Competition

  • September 24, 2024

    Invitation Homes Agrees To $48M Settlement With FTC

    The Federal Trade Commission said it has struck a $48 million agreement with Invitation Homes Inc. to settle claims against the nation's largest single-family home landlord, including that it deceived people about leasing costs and junk fees, failed to inspect and repair homes as promised, and unfairly held on to security deposits.

  • September 24, 2024

    Fired United Rentals Worker Denies Competing In New Job

    United Rentals Inc. cannot show that it suffered irreparable harm when an ex-employee started working for a new company after he was fired, and even if it could, his noncompete agreement is unenforceable, the worker said in a filing in Connecticut state court that seeks to stave off a preliminary injunction.

  • September 24, 2024

    Google Expert Targets DOJ's Ad Tech 'Mistakes And Omissions'

    A Nobel Economics Prize-winning auctions expert on Tuesday criticized the U.S. Justice Department's monopolization case targeting Google's online advertising placement technology, telling a Virginia federal court that it was based on a fundamental misunderstanding of how the allegedly harmful auctions work.

  • September 24, 2024

    Wash. Justices Dubious Of Moonlighting Ban Loophole

    Washington state Supreme Court justices expressed doubt Tuesday that the state's moonlighting protections included an exception allowing companies to ban employees from other businesses in the same industry, saying that would contradict the noncompete statute's aim of supporting mobility for low-wage earners.

  • September 24, 2024

    Buyers Seek $97M Fees From $335M Drug Price-Fixing Deals

    A class of direct purchaser plaintiffs in the multidistrict antitrust litigation over generic drug pricing asked a Pennsylvania federal judge Monday to award them $97 million in fees across six settlements with pharmaceutical firms, arguing its attorneys "spent the better part of a decade and hundreds of thousands of hours litigating this case."

  • September 24, 2024

    Pac-12 Suit Says Mountain West 'Poaching' Fee Goes Too Far

    The Pac-12 Conference, which has spent much of September luring away five Mountain West Conference universities to rebuild its depleted membership, sued the rival conference Tuesday for imposing a "poaching penalty" of tens of millions of dollars in exit fees that it called "one-sided" and anticompetitive.

  • September 24, 2024

    Dish Owner Tells FCC Device Unlocking Good For Competition

    Dish and its parent company EchoStar are leaning on the Federal Communications Commission to finalize requirements that mobile providers unlock a customer's device within 60 days of them signing up, so they can change carriers if they want.

  • September 24, 2024

    Dish Slams 'Entitled' Standard General Exec's Race Bias Suit

    Dish Network has called for sanctions against Soo Kim, his hedge fund Standard General and their attorneys, calling Kim's racial discrimination suit against Dish, the Federal Communications Commission and a collection of other media players "an expensive temper tantrum."

  • September 24, 2024

    Apple, Amazon Say Funding Sinks £500M Price Fixing Claim

    Apple and Amazon urged a London tribunal on Tuesday to dismiss a consumer advocate's £500 million ($669.3 million) price fixing class action, arguing that her funding agreements disqualify her from representing the class.

  • September 24, 2024

    Firms Allowed To Exit IP Case After Gaining Philips' Consent

    A North Carolina federal judge allowed Dentons and Morningstar Law Group to withdraw as Transtate Equipment Co. Inc.'s counsel in a copyright and unfair competition case, after a stipulation was struck with opposing attorneys representing a Dutch health technology conglomerate that initially scoffed at the request.

  • September 24, 2024

    Conn. Judge Sends Law Firm's Trade Secrets Case To Fla.

    A Connecticut boutique law firm must go to Florida if it wants to continue pursuing its trade secrets case against a consultant it accused of making off with some of its confidential information because the Constitution State is an improper venue, a federal judge has ruled.

  • September 24, 2024

    DOJ Accuses Visa Of Monopolizing Debit Card Market

    The U.S. Department of Justice accused Visa on Tuesday of illegally maintaining a monopoly over debit card networks by using its dominance to thwart competition from new and existing rivals, as the Biden administration continues its push to combat high prices using antitrust law.

  • September 24, 2024

    Water Firms Say £800M Sewage Case Is Unfit For Class Action

    Six water companies argued before Britain's antitrust tribunal on Thursday that an £800 million ($1 billion) claim accusing them of underreporting sewage spills should not be certified as a class action, asserting that their status as "statutory monopolists" exempts them from competition law.

