Competition

  • October 24, 2024

    Court Pauses $8.5B Handbag Merger For FTC Challenge

    A New York federal judge on Thursday paused the planned $8.5 billion merger between the owners of Michael Kors and Coach while the Federal Trade Commission challenges the deal over concerns about "accessible luxury" handbags.

  • October 24, 2024

    FCC Finds Fraught Turf In Planning The Future Of 4.9 GHz

    The Federal Communications Commission wants to dedicate unused portions of the 4.9 gigahertz band to both public safety and 5G, but has discovered just how hard it is to please everyone in an era of dwindling spectrum resources.

  • October 24, 2024

    Heineken Faces €160M Claim After Dutch Market Abuse Ruling

    Heineken was held jointly liable for its Greek subsidiary abusing its dominant position to hold back competitors by a Dutch court, paving the way for a rival brewery to press home its over €160 million ($173 million) antitrust claim against the beer giant.

  • October 24, 2024

    EU Court Upholds Annulment Of Intel's €1B Antitrust Fine

    Computer chip giant Intel Corp. has beaten the European Commission's €1.06 billion ($1.14 billion) fine against it after the European Union's highest court ruled that a lower court could invalidate the EU administrative arm's conclusions, ending a long-running legal battle over the 2009 fine.

  • October 24, 2024

    MVP: Skadden's Steve Sunshine

    Steve Sunshine, global head of antitrust at Skadden, led a team representing Activision Blizzard through its $69 billion acquisition by Microsoft and secured the dismissal of major antitrust claims for Apple, earning him a spot among the 2024 Law360 MVPs.

  • October 24, 2024

    UK Probes Sonoco's $3.9B Bid For Eviosys

    The antitrust watchdog said Thursday that it is investigating U.S.-based Sonoco Products Co.'s proposed $3.9 billion acquisition of European food can-maker Eviosys from private equity shop KPS Capital Partners.

  • October 24, 2024

    UK Clears Acerinox's $800M Bid For Haynes International

    The U.K. antitrust watchdog said Thursday that it has waved through the planned $798 million takeover by stainless steel manufacturer Acerinox of Haynes International, which makes alloys, during the initial phase of its probe.

  • October 23, 2024

    TriZetto Gets New Damages Trial After Ax Of $200M Awards

    A New York federal judge Wednesday agreed to hold a new damages trial in Cognizant affiliate TriZetto's trade secret misappropriation and copyright infringement dispute with Syntel, a development that comes after the judge wiped out $200 million in damages awards in favor of TriZetto earlier this year.

  • October 23, 2024

    Co. Misleads Claimants About Visa Mastercard MDL, Attys Say

    Class counsel for plaintiffs in long-running multidistrict litigation accusing Visa and Mastercard of charging improper merchant fees asked a New York federal judge to demand explanations from a third-party company over misleading statements it allegedly made regarding the claims-submission process for recovering settlement payments.

  • October 23, 2024

    NY AG Probes Capital One's Planned $35B Discover Merger

    New York Attorney General Letitia James has joined federal regulators in investigating Capital One Financial Corp.'s proposed $35 billion acquisition of Discover Financial Services, according to a Wednesday subpoena petition alleging the deal might violate Empire State antitrust laws.

  • October 23, 2024

    DOJ Bolsters Defense In Pork Price-Fixing Case, Cos. Say

    Hormel, Tyson, JBS and other pork producers told a Minnesota federal court that a Justice Department intervention into a private price-fixing litigation actually backs their defense, even though the government took no position on the merits of the case.

  • October 23, 2024

    Athletes Pause TV Revenue Suit Until NIL Deal's Fate Is Clear

    A group of college athletes has agreed to stay its suit seeking a cut of NCAA television revenue in Colorado federal court, with a magistrate judge on Wednesday granting the two parties' request to pause the case while the landmark name, image and likeness settlement in a separate California case awaits approval.

  • October 23, 2024

    Telecom Group Sues To Cancel FTC's 'Click To Cancel' Rule

    A major cable and internet industry group and others sued the Federal Trade Commission Wednesday over its new "click to cancel" rule, asking the Fifth Circuit to vacate the regulation one week after it was adopted in a 3-2 commission vote.

