Panini Gets Claims From Fanatics Trimmed In Card Dispute

By Matthew Perlman

A New York federal court trimmed a pair of claims accusing Panini of interfering with Fanatics' licensing deals, in a dispute that also includes allegations that Fanatics monopolized the sports trading card market.

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2nd Circ. Panel Won't Revive Ivy League Players' Antitrust Suit

By Aaron Keller

The Second Circuit on Thursday affirmed the dismissal of proposed class claims accusing the Ivy League and eight member universities of stifling competition by agreeing to refrain from offering athletic scholarships to academically gifted student athletes, saying they fell short of antitrust law pleading standards.

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Protests To $44M Realtor Fee Deal 'Ring Hollow,' Judge Says

By Chart Riggall

A Georgia federal judge gave final approval to a $44 million settlement with real estate brokerages over fee inflation claims similar to those that drove a landmark $1.8 billion verdict in Missouri several years ago, rejecting claims from out-of-state plaintiffs that the Peach State attorneys accepted a lowball offer.

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FTC Warns About Ending Tenn. Oversight Of Ballad Health

By Matthew Perlman

Federal Trade Commission staff has warned Tennessee legislators about the potential harm to patients if they pass a proposal to end the state's oversight of Ballad Health while the hospital system still has a monopoly.

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Nexstar Slams DirecTV's 'Speculative' $6.2B Merger Challenge

By Dorothy Atkins

Broadcast giants Nexstar and Tegna urged a California federal judge on Thursday to allow their $6.2 billion merger to proceed as state attorneys general and DirecTV challenge the tie-up, arguing that their allegations of harm are "generalized and speculative" and that DirecTV is merely trying to maximize its leverage in future negotiations.

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Amazon's Bot Ban Aims To Stifle AI Rivals, 9th Circ. Told

By Dorothy Atkins

Perplexity AI has urged the Ninth Circuit to scrap an injunction blocking the startup's artificial intelligence tool Comet from purchasing items on Amazon.com, arguing the lower court made numerous errors, and Amazon is trying to stifle competition to promote its own AI tools and "bombard" users with ads.

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Resume Market Is 'Bold, Bold or Bold,' Antitrust Suit Alleges

By Rae Ann Varona

Silicon Valley-based resume template company Rocket Resume Inc. on Thursday accused a competitor in California federal court of unlawfully monopolizing the U.S. market for online resume-building platforms, saying it is being unfairly pushed out of jobseekers' sight by its rival's "massive portfolio of fraudulent brands."

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Altenar Sues Sportradar In US, UK Over Data Monopoly

By Joanne Faulkner

Software company Altenar has filed two "multimillion-dollar" claims against Sportradar in the U.S. and U.K., accusing the data giant of competition breaches by refusing to provide it with access to live official sports data.

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Schneider Wallace Fights Uphill For Bigger Cut Of $75M Fees

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal magistrate judge appeared skeptical Thursday about Schneider Wallace Cottrell Kim LLP's bid to increase its cut of a $75.4 million fee award for representing plaintiffs in a $228.5 million Sutter Health antitrust deal, saying lead counsel Constantine Cannon LLP's allocation of $1.4 million to Schneider Wallace seems fair.

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Energy Drink Co. Founder Told Not To Sell Fla. Keys Property

By David Minsky

A bankruptcy judge in Florida on Thursday blocked the founder of Bang Energy drinks from selling an island property and using proceeds to fund litigation, saying the court must determine whether the initial purchase used fraudulently procured funds. 

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Gibbs Racing Wants Ex-Employee's Alleged Deleted Texts

By P.J. D'Annunzio

Joe Gibbs Racing LLC has asked a federal judge for permission to access cellphone records that would unearth purportedly erased communications between its former competition director and the owner of a rival team that hired him, with the Gibbs team expressing urgency to preserve the messages as crucial evidence in the trade secrets case.

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Lego Gets Win On Copyright, TM Claims In Suit Against Rival

By Adam Lidgett

A Connecticut federal judge Thursday found that Lego competitor Zuru infringed Lego's copyright and trademark rights for its Minifigure line, rejecting Zuru's arguments that the registrations were invalid.

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Brief

Teva $35M Delayed Generic Inhalers Deal Gets Initial OK

By Kellie Mejdrich

A Massachusetts federal judge Thursday granted initial approval to a $35 million deal that Teva Pharmaceuticals agreed to pay to resolve claims from a coalition of union healthcare funds that say the company schemed to delay generic competition for its QVAR asthma inhalers.

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Gov't Must Insist On EU Satellite Market Access, Feds Told

By Christopher Cole

As the European Union looks to tighten rules on the space and satellite industries, the U.S. government needs to ensure American companies can participate in European markets, a think tank told the Federal Communications Commission.

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Series

Ultramarathons Make Me A Better Lawyer

Completing a 100-mile ultramarathon was tougher, more humbling and more rewarding than I ever imagined, and the experience highlighted how long-distance running has sharpened my ability to adapt to the evolving nature of antitrust law and strengthened my resolve to handle demanding, unforeseen challenges, says Dan Oakes at Axinn.

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Bondi Out As Attorney General After Contentious Time At DOJ

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced on Thursday Attorney General Pam Bondi will be leaving her post. 

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Goldstein Allowed To Move Out After Marriage Falls Apart

By Jared Foretek

A Maryland federal judge on Thursday allowed SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein to relocate for the duration of his home confinement, after Goldstein's attorneys said his marriage had fallen apart and it no longer "makes sense" for Goldstein and his wife to share a residence.

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Raskin Blasts DOJ Bid To Shield Attys From State Bar Probes

By Courtney Bublé

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said Thursday the U.S. Department of Justice's endeavor to preempt state bar investigations of department attorneys is a "get out of jail free" card.

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DLA Piper, Vax Refuser Reach Deal To End Religious Bias Suit

By Patrick Hoff

DLA Piper has struck a deal to wrap up a Christian former employee's lawsuit claiming he was fired for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine because of his religious beliefs, an Illinois federal judge said Thursday.

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Feds Say Habeas Ruling Could Spur More 'Illegal Orders'

By Jared Foretek

The Trump administration has asked the Fourth Circuit to reverse a district ruling that upheld a standing order from Maryland federal judges barring immediate removal or transfer of immigrant detainees, arguing the ruling sets a dangerous precedent for district court standing orders.

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Puerto Rico Bankruptcy Stymies Paul Weiss, ACLU Fee Bids

By Carolyn Muyskens

American Civil Liberties Union and Paul Weiss attorneys who successfully eased restrictions on voting by mail in Puerto Rico during the COVID-19 pandemic cannot collect fees for their work because they were discharged in Puerto Rico's bankruptcy proceeding, the First Circuit has ruled.

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Process Server ABC Legal Inks $2.5M Deal Over Cyber Breach

By Ben Adlin

Seattle-based ABC Legal Services LLC, which bills itself as the nation's largest network of legal process servers, would pay $2.5 million under a tentative deal to settle workers' putative class action claiming a 2024 cyberattack exposed their personal information, the plaintiffs told a Washington federal court Wednesday.

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen data giant Sportrader face action from software company Altenar over alleged market abuse, Mexican billionaire Ricardo Pliego sue a man who allegedly defrauded him out of $415 million, and Warner Bros. bring a copyright claim against a YouTuber who leaked set footage of the upcoming Harry Potter series. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K. 

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