Competition

June 18, 2024
Meat Plant Workers Seek OK On Latest $4M Wage-Fix Deal

Red meat processing plant workers have sought preliminary approval for their latest settlement over wage-fixing claims, a $4 million deal that adds American Foods Group LLC to the list of companies to cut deals that also includes JBS, Tyson, Perdue, Seaboard, Triumph and consulting firm Webber Meng Sahl & Co.
June 18, 2024
Blackstone Plans Takeover Of Japan's Infocom In $1.7B Deal

Blackstone said Tuesday it is planning to take Japanese digital comic distributor Infocom private in a deal that marks its largest private equity deal ever in Japan, worth 275 billion yen ($1.7 billion).
June 18, 2024
Microsoft Says Starbucks Ruling Hurts FTC's Activision Case

Microsoft told the Ninth Circuit on Monday that the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling requiring labor regulators to meet a four-factor test in order to win a preliminary injunction undercuts the Federal Trade Commission's bid to halt the company's $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc.
June 18, 2024
FTC Bristles At Axon's Citing Of Dropped Merger Case

The Federal Trade Commission wanted to ensure a New Jersey federal judge knew the abandonment of a case contesting Axon's purchase of a fellow police body camera company had nothing to do with the merits of the challenge, in a Monday amicus brief partially backing a proposed class action.
June 18, 2024
DOJ Says DC Circ. Shouldn't Rethink Realtor Antitrust Probe

The U.S. Department of Justice has told the D.C. Circuit that its April decision allowing it to reopen an investigation into the National Association of Realtors doesn't conflict with any U.S. Supreme Court or circuit court decisions and that the NAR's rehearing petition should be denied.
June 18, 2024
FTC Escalates Probe Into TikTok's Privacy Measures For Kids

The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday took the rare step of publicly disclosing its referral to the U.S. Department of Justice of a complaint against TikTok and its parent company over their compliance with a 2019 privacy settlement, saying there's "reason to believe" that the companies are out of step with their pledge to protect children on the platform.
June 18, 2024
Novant Drops NC Hospital Merger After 4th Circ. Pauses Deal

Novant Health has abandoned its plans to purchase two North Carolina hospitals for $320 million after a split Fourth Circuit panel on Tuesday granted the Federal Trade Commission's bid for an emergency injunction putting the deal on hold indefinitely.
June 18, 2024
Train Operators' Boundary-Fare Class Action Trial Opens

At a class action trial in London on Tuesday, rail passengers accused English rail operators of abusing their dominant market position by failing to sell cheaper tickets to some customers and forcing them to pay up to double the price for their journey.
June 18, 2024
Tilray, Anheuser-Busch Want Out Of Beer Contract Suit

Anheuser-Busch InBev and Tilray Brands Inc. are asking a New York federal judge to schedule a pre-motion conference to discuss their proposed motions to dismiss a suit by CraftCanTravel LLC alleging they interfered with its exclusive distribution deal, arguing the claims are baseless and speculative.
June 18, 2024
Latham Leads Boston Scientific On $1.16B Silk Road Deal

Latham & Watkins-advised Boston Scientific Corp. said Tuesday it has agreed to acquire medical device maker Silk Road Medical Inc., represented by Wilson Sonsini, at an enterprise value of approximately $1.16 billion.
June 17, 2024
NFL Commish Goodell Takes Stand To Deny TV Price Controls

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell testified Monday in front of a California federal jury considering multibillion-dollar antitrust claims against the league that the NFL does not control the price of DirecTV's Sunday Ticket with any secret deals, insisting instead that the broadcast strategy is shouted "from the mountaintops."
June 17, 2024
'What Am I Supposed To Do?': Epic-Apple Doc Row Irks Judge

A California federal judge presiding over Epic Games' high-stakes antitrust compliance fight against Apple expressed frustration Monday with the parties' disagreement over the scope of Apple's document production, asking counsel repeatedly "What am I supposed to do?" and "Do I need to get somebody on the stand to explain this?"
June 17, 2024
Startup Wants To Add More Than $200M To Boeing IP Verdict

Zunum Aero Inc. is urging a Washington federal judge to significantly boost a $72 million jury verdict against the Boeing Co. for misappropriating the electric jet startup's trade secrets, including adding $162.5 million in exemplary damages and nearly $52 million in legal costs and interest.
June 17, 2024
Milbank Snags FTC Competition Trial Chief For DC Office

Milbank LLP announced Monday it has hired the chief trial counsel for the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Competition, bulking up its Washington, D.C., antitrust and competition practice with a veteran litigator who led the government's challenge to Microsoft Corp.'s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
June 17, 2024
Teamsters Plan Says Health Network Has Monopoly In Conn.