  • September 24, 2024

    3 Firms Rep As Blackstone, Vista Ink $8.4B Smartsheet Buy

    Work management platform Smartsheet Inc. will be purchased by private equity giants Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners in an all-cash, take-private deal valued at around $8.4 billion that was built by three law firms, the companies said Tuesday.

  • September 24, 2024

    Nasdaq, Deutsche Boerse Targeted In EU Antitrust Raids

    Nasdaq and Deutsche Boerse said Tuesday that they are among the financial services firms being investigated by the European Commission over alleged violations of EU competition laws in derivatives trading.

  • September 24, 2024

    Swisscom's €8B Vodafone Italia Deal Gets EU Clearance

    Swisscom AG said Tuesday that Europe's competition authority has cleared its proposed €8 billion ($8.9 billion) acquisition of Vodafone Group PLC's Italian business under the bloc's foreign subsidies rules.

  • September 23, 2024

    Reggie Bush Says USC, NCAA, Pac-12 Exploited His Image

    Former University of Southern California star running back Reggie Bush on Monday accused his alma mater, as well as the NCAA and the Pac-12 Conference, of profiting off his name, image and likeness without ever compensating him in return, according to a suit filed in California state court.

  • September 23, 2024

    Albertsons Says Wash. AG 'Cherry-Picked' Merger Fears

    Counsel for Albertsons accused Washington regulators Monday of cherry-picking comments from the grocer's CEO hyping Kroger as key competition to bolster the government's case for blocking the merger and overcame the state's objections to introduce emails where the CEO expressed fears about Costco, Walmart and Amazon's ever-expanding reach.

  • September 23, 2024

    Google Executive Says There's No Internal Ad Tech Advantage

    A Google executive pushed back Monday on some of the U.S. Justice Department's most important allegations of a conflict of interest in the search giant's control over online display advertising placement technology, arguing that website publishers are in charge of how ads are placed and priced.

  • September 23, 2024

    Helicopter Co. Used Code Names To Oust Supplier, Jury Hears

    Under the code name "Project Cicada," Fort Worth-based Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. worked for years to replace California-based digital avionics equipment supplier Rogerson Aircraft Corporation with a competitor, a jury heard in a Texas state court Monday, using Rogerson's trade secrets to prep the rival for the eventual shift.

  • September 23, 2024

    Kroger Fights FTC's Bid To Move Constitutionality Case

    Kroger is fighting to keep its challenge to the Federal Trade Commission's in-house courts in Ohio federal court, pushing back against the agency's effort to get it paused or moved to Oregon, where the FTC's case against the company's merger with Albertson's is already playing out.

  • September 23, 2024

    Court Sinks Antitrust Claims Against Suns Owner

    A Florida federal court adopted the recommendations of a magistrate judge and tossed a mortgage broker's antitrust case against the owner of the NBA's Phoenix Suns and his company, United Wholesale Mortgage, over an alleged boycott.

  • September 23, 2024

    Medical Records Co. Accused Of Blocking Data Access

    A company that helps insurance providers access patient data on Monday accused medical records company Epic Systems Corp. of violating antitrust law by using its monopoly over electronic health records to squash an emerging competitor.

  • September 23, 2024

    GSK Claims Pfizer Hasn't Proven Misconduct In Vax IP Fight

    GlaxoSmithKline is urging a Delaware federal judge to block Pfizer and BioNTech's claims that it has misused its patents tied to COVID-19 vaccination technology, or that it and a predecessor acted inappropriately when applying for those patents.

  • September 23, 2024

    Edelson, Susman, Berger To Lead MultiPlan Collusion MDL

    An Illinois federal judge on Monday tapped a team of lawyers from Edelson PC, Susman Godfrey LLP and Berger Montague PC to take the lead for plaintiffs in multidistrict litigation accusing MultiPlan and a host of insurers of colluding through the use of the data firm's pricing tools to systematically underpay out-of-network providers.

