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Competition
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July 22, 2024
In Transfer Row, Live Nation Calls DOJ Case Merger Deal 2.0
Live Nation and Ticketmaster formally asked a skeptical New York federal judge to transfer the U.S. Department of Justice antitrust lawsuit to Washington, D.C., arguing the case clearly grows out of an underlying 2010 deal clearing the merger the government now wants unwound.
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July 22, 2024
Merchants Seek Pause Of Visa, MasterCard Swipe-Fee Deal
A group of merchants who use payment company Square's services to accept cards has asked a New York federal judge to pause the settlement of a massive swipe-fee antitrust litigation against Visa and Mastercard while they pursue a Second Circuit appeal of her ruling that they're bound by the deal.
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July 22, 2024
Midyear Report: Surveying Vast NCAA Litigation Landscape
While the NCAA has never been a stranger to high-stakes litigation, the past six months have seen a deluge of courtroom intrigue as college athletes flex their legal muscle amid a quickly shifting consensus on the organization's overall business model.
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July 22, 2024
Former Judge On Trump Assassination Attempt Panel
A former federal judge who previously sat on an oversight panel for the Secret Service was among those the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced on Sunday would conduct an independent review of the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
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July 22, 2024
SEC Launches Multiagency Fraud Council
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has announced that it is creating the Interagency Securities Council, which will bring together federal, state and local regulatory and law enforcement professionals quarterly to discuss the latest in "scams, trends, frauds, and mitigation strategies."
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July 22, 2024
UK Ends DJ Equipment Merger Probe As Parties Ditch Deal
The antitrust regulator of the U.K. said Monday that it has canceled its probe into DJ equipment maker AlphaTheta's proposed acquisition of audio technology company Serato, after the audio entertainment companies abandoned the deal.
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July 22, 2024
Hoka Accused Of Fixing Retail Prices As Trial Kicks Off
A British running shoe store chain on Monday accused the sneaker maker behind Hoka of fixing retail prices by blocking the seller from using an online discount store, kicking off its trial at the U.K.'s specialist antitrust tribunal.
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July 19, 2024
Jazz Says Narcolepsy Drug Charge MDL Should Be Tossed
Jazz Pharmaceuticals urged a California federal judge to toss claims from insurers and consumers pursuing multidistrict litigation accusing the drugmaker of staving off generic competition to its blockbuster narcolepsy medicine Xyrem through antitrust conduct and deals with other drugmakers, saying the company engaged in "permissible competition."
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July 19, 2024
NFL Antitrust Verdict, WWE Chair Woes Define 2024's 1st Half
The first half of 2024 saw bombshell allegations and yearslong litigation lurching forward, highlighted by the shocking lawsuit accusing the founder of WWE of horrific sexual conduct, an iconic magazine almost shuttering and two NFL cases reaching significant milestones.
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July 19, 2024
Capital One Critics Lobby To Block 'No Good' Discover Deal
Critics of Capital One's planned $35 billion purchase of Discover Financial Services urged federal regulators on Friday to withhold approval for the tie-up, rejecting a landmark community benefits pledge for the merger as a fig leaf for what they said is really a "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad" megadeal.
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July 19, 2024
FTC Wants To Block Kroger & Albertsons' 'Principal Defense'
Federal Trade Commission staffers want to block Kroger and Albertsons from using their main defense to an in-house merger challenge — the plan to sell off 579 stores — or otherwise force the companies to produce documents so far protected as privileged, according to a recently public filing.
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July 19, 2024
Judge Tosses Traders' Counterclaims In Trade Secrets Case
A Manhattan federal judge has ruled that Millennium Management LLC and two of its employees cannot yet use the federal trade secrets law to claim attorney fees with their allegation that investment firm Jane Street Group LLC sued them in bad faith over a proprietary trading strategy.
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July 19, 2024
Kroger Could Delay Merger Closing To Avoid Colo. Hearing
Kroger Co. told a Colorado state judge Friday that it is negotiating a potential agreement with the state to delay the closing date for its proposed merger with Albertsons until November or after the court rules on a permanent injunction, a proposal the grocer said was aimed at avoiding a hearing next month.
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July 19, 2024
Boehringer Looks To Toss Inhaler Antitrust Case
Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. urged a Massachusetts federal court to toss a proposed class action accusing it of blocking generic versions of two inhaler medications, saying it has valid patents protecting the products.