  • October 23, 2024

    ECJ Won't Call Off Clawback Of Portugal's Tax Breaks

    The European Court of Justice declined to overturn a European Commission decision that Portugal must claw back tax breaks provided in a free trade zone to companies with no local economic activity, as those breaks violated the bloc's state aid rules, according to a judgment issued Wednesday.

  • October 23, 2024

    High Court Won't Pause Google's Subpoena Of State Agency

    The U.S. Supreme Court refused Wednesday to block Google's request for documents in a case accusing the tech giant of monopolizing key digital ad technology as a South Carolina agency challenges an order forcing it to comply with the subpoena.

  • October 23, 2024

    Securities Claim Cut From Fraud Suit Against Calif. Developer

    A California federal judge trimmed a securities claim from a Sonoma resident's suit against a real estate company embroiled in a fraud scandal and recommended that the rest of the claims be brought in state court.

  • October 23, 2024

    Roche CEO Says Novo-Catalent Deal Should Be Blocked

    The CEO of Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche injected himself into the controversy surrounding Novo Holdings' planned $16.5 billion acquisition of Catalent on Wednesday, stating that he thinks antitrust authorities should block the deal due to its anticompetitive implications.

  • October 23, 2024

    9th Circ. Backs Injury Firm's Win In Fight Over Google Ads

    The Ninth Circuit has upheld an Arizona federal court's ruling in favor of a Tempe-based personal injury firm that was sued by another personal injury firm, Lerner & Rowe, over its purchases of Google advertising search terms, with the judges finding little "actual confusion" was caused by the advertising strategy.

  • October 23, 2024

    MVP: Weil's Michael Moiseyev

    Michael Moiseyev of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP has helped tech behemoth Microsoft navigate a gauntlet of regulators across different countries and knock out antitrust challenges to large transactions, including its buy of Activision Blizzard, earning him a spot as one of the 2024 Law360 Competition and Antitrust MVPs.

  • October 23, 2024

    UK Launches Formal Probe Into £3.3B Carlsberg/Britvic Deal

    The Competition and Markets Authority said Wednesday it has launched a formal investigation into the proposed £3.3 billion ($4.3 billion) takeover by Danish brewer Carlsberg AS of U.K. soft drinks maker Britvic PLC, setting a Dec. 18 deadline for its phase-one decision.

  • October 22, 2024

    UFC Fighters Win Initial OK On $375M Wage Suppression Deal

    A Nevada federal judge on Tuesday gave his blessing to a $375 million settlement resolving a group of former UFC fighters' claims that the organization for years underpaid match participants, the fighters' counsel confirmed.

  • October 22, 2024

    Big Banks Say Yearslong Libor Suit Still Lacks Evidence

    Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and more than a dozen other large banks have urged a federal judge to dismiss the remaining claims in multidistrict litigation accusing them of manipulating Libor, arguing that the plaintiffs have failed to bring sufficient evidence in the 13 years since they filed suit over the once-critical benchmark interest rate.

  • October 22, 2024

    Texas Rebar Giant Accused Of Crushing Rivals As Trial Opens

    Pacific Steel Group's counsel told a California federal jury during trial openings Tuesday that Texas rebar giant Commercial Metals Co. used anticompetitive tactics to "crush" competition and drive up rebar prices in the Golden State, while CMC's counsel said evidence will show PSG can only blame itself for its problems.

  • October 22, 2024

    Ex-Google GC Must Be Investigated By Calif. Bar, Groups Say

    A trio of groups led by the American Economic Liberties Project on Tuesday pressed the State Bar of California to investigate former Google general counsel Kent Walker for "coaching" the company to "engage in widespread and illegal destruction of records relevant to multiple ongoing federal trials."

  • October 22, 2024

    Hagens Berman Says Vorys 'Opportunistically' Seeking Lead

    Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP is fighting a bid by Vorys Sater Seymour and Pease LLP to take the lead in a proposed consolidated class action against gaming giant Valve Corp., saying that after they defeated Valve's arbitration provision Vorys sought to "opportunistically" seize the leadership role.

Expert Analysis

  • Building US-Japan Relationships In The M&A Market

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    The prospect of U.S.-Japanese mergers and acquisitions presents stronger competition to U.S. investors in the global M&A markets, while also opening up an additional exit route for sellers looking to offload strategic assets, says Nick Wall at A&O Shearman.