Expert Analysis

  • Takeaways From Tossed Deal In Visa, Mastercard Class Action

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    Given the rejection of a proposed deal in the long-running merchant antitrust class action against Visa and Mastercard in New York federal court, sweetening the proposed settlement pot likely will not be an option, leaving few possible outcomes including splitting the class and allowing opt-outs, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

  • How Orange Book Antitrust Scrutiny Is Intensifying

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    Pharmaceutical patent holders should be reviewing Orange Book listing practices, as the Federal Trade Commission takes a more aggressive antitrust approach with actions such as the Teva listing probe, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration calls attention to potentially improper listings, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Opinion

    OFAC Sanctions Deserve To Be Challenged Post-Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper Bright decision opens the door to challenges against the Office of Foreign Assets Control's sanctions regime, the unintended consequences of which raise serious questions about the wisdom of what appears to be a scorched-earth approach, says Solomon Shinerock at Lewis Baach.

  • Behind The Delay Of Final HSR Premerger Filing Rules

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    Erin Toomey at Epiq discusses the wait for the final version of the revised Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger filing requirements that were first introduced in June 2023, the factors that might be behind the delay, and how to plan for the potential data-focused rule change

  • Opinion

    The FTC Needs To Challenge The Novo-Catalent Deal

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    Novo's acquisition of Catalent threatens to substantially lessen competition in the manufacturing and marketing of GLP-1 diabetes and obesity drugs, and the Federal Trade Commission should challenge it under a vertical theory of harm, as it aligns with last year's merger guidelines and the Fifth Circuit decision in Illumina, says attorney David Balto.

  • Series

    Being A Luthier Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    When I’m not working as an appellate lawyer, I spend my spare time building guitars — a craft known as luthiery — which has helped to enhance the discipline, patience and resilience needed to write better briefs, says Rob Carty at Nichols Brar.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Uncertainty In Scope Of ITC Oversight

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    The U.S. International Trade Commission's long-standing jurisprudence on some of the most disputed and controversial issues is likely to be reshaped by the Federal Circuit, which is no longer bound by Chevron deference in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision, say Kecia Reynolds and Madeleine Moss at Paul Hastings.

  • Lead Like 'Ted Lasso' By Embracing Cognitive Diversity

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    The Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso” aptly illustrates how embracing cognitive diversity can be a winning strategy for teams, providing a useful lesson for law firms, which can benefit significantly from fresh, diverse perspectives and collaborative problem-solving, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.

  • Takeaways From EU's Initial Findings On Apple's App Store

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    A deep dive into the European Commission's recent preliminary findings that Apple's App Store rules are in breach of the Digital Markets Act reveal that enforcement of the EU's Big Tech law might go beyond the literal text of the regulation and more toward the spirit of compliance, say William Dolan and Pratik Agarwal at Rule Garza.

  • A Simple Proposal For Improving E-Discovery In MDLs

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    Given the importance of e-discovery in multidistrict litigation, courts, parties and counsel shouldn't have to reinvent the wheel in each newly consolidated case — and a simple process for sharing e-discovery lessons and knowledge across MDLs could benefit everyone involved, particularly clients, say Benjamin Barnett and Shauna Itri at Seeger Weiss.

  • Opinion

    Now More Than Ever, Lawyers Must Exhibit Professionalism

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    As society becomes increasingly fractured and workplace incivility is on the rise, attorneys must champion professionalism and lead by example, demonstrating how lawyers can respectfully disagree without being disagreeable, says Edward Casmere at Norton Rose.

  • A Look At State AGs Supermarket Antitrust Enforcement Push

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    The ongoing antitrust intervention by state attorneys general in the proposed Kroger and Albertsons merger suggests that states are straying from a Federal Trade Commission follow-on strategy in the supermarket space, which involved joining federal investigations or lawsuits and settling for the same divestment remedies, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • The Show Must Go On: Noncompete Uncertainty In Film, TV

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    The Federal Trade Commission has taken action to ban noncompetes while the entertainment industry is in the midst of a massive shift away from traditional media, so it is important for studio heads and content owners alike to understand the fate of the rule and their options going forward, say Christopher Chatham and Douglas Smith at Manatt.

  • Series

    Serving In The National Guard Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My ongoing military experience as a judge advocate general in the National Guard has shaped me as a person and a lawyer, teaching me the importance of embracing confidence, balance and teamwork in both my Army and civilian roles, says Danielle Aymond at Baker Donelson.

  • Big Business May Come To Rue The Post-Administrative State

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    Many have framed the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions overturning Chevron deference and extending the window to challenge regulations as big wins for big business, but sand in the gears of agency rulemaking may be a double-edged sword, creating prolonged uncertainty that impedes businesses’ ability to plan for the future, says Todd Baker at Columbia University.

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