A Teamsters healthcare benefits plan and a Connecticut public transit provider have sued the healthcare network Hartford Healthcare Corp., accusing it of having a monopoly over healthcare in a half-dozen regions of the state.
June 17, 2024
Discover Unit Settles Visa Card Transfers Antitrust Suit

Pulse Network LLC gave notice Friday that it has settled its antitrust suit accusing Visa of locking banks and merchants into its debit network, resolving decade-old litigation two years after the Fifth Circuit revived the suit and ordered its reassignment away from a judge harboring "ingrained skepticism."
June 17, 2024
Ad Tech Judge Says No 'Moving Target' Damages, No Jury

A Virginia federal judge refused to consider the government's "late-arriving" math on how much federal agencies were overcharged by Google's digital advertising placement technology, according to an order unsealed Friday, a decision that allowed Google to successfully short-circuit the U.S. Department of Justice's damages claim and avoid a jury trial sought by the agency.
June 17, 2024
Male Enhancement Pills Infringe RAW Trademark, Co. Says

HBI International, the American distributor of the RAW line of smoking products, has filed a lawsuit in Georgia federal court alleging Mash Enterprise LLC used "identical copies" of its trademarks, trade dress and copyrighted packaging to sell male enhancement pills and beverages.
June 17, 2024
Exxon Investor Deal Ends Suit Over Emissions Proposal

Activist investor Arjuna Capital has escaped Exxon Mobil Corp.'s lawsuit over a contentious greenhouse gas-related shareholder proposal the investor sought to include in the company's 2024 proxy statement after a Texas federal judge on Monday accepted the investor's promises not to resubmit the proposal.
June 17, 2024
Google Says Texas Took Opposing Positions On Key Law

Google told a Texas federal court the state attorney general's office made arguments in the case accusing the tech giant of monopolizing display advertising technology that directly contradict arguments the state is making in a case challenging the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
June 17, 2024
Bookstores Appeal Denied Bid To Join FTC's Amazon Case

A trade association for bookstores is appealing to the Ninth Circuit after a lower court refused its request to intervene in the Federal Trade Commission's antitrust suit against Amazon that raises concerns about the e-commerce giant's sale of books and contracts with publishers.
June 17, 2024
Huawei Slams Netgear's 'Tenuous' RICO Case

Huawei has responded to a racketeering and antitrust case from a major U.S. maker of Wi-Fi routers by calling it "rife with tenuous legal and factual claims" and comparing its reworking of patent infringement allegations to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's failed antitrust case against Qualcomm.
June 17, 2024
Fed. Circ. Says Errors Led To Injunction In Trade Secrets Suit

A Federal Circuit panel on Monday overturned a preliminary injunction against a South Korean insulin pump patch manufacturer that allegedly stole trade secrets from a rival, saying a Massachusetts federal court made a series of errors in its determination to grant an injunction.
June 17, 2024
Pharmacy Groups Urge High Court To Hear Okla. PBM Case

Pharmacy industry groups asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a Tenth Circuit decision that overturned portions of an Oklahoma law regulating pharmacy benefit managers, saying these intermediaries have driven up costs for patients while raising their own bottom lines, and states should be allowed to keep them in check.
June 17, 2024
FTC Says Hospital Won't Fail Without Novant Buyout

The Federal Trade Commission is pushing back against claims that North Carolina's Lake Norman Regional Medical Center will fail if the agency halts its acquisition by Novant Health, telling the Fourth Circuit that the hospital is, in fact, profitable and stable.

Expert Analysis

Opinion

Waiving COVID-19 IP Protections Would Harm US Industry

President Joe Biden should turn down a World Trade Organization proposal to waive crucial intellectual property protections behind COVID-19 tests and diagnostics — protections that allow U.S. companies to sustain millions of jobs and develop life-saving treatments that benefit patients in every country, says former U.S. Circuit Judge Paul Michel, now at the Council for Innovation Promotion.
What The Law Firm Of The Future Will Look Like

As the legal landscape shifts, it’s become increasingly clear that the BigLaw business model must adapt in four key ways to remain viable, from fostering workplace flexibility to embracing technology, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.
The Year Ahead In Foreign Investment And National Security

In 2024, expect the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, already at the forefront of addressing national security threats, to increase monitoring and enforcement related to outbound investment, focus on supply chain resilience in nondefense sectors, and heighten oversight of agricultural transactions, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.
Navigating Class Actions After Papa John's Settlement Denial

A Kentucky federal court's surprising denial of preliminary approval for a $5 million settlement in the Papa John's no-poach case may prove to be an outlier but suggests a class action settlement would only be approved when a plaintiff demonstrates that a litigation class would be certified, say attorneys at Robins Kaplan.
4 PR Pointers When Your Case Is In The News

Media coverage of new lawsuits exploded last year, demonstrating why defense attorneys should devise a public relations plan that complements their legal strategy, incorporating several objectives to balance ethical obligations and advocacy, say Nathan Burchfiel at Pinkston and Ryan June at Castañeda + Heidelman.
The Space Law And Policy Outlook For 2024

Expect significant movement in space law, regulation and policy in 2024, as Congress, the administration and independent federal agencies like the Federal Communications Commission address the increasingly congested, contested and competitive nature of space and the space industry, say Paul Stimers and Leighton Brown at Holland & Knight.
Antitrust Enforcement Initiatives To Watch In 2024

The U.S. Department of Justice is likely to prioritize information-sharing prosecutions in 2024, following last year's withdrawal of safe harbors, as well as labor market enforcement after trial losses forced a pullback in 2023, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
Law Firm Strategies For Successfully Navigating 2024 Trends

Though law firms face the dual challenge of external and internal pressures as they enter 2024, firms willing to pivot will be able to stand out by adapting to stakeholder needs and reimagining their infrastructure, says Shireen Hilal at Maior Consultants.
The Most-Read Legal Industry Law360 Guest Articles Of 2023

A range of legal industry topics drew readers' attention in Law360's Expert Analysis section this year, from associate retention strategies to ethical billing practices.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.