1st Circ. Presses Amex On Merchant Arbitration Rule Change

By Julie Manganis

A First Circuit panel on Tuesday pushed back on assertions by American Express that unilateral changes to the terms of its merchant agreement did not invalidate it, as a lower court found last year in denying the card issuer's motion to compel arbitration in a dispute over anti-steering rules.

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FTC Chair Wary Of AI's Dual Push For Regs, Antitrust Shield

By Bryan Koenig

Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson cast doubt Tuesday on the sincerity of artificial intelligence companies asking Washington for more safety regulations even as they seek antitrust exemptions so they can agree to AI development limits.

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Takeda Can't Decertify Amitiza Class After $885M Jury Loss

By Matthew Perlman

A Massachusetts federal court refused Takeda's request to decertify a class of Amitiza buyers, after a jury awarded groups of purchasers a total of $885 million for claims that the drugmaker conspired to delay the launch of a rival generic version of the anti-constipation drug.

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Pro Checkers Player Gets Partial Win In Fla. Antitrust Suit

By David Minsky

A Florida federal judge on Tuesday handed a partial win to a checkers player in his complaint alleging he was wrongfully disqualified from competing, finding that a U.S. professional association violated antitrust laws and defamed him after he formed an alternative organization.

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Justices Urged To Skip 3rd Circ. Arbitration Question

By Caroline Simson

A German claims aggregator on Monday pressed the U.S. Supreme Court to decline to review a Third Circuit decision dismissing on jurisdictional grounds a bid by litigation funder Burford Capital to arbitrate a dispute relating to German antitrust litigation.

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College Sports Overhaul Looms Closer After Senate Vote

By Alex Lawson

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday advanced a bill that would impose sweeping regulations on college sports, teeing up a lively legislative debate as the NCAA looks to ward off a wave of antitrust lawsuits.

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Urology Tech Co. Can't Duck Antitrust Suit

By Bryan Koenig

A New Hampshire federal judge has refused to let Laborie Medical Technologies Corp. escape a proposed class action accusing it of anticompetitively locking healthcare providers already using its urology devices into also using its single-use catheters instead of cheaper alternatives.

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Justices Asked To Resolve Cannabis Dormant Commerce Split

By Sam Reisman

A California litigator's campaign of lawsuits alleging that state and local cannabis regulatory regimes violate the U.S. Constitution's dormant commerce clause has culminated in a petition for a writ of certiorari which appeared on the U.S. Supreme Court's docket Tuesday.

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DOJ Says States Could Owe Bond In Paramount Merger Case

By Hailey Konnath

The U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday that a coalition of state attorneys general and the Writers Guild of America could indeed be required to put up a bond as they challenge Paramount's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, but only if the order they secured truly constitutes an injunction.

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CMA Seeks Views On Outsourcer's £3.1B Deal For Mitie

By Dawood Fakhir

The antitrust watchdog said Tuesday that it is calling for responses on how the planned £3.1 billion ($4.2 billion) acquisition by outsourcing giant OCS of rival Mitie Group PLC could harm competition in Britain.

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Google's £260M App-Fee Deal Pitched As Fair For Developers

By Joanne Faulkner

A law professor urged the Competition Appeal Tribunal on Tuesday to approve Google's proposed £260 million ($350 million) settlement of a claim over its app store commissions, arguing that it gives U.K. developers a fair and practical route to compensation.

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CMA Raises Concerns Over Retail Co-Op Deal

By Najiyya Budaly

Britain's antitrust authority said Tuesday that the completed merger of two retail co-operatives could harm competition in the supply of groceries and funeral services in the U.K.

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OpenAI Wants To See Details Of SpaceXAI's Deal With Apple

By Craig Clough

OpenAI filed an emergency motion Tuesday in Texas federal court seeking the details of a settlement SpaceXAI inked this week with Apple over claims that Apple's deal to integrate ChatGPT into the iPhone violated antitrust law, saying the terms of the deal may undermine the antitrust allegations SpaceXAI is still pursuing against OpenAI.

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Walmart, Retail Groups Doubt Value Of $200B Swipe Fee Deal

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

Major retail trade associations and Walmart are objecting to a $200 billion settlement over Visa and Mastercard swipe fees in New York federal court, saying the court should decertify the class or at least allow opt-outs so merchants can preserve "valuable claims that class counsel are trading away for nothing."