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July 19, 2024
Elite Schools' $284M Aid-Fixing Deals Get Final OK
An Illinois federal judge on Friday granted his final signoff to $284 million worth of settlements inked by 10 schools accused in a sprawling antitrust case of working together to limit the financial aid they provided, deeming it a fair and reasonable outcome for the class of students.
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July 19, 2024
What The End Of Chevron Means For FTC Rulemaking
Federal agencies can no longer expect courts to defer to their interpretation of challenged regulatory authorities under a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling the Federal Trade Commission expects will have no "significant impact," but that observers say could help trip up a noncompetes ban and perhaps other efforts.
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July 19, 2024
FTC Eyes Mid-Nov. Texas Hearing Against Mattress Merger
The Federal Trade Commission's case against Tempur Sealy's $4 billion planned Mattress Firm purchase is set to kick off in Texas federal court Nov. 14, the parties told an agency in-house judge Friday during a scheduling hearing.
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July 19, 2024
Temple U.'s Ken Jacobsen On NCAA-House Deal, What's Next
Even with a deal of such size and consequence — approximately $2.8 billion, more than 184,000 athletes in the class, all the Power Five conferences named and with decades of court rulings leading up to it — the settlement over name, image and likeness compensation in the Grant House-led class action against the NCAA is best seen as a beginning, rather than an end.
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July 19, 2024
Axon Says FTC Has 'No Reason' To Wade Into Suit
Axon urged a New Jersey federal judge Thursday to "give no weight" to a Federal Trade Commission amicus intervention into a proposed class action against the company, arguing that however much the FTC bristles at references to an abandoned merger case, that consternation isn't relevant to the instant suit.
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July 19, 2024
Shoemaker Asks Court To Trim Birkenstock Copycat Claim
A judge said Friday that she couldn't tell the difference between several popular styles of Birkenstock sandals and alleged "knockoff" versions made by a New Hampshire company based on photos, signaling potential trouble for the defendant in a trademark infringement lawsuit by the German footwear-maker.
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July 19, 2024
San Francisco Lawmaker Floats Rent Algorithm Software Ban
A San Francisco lawmaker proposed a ban that would prohibit selling or using software that can be used for rent price fixing, and took aim at property management software companies such as RealPage and Yardi for their software allegedly being used for such a purpose.
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July 19, 2024
MLS, US Soccer Can't Get Redo On Antitrust Suit Preservation
A New York federal judge told Major League Soccer and the sport's U.S. governing body that he would not reconsider a previous order that kept alive an antitrust suit against the organizations, but he did offer some of the clarification they were seeking about market definition.
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July 19, 2024
FTC Says Microsoft Price Hike Shows Activision Deal Harm
The Federal Trade Commission told the Ninth Circuit that Microsoft's recently announced Game Pass price increase is an example of the harm caused by the company's $68.7 billion acquisition of game developer Activision Blizzard Inc.
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July 19, 2024
Judge Recuses As Tech Firm Slams Dow Chemical's Request
An Ohio federal judge has recused himself from a trade secrets case brought against Dow Chemical Co. after the technology firm that sued it showed the court a settlement offer without approval that would grant Dow Chemical's recusal motion, which the tech firm said was a "cavalier approach to a drastic remedy."
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July 19, 2024
Occidental Could Sell $3.6B CrownRock Stake To Ecopetrol
Occidental Petroleum said in a securities filing Friday that it could sell a 30% stake in CrownRock — which Occidental is under contract to buy for $12 billion — to Columbia's Ecopetrol for $3.6 billion.
Expert Analysis
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Behind Indiana's Broad New Healthcare Transactions Law
The high materiality threshold in Indiana's recently passed healthcare transaction law, coupled with the inclusion of private equity in its definition of healthcare entities, makes it one of the broadest state review regulations to date, say attorneys at DLA Piper.
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Highlights From The 2024 ABA Antitrust Spring Meeting
U.S. merger enforcement and cartels figured heavily in this year's American Bar Association spring antitrust meeting, where one key takeaway included news that the Federal Trade Commission's anticipated changes to the Hart-Scott-Rodino form may be less dramatic than many originally feared, say attorneys at Freshfields.