  • Litigation Inspiration: Honoring Your Learned Profession

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    About 30,000 people who took the bar exam in July will learn they passed this fall, marking a fitting time for all attorneys to remember that they are members in a specialty club of learned professionals — and the more they can keep this in mind, the more benefits they will see, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • FTC Focus: How Scrutiny Of PBMs And Insulin May Play Out

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    Should Express Scripts' recent judicial challenge to the Federal Trade Commission succeed, any new targets could add litigation and choice of forum to their playbooks, and potential FTC court action on insulin could be forced to parallel venues as the issues between the commission and PBMs evolve, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • Opinion

    AI May Limit Key Learning Opportunities For Young Attorneys

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    The thing that’s so powerful about artificial intelligence is also what’s most scary about it — its ability to detect patterns may curtail young attorneys’ chance to practice the lower-level work of managing cases, preventing them from ever honing the pattern recognition skills that undergird creative lawyering, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.

  • A Class Action Trend Tests Limit Of Courts' Equity Powers

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    A troubling trend has developed in federal class action litigation as some counsel and judges attempt to push injunctive relief classes under Rule 23(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure beyond the traditional limits of federal courts' equitable powers, say attorneys at Jones Day.

  • Antitrust Issues To Watch Amid Google Ad Tech Trial

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    Regardless of the outcome of the U.S. Department of Justice's advertising technology antitrust suit against Google in Virginia federal court, matters ranging from market definition to unified pricing will likely have far-reaching implications for the digital advertising industry, competition and innovation, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • How Lucia, Jarkesy Could Affect Grocery Merger Challenge

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    While the Federal Trade Commission is taking a dual federal court and administrative tribunal approach to block Kroger's merger with Alberstons, Kroger's long-shot unconstitutionality claims could potentially lead to a reevaluation of the FTC's reliance on administrative processes in complex merger cases, say attorneys at Saul Ewing.

  • What PCOAB's Broadened Liability Rule Means For Auditors

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent vote agreeing to lower the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's liability standard, allowing the board to charge individual auditors whose mere negligence leads firms into PCOAB violations, may erode inspection cooperation, shrink the talent pool and have anticompetitive outcomes, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • Series

    Round-Canopy Parachuting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Similar to the practice of law, jumping from an in-flight airplane with nothing but training and a few yards of parachute silk is a demanding and stressful endeavor, and the experience has bolstered my legal practice by enhancing my focus, teamwork skills and sense of perspective, says Thomas Salerno at Stinson.

  • And Now A Word From The Panel: The MDL Map

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    An intriguing yet unpredictable facet of multidistrict litigation practice is venue selection for new MDL proceedings, and the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation considers many factors when it assigns an MDL venue, says Alan Rothman at Sidley Austin.

  • Dealmaker Lessons From CFIUS' New Enforcement Webpage

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    The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States’ recently launched webpage, which details the actions — and inactions — that led to enforcement activity, provides important insights for dealmakers about filing requirements, mitigation commitments and the cost of noncompliance, say attorneys at Dechert.

  • Presidents And Precedents May Direct Khan's Future Course

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    While the Sept. 25 technical expiration of Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan's term demands no immediate action, it does invite an analysis of commission policy and post-election possibilities, says Axinn's Richard Dagen, a former FTC official.

  • Boeing Ruling Is A Cautionary Tale For Trade Secret Litigants

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    A Washington federal court’s recent ruling canceling a $72 million jury award against Boeing because Zunum Aero had failed to properly identify its trade secrets highlights the value of an early statement of alleged secrets, amended through discovery and used as a framework at trial, says Matthew D'Amore at Cornell.

  • What To Expect From Calif. Bill Regulating PE In Healthcare

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    A California bill currently awaiting Gov. Gavin Newsom's approval, intended to increase oversight over private equity and hedge fund investments in healthcare, is emblematic of recent increased scrutiny of investments in the space, and may affect transactions and operations in California in a number of ways, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Why Now Is The Time For Law Firms To Hire Lateral Partners

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    Partner and associate mobility data from the second quarter of this year suggest that there's never been a better time in recent years for law firms to hire lateral candidates, particularly experienced partners — though this necessitates an understanding of potential red flags, say Julie Henson and Greg Hamman at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.

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