Competition

March 03, 2025
Tobacco, Cannabis Cos. Score Partial Wins In TM Fight

An Arizona federal court judge has issued a mixed ruling on dueling summary judgment bids in a trademark lawsuit over a tobacco company and a cannabis company's shared use of the word "Raw" in branding.
March 03, 2025
Texas High Court Told Telecom Law Clears State Constitution

Texas is hoping its highest court will overturn a ruling that found the state violated its own constitutional rules about gift-giving by capping the amount cities can charge telecoms for using their rights-of-way to such a degree that they were basically forced to give away public money.
March 03, 2025
DOJ Opposes Anthropic's Amicus Bid In Google Search Case

The U.S. Department of Justice is telling a D.C. federal judge to keep Anthropic PBC out of the remedies phase of its search antitrust case against Google, arguing that the artificial intelligence company is trying to backdoor its way to intervenor privileges through an amicus curiae request.
March 03, 2025
Sutter Settles Years-Old Antitrust Suit On Courthouse Steps

Attorneys for a class of millions of health insurance premium payors announced an eleventh hour deal staving off a new antitrust trial Monday in California federal court over claims that hospital chain Sutter Health drives up costs by pushing all-or-nothing network deals on insurers.
March 03, 2025
Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

Japan's Nippon Steel is challenging a decision blocking its $14.9 billion merger with U.S. Steel Corp. on national security grounds, as door manufacturer Jeld-Wen continues fighting a landmark order forcing it to sell a Pennsylvania factory and the Justice Department pushes cases targeting mergers in the home health, networking and corporate travel spaces.
March 03, 2025
Ga. Baseball Player Chases Eligibility, Seeks Judge Recusal

A University of Georgia baseball player fighting to secure another year of eligibility has asked a federal judge to reconsider his denial of the request and to also recuse himself, alleging the judge failed to disclose himself as an official of the NCAA.
March 03, 2025
Bulk Mail Buyers Seek Go Ahead For £878M Royal Mail Claim

A representative for potentially 290,000 retail businesses asked Britain's competition tribunal on Monday to certify a £878.5 million ($1.1 billion) class action against the owner of Royal Mail for abusing its dominant position in the bulk mail market.
February 28, 2025
Align Tech Deal Directs Buyers To A Monopolist, Judge Says

A California federal judge has soundly rejected Align Technologies Inc.'s proposed $27.5 million antitrust settlement with teeth-aligner buyers, slamming Align as a monopolist and saying that the deal "will direct still more customers to the monopolist."
February 28, 2025
T-Mobile Touts Broadband Benefits Of US Cellular Deal

T-Mobile continues to make its case to the Federal Communications Commission in the hopes of earning the agency's blessing on the mobile behemoth's $4.4 billion plan to pick up rival UScellular's wireless business since it holds the key to the transfer of all the latter company's licenses.
February 28, 2025
Trump Admin Cuts Raise Trade Secret Security Concerns

As the Trump administration reduces the size of the federal government, intellectual property attorneys are expressing concerns about the continued safeguarding of trade secrets that companies are required to disclose to certain agencies.
February 28, 2025
NJ Out-Of-State Wine Sale Limits Are Justified, 3rd. Circ. Says

The Third Circuit on Friday upheld a New Jersey law barring out-of-state sellers to directly ship wine to in-state consumers, saying that to grant a New York retailer's challenge would "shake the foundations" of New Jersey's three-tiered system for regulating alcohol.
February 28, 2025
Robotic Surgery Co. Appealing Tossed Intuitive Antitrust Case

Surgical Instrument Service Co. Inc. is appealing to the Ninth Circuit after a California federal court tossed its $140 million antitrust case accusing Intuitive Surgical Inc. of blocking third parties from refurbishing components for its popular da Vinci surgery robot at the end of trial.
February 28, 2025
Amazon Sellers Don't Infringe Chair Patent, New Suits Say