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Hotels, Amadeus Defend Info Exchange Win At 7th Circ.

By Matthew Perlman

Luxury hotel chains and software provider Amadeus IT Group are telling the Seventh Circuit a lower court was right to toss a case accusing the hotels of exchanging sensitive information, saying the allegations are based entirely on the use of a lawful benchmarking service.

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Express Scripts Accused Of Shorting Independent Pharmacies

By Rae Ann Varona

A dozen independent Arkansas pharmacies on Tuesday hauled Express Scripts into Missouri state court, accusing the pharmacy benefit management giant of continuously shorting them on prescription reimbursements despite Arkansas' efforts to combat underpayments.

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Fed. Circ. Denies Injunction In Firearm Trigger IP Suit

By Dani Kass

A Wyoming federal judge properly denied Rare Breed's attempt to enjoin a rival firearms company's sales while litigating a patent infringement and false advertising suit, the Federal Circuit said Tuesday.

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Fed. Circ. Keeps Samsung, Apple Wins Over Alt Browser IP

By Theresa Schliep

The Federal Circuit on Tuesday issued a one-word order backing Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions that invalidated claims in patents covering ways to access the internet without a browser, declining to take on the patent owner's challenge to the board's obviousness determinations.

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UMG Says DistroKid Is Copyright-Infringing 'AI-Slop Pipeline'

By Craig Clough

UMG Recordings sued music distributor DistroKid in Delaware federal court Tuesday, calling it an "AI-slop pipeline" that uses copyright infringement and deceptive practices to flood popular streaming platforms with mass-generated artificial intelligence content.

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Lego Accused Of Infringing Interactive Toy Patents

By Adam Lidgett

An Israeli patent owner on Tuesday hit Lego with a lawsuit in Texas federal court accusing the toymaker's Smart Play interactive building system of infringing patents covering motion-sensitive toys that communicate wirelessly and respond with lights and sounds.

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Simpson Thacher Hires McGuireWoods, Ex-DOJ Antitrust Atty

By Jack Rodgers

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP has hired a former McGuireWoods LLP partner who previously spent over 10 years with the U.S. Department of Justice working on antitrust matters involving price fixing and bid rigging.

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Ashurst Perkins Coie Adds Veteran DOJ Antitrust Leader

By Christine DeRosa

A 22-year veteran of the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division who most recently served as assistant chief of the Technology and Digital Platforms section has joined Ashurst Perkins Coie.

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How States' 'Perry Mason Moment' Led To $17B Meta Deal

By Dorothy Atkins

A recent landmark $17.1 billion settlement with Meta Platforms Inc. may have never happened if it weren't for a quick-thinking trial attorney and his close-knit team of lawyers representing 29 states, who worked together to swiftly shift strategies midtrial.

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Ashurst Perkins Aided $230M ICap Ponzi Scheme, Suit Claims

By Ben Adlin

Ashurst Perkins Coie pocketed millions of dollars in legal fees by providing services to clients it knew were operating a Ponzi scheme that ultimately swindled investors out of nearly $230 million, plaintiffs claimed in a Washington state lawsuit accusing the firm of aiding and abetting fraud.

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Trump Taps Ex-DOL Official To Serve As EEOC Top Cop

By Anne Cullen

The White House nominated a former Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP attorney who previously led the U.S. Department of Labor's contractor compliance arm to serve as the general counsel of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

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Washington Sen. Murray Vows To Block Trump US Atty Pick

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump's nominee to be U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington is under fire from one of the home state senators who vowed to use every avenue possible to block him.

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Fla. Judge Won't Pause Trump-IRS Settlement Sanctions

By Jack McLoone

The Florida federal judge who barred President Donald Trump and others from citing a settlement resolving what she characterized as a sham $10 billion case against his own Internal Revenue Service won't pause her sanctions order while the president appeals to the Eleventh Circuit.

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4th Circ. Appears Split On Reviving Comey, James Indictments

By Jared Foretek

Partisan splits were apparent Tuesday on the Fourth Circuit panel hearing the Trump administration's challenge to a federal district judge's dismissal of the indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, with two of the three judges appearing to agree an improper appointment doomed the cases.

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Brief

Calif. Judge Charged Over Fatal Crash With Bicyclist

By Craig Clough

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Tuesday that his office charged Kings County Superior Court Judge Kendra Weber with a misdemeanor count of vehicular manslaughter, alleging she struck and killed a bicyclist.

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