Competition

  • December 10, 2024

    Google Takes Aim At Ad Tech Antitrust Claims In States' Suit

    Google has blasted the lawsuit accusing it of illegally manipulating the advertising market, saying that Texas and the roughly dozen other states behind the litigation are "playing a shell game" in which they serially amend their complaints to "avoid the weaknesses of their antitrust claims."

  • December 10, 2024

    Tekion Accuses CDK Of Blocking Rival Dealership Software

    Tekion Corp. accused CDK Global LLC of monopolizing the market for auto dealership management software by holding its customers' data "hostage" to prevent them from switching to competing platforms.

  • December 10, 2024

    FinCEN Says CTA Still Constitutional In Post-Injunction Alert

    The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has alerted companies that they do not currently need to file so-called beneficial ownership information with the agency after a federal judge's nationwide preliminary injunction blocking the Corporate Transparency Act, though the bureau maintained that the law calling for such information is constitutional.

  • December 10, 2024

    Trump Taps Ferguson As FTC Chief, Kressin Atty To GOP Seat

    President-elect Donald Trump named current Federal Trade Commission member Andrew N. Ferguson to be its next chair Tuesday night while also picking Kressin Meador Powers LLC partner Mark Meador, a former deputy chief counsel to Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, to round out the FTC as its third Republican member.

  • December 10, 2024

    FTC's Holyoak Says Chair OK With Some Cartels

    Federal Trade Commissioner Melissa Holyoak said Lina Khan, the agency's current chair, is suggesting enforcers ignore anticompetitive activity if it's not being committed by what she considers "dominant firms."

  • December 10, 2024

    AGs Urge FCC To Remove 'Pain' From Customer Service Calls

    A coalition of state attorneys general called Tuesday for the Federal Communications Commission to take some of the "pain" out of customer service calls in FCC-regulated industries from internet and voice calls to broadcast satellite.

  • December 10, 2024

    ESPN, Fox Blast DOJ 'Formalistic Distinction' In Fubo Case

    ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery pressed the Second Circuit to upend a lower court injunction against their sports-only streaming service, taking particular aim at U.S. Department of Justice arguments asserting the sports giants can't claim they have a right to refuse dealing with rivals after joining forces.

  • December 10, 2024

    Judge Says Indiana Grid Project Law Is Discriminatory

    An Indiana federal judge has blocked the state's right of first refusal law granting Indiana-based utilities the first attempt at securing new transmission project contracts in the state, saying the law discriminates against out-of-state economic interests.

  • December 10, 2024

    $24.6B Kroger-Albertsons Merger Blocked By 2 Judges

    Kroger's planned $24.6 billion purchase of Albertsons suffered double whammy blows Tuesday, first from an Oregon federal judge who temporarily blocked the deal in a Federal Trade Commission challenge, and then from a Washington state judge who sided with the state's attorney general and issued a permanent, national block.

  • December 10, 2024

    Vifor Pharma To Pay NHS £23M Over Misinformation Probe

    A global pharmaceutical has agreed to pay the National Health Service £23 million ($29.3 million) to address concerns it spread misinformation to healthcare professionals about the safety of a rival treatment for iron deficiency anemia, the U.K.'s competition watchdog said Tuesday.

  • December 10, 2024

    Ky. Rep. Guthrie To Chair House Energy And Commerce Panel

    Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., has won the race for chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, a key congressional post that includes jurisdiction over telecom issues and oversight of the Federal Communications Commission.

  • December 10, 2024

    Vodafone Decision Marks New Era For UK Antitrust Remedies

    The decision by the competition authority to clear Vodafone's merger with telecoms competitor Three UK could mark a shift from previously unpopular antitrust remedies toward more constructive solutions that help facilitate investment and economic growth, lawyers in the sector say.

  • December 09, 2024

    Crowell Adds Longtime DOJ Litigator To DC Antitrust Group

    Crowell & Moring LLP announced on Tuesday that it had added a former U.S. Department of Justice litigator with 33 years of government experience to its antitrust and competition, government contracts and litigation groups in its Washington office, furthering the firm's ongoing strategy to "double down" on its strongest practice areas, in the words of a top Crowell litigator.