Two Amazon sellers have sued outdoor furniture maker ShelterLogic Corp. in Washington federal court, claiming the company used the commerce giant's Patent Evaluation Express proceedings to falsely accuse them of selling products that infringe its foldable chair patent.
February 28, 2025
La. Regulators Ask Justices To Review Tesla Sales Ban Case

Louisiana regulators have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review Tesla's case over the state's ban on direct sales by automakers, saying the presence of car dealership owners on a regulatory board does not violate the electric-car company's due process rights.
February 28, 2025
Strike 2 For Ga. Baseball Player's Eligibility Bid Against NCAA

A Georgia federal judge declined to restore the eligibility of a University of Georgia baseball player Friday, saying that the NCAA's "five-year rule" preventing him from playing this season was "not commercial in nature" and thus didn't violate antitrust law.
February 28, 2025
Missouri Judge Won't Step Aside From Plastics Recycling Suit

A Missouri federal judge denied petrochemical companies' request that he recuse himself from a proposed class action accusing them of misleading people about plastic's recyclability due to his wife's position as a Kansas City council member.
February 28, 2025
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

This past week in London has seen the billionaire Zakay brothers, founders of Topland Group, become embroiled in a legal dispute with each other, Unilever sue three major perfume companies over alleged illegal price-fixing, and the publisher of Vogue magazine file an intellectual property suit against Cornucopia Events. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.
February 28, 2025
Trump Admin's NIL Guidance Isn't Law, But Is A Title IX Threat

When President Donald Trump's U.S. Department of Education recently rescinded late Biden-era guidance instructing that upcoming revenue distribution to college athletes should follow Title IX laws protecting equal opportunity for women, legal experts told Law360 it came as little surprise — but also carried very little legitimate legal force.
February 28, 2025
FCA Clears CVC's £5.4B Hargreaves Lansdown Takeover

CVC Capital Partners said Friday that the finance watchdog has given the green light to its £5.4 billion ($6.8 billion) takeover of wealth manager Hargreaves Lansdown, wrapping up all the regulatory conditions needed to close the deal.
February 27, 2025
FTC Asks To Delay In-House PBM Insulin Case

Arguing that pharmacy benefit managers accused of artificially inflating insulin prices have already "unreasonably delayed" discovery, the Federal Trade Commission is asking an in-house judge to push back an evidentiary trial in the case, saying it would allow the administrative court more time to accommodate up to 17 expert witnesses.
February 27, 2025
Liquidia Challenge To UTC's Tyvaso Exclusivity Fails

United Therapeutics Corp. is entitled to exclusivity over its blockbuster lung disease treatment Tyvaso through May, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was right to hold off approving a competitor until then, a D.C. federal judge said Thursday.
February 27, 2025
Alsup Halts 'Illegal' Firings Of Probationary Federal Workers

U.S. District Judge William Alsup on Thursday temporarily blocked the mass firings of probationary federal employees ordered by President Donald Trump's administration, determining that the Office of Personnel Management illegally directed government agencies to terminate the probationary employees without authority to do so from Congress.
February 27, 2025
Yet Another NCAA Antitrust Domino Looks To Be Teetering

The NCAA's misadventures in federal antitrust law have prompted sweeping changes to the college sports landscape in recent years, with more potentially on the horizon as the organization wrestles over its eligibility rules for athletes transferring from junior colleges.
February 27, 2025
CVS Freed From Hospital's Suit Over Drug Pricing Program

A Pennsylvania hospital's antitrust lawsuit claiming CVS forced healthcare providers participating in a federal discount drug program to go through the pharmacy chain's administrator has been tossed, with a federal judge ruling the hospital fell short in its allegations of anticompetitive behavior.
February 27, 2025
DOJ Tells DC Circ. To Keep Apple Out Of Google Case

The U.S. Department of Justice is urging the D.C. Circuit to keep Apple out of its remedies case against Google, arguing that Apple "sat on its hands" for years despite knowing from the outset of the litigation that its default search agreement with Google was at stake.

