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Mackinac Island Says Ferry Operators Created Discovery Fight

By Melanie Dorsey

A northern Michigan island resort community has urged a federal court to reject ferry operators' bid to compel testimony from a city representative, arguing that the companies created the discovery dispute by refusing to narrow sweeping deposition topics covering as much as 16 years.

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Brief

Latest $1.5M Turkey Price-Fixing Deal Gets Early OK

By Celeste Bott

An Illinois federal judge Wednesday gave his initial sign-off to a $1.5 million deal Prestage Farms has inked to resolve certain buyers' claims in sprawling turkey price-fixing antitrust litigation.

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Brief

5-Hour Energy Rival Takes Antitrust Fight To 6th Circ.

By Nadia Dreid

A rival of 5-Hour Energy is taking its beef with the energy shot maker to the Sixth Circuit after a Michigan federal judge refused to revive its claims that the company was keeping competitors out of the market by inking deals that require its products be displayed at checkout counters.

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DOJ Says Berkeley Law Is Racially Biased In Admissions

By Craig Clough

The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education said Wednesday that the University of California, Berkeley School of Law discriminated against white and Asian applicants in its 2024 and 2025 admissions cycles by preferring Black applicants because of their race, violating federal civil rights law and recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

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Murdaugh Murder Retrial Venue Shift Fueled By Bias Concern

By Emily Sawicki

A South Carolina trial court has approved a request to move Alex Murdaugh's murder retrial to a different county, finding the disgraced attorney could not expect a fair trial in Colleton County, where his wife and son were killed and where he was previously convicted for the crimes.

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Virginia Law Prof Says He'll Take USPTO General Counsel Job

By Jack Rodgers

A University of Virginia School of Law professor who has taught tort, administrative, patent and international intellectual property law there for more than 15 years recently said he plans to become the new general counsel of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

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Hogan Lovells Partner Tapped For Mass. Judgeship

By Julie Manganis

A Hogan Lovells Cadwalader senior partner has been nominated to a seat as an associate justice on the Massachusetts Superior Court, the governor's office announced Wednesday.

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Kilpatrick Atty Tapped For Yakima County Bench In Wash.

By Ben Adlin

Washington's governor appointed Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP litigator Bree R. Black Horse to the Yakima County Superior Court bench on Wednesday, filling the first new position added to that court in nearly three decades.

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