  • December 09, 2024

    Intellia Can't Escape Patent Suit Over $100M Regeneron Deal

    Biotechnology company Intellia Therapeutics cannot ditch BlueAllele's claims that it infringed three patents related to gene editing to reap over $100 million under a deal with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled Monday, saying BlueAllele has plausibly alleged its rival is not entitled to drug-development safe harbor.

  • December 09, 2024

    $82.5M Cheerleading Antitrust Deal, Atty Fee Gets Final OK

    A Tennessee federal judge has granted final approval of an $82.5 million settlement between parents and Varsity Brands in a lawsuit that accused the apparel company of stifling competition and inflating prices, and also allowed $35 million of the award to pay for class counsel's fees.

  • December 09, 2024

    Blockchain Co. IP Fight With Investment Firm Teed Up For Trial

    A California federal judge has said a jury should decide whether the investment firm Franklin Templeton misappropriated trade secrets of Blockchain Innovation LLC and breached its fiduciary duty and contract with the firm when it shut down a digital asset startup that Blockchain later acquired.

  • December 09, 2024

    Live Nation Denied Rehearing In 9th Circ. Arbitration Fight

    The full Ninth Circuit has refused to reconsider an appellate panel's recent decision invalidating Live Nation and Ticketmaster's choice of a digital arbitration startup for consumer antitrust claims over allegedly exorbitant ticket prices.

  • December 09, 2024

    O'Melveny Faces DQ Effort In Hyundai TM Dispute

    An attorney defending computing company Hyundai Technology in its trademark dispute with Hyundai Motor Co. told a California federal judge Monday that O'Melveny & Myers LLP should be disqualified from representing the automotive giant because it retained and used a privileged document that was inadvertently shared in discovery.

  • December 09, 2024

    Meet The Attys Arguing Over Trademark Liability At High Court

    A Gibson Dunn partner who has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court 27 times will square off against the former solicitor general of West Virginia in a high court fight Wednesday over whether corporate affiliates must pay a real estate development company's $46.6 million trademark infringement judgment when they are not parties in the case.

  • December 09, 2024

    RealPage Says DOJ's Ended Multifamily Rental Criminal Probe

    RealPage said the U.S. Department of Justice had ended a criminal probe into the multifamily rental housing industry's pricing practices, adding that the algorithmic pricing company was never identified as an investigation target.

  • December 16, 2024

    Hausfeld Hires Freshfields Competition Pro In London

    Hausfeld LLP said Tuesday that it has hired an antitrust litigation expert from Freshfields as a partner in London as the firm looks to handle a growing workload of competition law redress claims.

  • December 09, 2024

    NHL Dropped From Antitrust Suit By Junior League Players

    The junior-league hockey players who accused the North American developmental system of exploitation and abuse in a proposed antitrust class action voluntarily dismissed the NHL from the suit on Monday, less than two weeks after the Canadian Hockey League was dismissed by a New York federal judge.

  • December 09, 2024

    Judge Eyes Far Less Trial Time In Meta Case Than FTC Wants

    The Federal Trade Commission likely has to cram much more trial in much less time than it had planned after a D.C. federal judge suggested Monday that the agency's social media monopolization case against Meta Platforms Inc. can't go much past the first week of June 2025.

  • December 09, 2024

    LendingTree Pushes FCC Again To Rework Lead Consent Rule

    Loan marketer LendingTree is making one more effort to persuade the Federal Communications Commission to trim the scope of its lead generation consent rule in hopes of seeing changes before the regulations take effect in January.

  • December 09, 2024

    Amazon Says FTC Lacks Authority To Bring Antitrust Case

    Amazon has told a Washington federal court that the Federal Trade Commission is overstepping its authority by bringing its antitrust case directly in court without pursuing an in-house case targeting the e-commerce giant's treatment of sellers on its platform.

Expert Analysis

  • Promoting Diversity In The Selection Of ADR Neutrals

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Choosing neutrals from diverse backgrounds is an important step in promoting inclusion in the legal profession, and it can enhance the legitimacy and public perception of alternative dispute resolution proceedings, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Opinion

    In Visa Case, DOJ Continues To Misapply The Sherman Act

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    The recent U.S. Department of Justice debit market monopolization case against Visa fuels concerns that a misguided Biden administration DOJ is inappropriately expanding its interpretation of the Sherman Antitrust Act beyond the demonstrable economic effects that business conduct has on consumers, says Shubha Ghosh at Syracuse University.