Expert Analysis

Series

Exercising On My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

While I originally came to the Peloton bike for exercise, one cycling instructor’s teachings have come to serve as a road map for practicing law thoughtfully and mindfully, which has opened opportunities for growth and change in my career, says Andrea Kirshenbaum at Littler.
3 Factors Affecting Retail M&A Deals In 2025

Retailers considering mergers and acquisitions this year face an evolving antitrust environment, including a new administration under President-elect Donald Trump, revised merger guidelines and a precedent set last year by a canceled $8.5 billion handbag merger, say attorneys at DLA Piper.
FTC Picks Augur Pro-Business Bent For Much Of Economy

President-elect Donald Trump's choice of two top Federal Trade Commission officials suggests a business-friendly climate for a significant portion of the U.S. economy, with noteworthy exceptions of continued scrutiny of healthcare and Big Tech companies, excluding artificial intelligence, say attorneys at BCLP.
Top 10 Legal Issues This Year For Transportation Industry GCs

General counsel must carefully consider numerous legal and policy challenges facing the automotive and transportation industry in the year to come, especially while navigating new technologies, regulations and global markets, says Francesco Liberatore at Squire Patton.
Exploring Venue Strategy For Trump-Era Regulatory Litigation

Litigation will likely play a prominent role in shaping policy outcomes during the second Trump administration, and stakeholders have several tools at their disposal to steer regulatory litigation toward more favorable venues, say attorneys at Covington.
What 2024's Noncompete Turmoil Means For Banks In 2025

A look back at the most significant legal challenges to the enforceability of various restrictive covenants like noncompete and nonsolicitation agreements in 2024 can help financial institutions address the use of these critical tools this year, say attorneys at Maynard Nexsen.
Searching For Insight On Requested Google Chrome Remedy

The potential for Google to divest its Chrome browser — a remedy requested by the Justice Department following a D.C. federal court’s finding the company is a monopolist — has drawn both criticism and endorsement, but legal precedent likely supports the former, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.
Opinion

3 New Year's Resolutions For Antitrust Agencies To Consider

James Fredricks at Skadden rings in 2025 with his wish list for the federal antitrust agencies, starting with a provision for a presumptive safe harbor for information sharing.
FTC Focus: A Changing Of The Guard

While rigorous antitrust enforcement is unlikely to slow down at the Federal Trade Commission, the focus will undoubtedly change, including when it comes to Big Tech, as Andrew Ferguson prepares to take the reins from Chair Lina Khan, say attorneys at Proskauer.
Series

Playing Esports Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Competing in a global esports tournament at Wimbledon last year not only fulfilled my childhood dream, but also sharpened skills that are essential to my day job, including strategic thinking, confidence and networking, says AJ Schuyler at Jackson Lewis.
An Associate's Guide To Career Development In 2025

As the new year begins, associates at all levels should consider establishing career metrics, fostering key relationships and employing other specific strategies to help move through the complexities of the legal profession with confidence and emerge as trailblazers, say EJ Stern and Amanda George at Fractional Law Firm.
5 Antitrust Issues For In-House Counsel In 2025

Attorneys at Squire Patton evaluate the top areas where U.S. antitrust policy is likely to change in the next 12 months, including major challenges to the Federal Trade Commission's authority that could reshape enforcement.
Reviewing 2024's Crucial Patent Law Developments

As 2024 draws to a close, significant rulings and policies aimed at modernizing long-standing legal practices or addressing emerging challenges have reached patent law, says Michael Ellenberger at Rothwell Figg.
Series

Fixing Up Cars Makes Me A Better Lawyer

From problem-solving to patience and adaptability to organization, the skills developed working under the hood of a car directly translate to being a more effective lawyer, says Christopher Mdeway at Kaufman Dolowich.
2024 Has Been A Momentous Year For ESG

Significant developments in the environmental, social and governance landscape this year include new legislation, evolving global frameworks, continued litigation and enforcement actions, and a U.S. Supreme Court decision that has already affected how lower courts have viewed some ESG challenges, say attorneys at Katten.