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What FERC's Disclosure Demands Mean For Cos., Investors
Two recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission orders reflect the commission's increasingly meticulous approach to reviewing corporate structures in applications for approval of proposed consolidations, acquisitions or changes in control — putting the onus on the regulated community to track and comply with ever-more-burdensome disclosure requirements, say attorneys at Willkie.
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Clemson's ACC Exit Fee Suit May Have Major Consequences
Clemson University's recent suit in South Carolina state court against the Atlantic Coast Conference, which challenges the ACC's $140 million exit fee and its ownership of member schools' media rights, would likely have enormous ramifications for ACC members in the event of a definitive court ruling, say William Sullivan and Alex Anderson at Pillsbury.
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FDIC Bank Merger Reviews Could Get More Burdensome
Recently proposed changes to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. bank merger review process would expand the agency's administrative processes, impose new evidentiary burdens on parties around competitive effects and other statutory approval factors, and continue the trend of long and unpredictable processing periods, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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Series
Whitewater Kayaking Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Whether it's seeing clients and their issues from a new perspective, or staying nimble in a moment of intense challenge, the lessons learned from whitewater kayaking transcend the rapids of a river and prepare attorneys for the courtroom and beyond, says Matthew Kent at Alston & Bird.
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Apple Ruling Offers Morsel Of Certainty On Litigation Funding
An English court's recent decision in Gutmann v. Apple, finding that a litigation funder could be paid via a damages award, offers a piece of guidance on the permissibility of such agreement terms amid the ongoing uncertainty around funded group litigation in the U.K., says Mohsin Patel at Factor Risk Management.
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This Earth Day, Consider How Your Firm Can Go Greener
As Earth Day approaches, law firms and attorneys should consider adopting more sustainable practices to reduce their carbon footprint — from minimizing single-use plastics to purchasing carbon offsets for air travel — which ultimately can also reduce costs for clients, say M’Lynn Phillips and Lisa Walters at IMS Legal Strategies.
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4 Ways AI Tools Can Improve Traditional Merger Analyses
Government officials at the American Bar Association's annual antitrust spring meeting last week reinforced the view that competition cases will increasingly rely on sophisticated data analysis, so companies will likewise need to use Big Tech quantitative techniques to improve traditional merger analyses, say Patrick Bajari, Gianmarco Calanchi and Tega Akati-Udi at Keystone.
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Blocked JetBlue-Spirit Deal Illustrates New Antitrust Approach
The U.S. Department of Justice’s recent successful block of a merger between JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines demonstrates antitrust enforcers’ updated and disparate approach to out-of-market benefits versus out-of-market harms, say Lisa Rumin and Anthony Ferrara at McDermott.
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The Pros And Cons Of NIST's Proposed March-In Framework
Recent comments for and against the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s proposed guidance on march-in rights — which permit the government to seize federally funded patents — highlight how the framework may promote competition, but could also pose a risk to contractors and universities, say Nick Lee and Paul Ragusa at Baker Botts.
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Opinion
Federal MDL Rule Benefits From Public Comments
The new Federal Rule of Civil Procedure concerning multidistrict litigation that was approved this week by the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules incorporates ideas from public comments that will aid both plaintiffs and defense attorneys — and if ultimately adopted, the rule should promote efficient, merits-driven MDL case management, say Robert Johnston and Gary Feldon at Hollingsworth.
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Practicing Law With Parkinson's Disease
This Parkinson’s Awareness Month, Adam Siegler at Greenberg Traurig discusses his experience working as a lawyer with Parkinson’s disease, sharing both lessons on how to cope with a diagnosis and advice for supporting colleagues who live with the disease.
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EU Ruling Exposes Sovereignty Fissures In Int'l Arbitration
The European Court of Justice's recent ruling that the U.K. had breached EU law by allowing an arbitral award to proceed underscores the diminished influence of EU jurisprudence in the U.K., hinting at the EU courts' increasingly nominal sway in international arbitration within jurisdictions that prize legal autonomy, says Josep Galvez at 4-5 Gray’s Inn.
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Opinion
Aviation Watch: Not All Airline Mergers Hurt The Public
The U.S. Department of Justice's actions to block recent attempted airline mergers have been touted as serving the interests of the consumers — but given the realities of the deregulated air travel market, a tie-up like the one proposed between JetBlue and Spirit might have been a win for the public, says Alan Hoffman, a retired attorney and aviation expert.