  • Series

    Playing Ultimate Makes Us Better Lawyers

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    In addition to being fun, ultimate Frisbee has improved our legal careers by emphasizing the importance of professionalism, teamwork, perseverance, enthusiasm and vulnerability, say Arunabha Bhoumik and Adam Bernstein at Regeneron. 

  • Dissecting New Circuit Split Over SEC's Proxy Adviser Rule

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    The Sixth Circuit recently upheld the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's partial rescission of enhanced conflict-of-interest disclosure requirements for proxy voting advice businesses, creating a circuit split over broader questions concerning the standard for assessing the legality of agency actions in general, say attorneys at Cahill Gordon.

  • Curious Case Of FTC's Amicus Brief In Teva Fed. Circ. Appeal

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    Attorneys at BCLP explore the Federal Trade Commission's backing of Amneal's Orange Book-delisting efforts on Teva ahead of a key Federal Circuit hearing in a case between the two pharmaceutical companies, and wonder if the FTC amicus brief indicates a future trend, especially in the next administration.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Metadata

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    Several recent rulings reflect the competing considerations that arise when parties dispute the form of production for electronically stored information, underscoring that counsel must carefully consider how to produce and request reasonably usable data, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Comparing Antitrust Outlooks Amid Google Remedy Review

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    As the U.S. Justice Department mulls potential structural remedies after winning its recent case against Google, increased global scrutiny of Big Tech leaves ex post and ex ante antitrust approaches ripe for evaluation, say Nishant Chadha at the Indian School of Business and Manisha Goel at Pomona College.

  • Striking A Balance Between AI Use And Attorney Well-Being

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    As the legal industry increasingly adopts generative artificial intelligence tools to boost efficiency, leaders must note the hidden costs of increased productivity, and work to protect attorneys’ well-being while unlocking AI’s full potential, says Ed Sohn at Factor.

  • Insurance Industry Impacts If DOL Fiduciary Rule Is Revived

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    If implemented following an ongoing appeal at the Fifth Circuit, the U.S. Department of Labor’s rule expanding the Employee Retirement Income Security Act's definition of "fiduciary" could chill insurance agents’ and brokers' ability to sell annuities, and lead to an increase in breach of fiduciary duty lawsuits, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • Empathy In Mediation Offers A Soft Landing For Disputes

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    Experiencing a crash-landing on a recent flight underscored to me how much difference empathy makes in times of crisis or stress, including during mediation, says Eydith Kaufman at Alternative Resolution Centers.

  • Series

    Being An Artist Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My work as an artist has highlighted how using creativity and precision together — qualities that are equally essential in both art and law — not only improves outcomes, but also leads to more innovative and thoughtful work, says Sarah La Pearl at Segal McCambridge.

  • How Judiciary Can Minimize AI Risks In Secondary Sources

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    Because courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence and other safeguards do not address the risk of hallucinations in secondary source materials, the judiciary should consider enlisting legal publishers and database hosts to protect against AI-generated inaccuracies, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.

  • False Patent Marking Claims Find New Home In Lanham Act

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    While the Patent Act may have closed the courthouse doors for many false patent marking claims, the Federal Circuit, in its recent decision in Crocs v. Effervescent, may be opening a window to these types of claims under the Lanham Act, says John Cordani at Robinson & Cole.

  • Jarkesy May Short-Circuit FERC Enforcement Cases

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    As a result of the U.S. Supreme Court's June decision in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently suspended an enforcement proceeding under the Natural Gas Act — and the commission's customary use of administrative hearings in such proceedings could face major changes, say attorneys at Willkie.

  • A Look At Calif. Biz Code And The Fight Over Customer Lists

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    To ensure Uniform Trade Secret Act security, California staffing agencies and their attorneys should review Section 16607 of the state Business Code, which prohibits contracts that restrain employees from engaging in other lawful types of business, to understand the process for determining whether a customer list constitutes a trade secret, says Skye Daley at Buchalter.

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