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Competition
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October 01, 2024
Monthly Merger Review Snapshot
European enforcers saw a key merger policy cut down by the bloc's high court, while Kroger and Albertsons defended their planned $24.6 billion grocery store mega-merger from challenges in multiple venues, and the Federal Trade Commission pushed a bid to block a merger between the owners of Coach and Michael Kors.
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October 01, 2024
DOJ Joins Employee Antitrust Suit Against UPMC
The U.S. Department of Justice is backing a proposed class action from University of Pittsburgh Medical Center workers who say the hospital used noncompetes and blacklists to suppress wages, telling a Pennsylvania federal judge that UPMC's motion to dismiss the suit sets an "insurmountable" pre-discovery bar for plaintiffs.
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October 01, 2024
Ireland Eyes Infrastructure With €14B From ECJ Apple Case
The Irish government is aiming to build infrastructure with the €14.1 billion ($15.6 billion) in corporate tax payments due from Apple Inc. following a European Court of Justice ruling that Ireland granted Apple illegal state aid, officials said Tuesday in announcing next year's budget.
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October 01, 2024
Apple, Amazon Hint Hagens Berman Lacked Client's OK
Amazon and Apple blasted Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP for seeking to withdraw as counsel for the no-show original lead plaintiff in an antitrust suit targeting iPhone and iPad sales, hinting that the firm continued to pursue the case even after knowing its client wished to drop out.
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October 01, 2024
Stellantis Accuses Car Part Makers Of Cartel In €770M Trial
Peugeot and other car manufacturers told Britain's Competition Appeal Tribunal Tuesday that auto parts makers colluded to artificially drive up prices of car safety components, in the opening of a €770 million ($925 million) trial.
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September 30, 2024
FTC's Amazon Monopolization Suit Partly Tossed, For Now
A Washington federal judge on Monday agreed to trim the Federal Trade Commission's landmark monopolization case against Amazon and split the trial into two parts, although the order itself remains sealed, according to an entry on the case docket.
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September 30, 2024
Apple Says Epic's Injunction Can't Survive New Precedent
Apple Inc. asked a California federal judge Monday to vacate or at least narrow the injunction won by Epic Games Inc. against the iPhone maker's anti-steering rules, arguing that two recent rulings suggest that the judge got the state antitrust law wrong.
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September 30, 2024
Colo. Says Kroger Merger Would Divest To 'Retail Liquidator'
Colorado enforcers told a state judge Monday that Kroger Co.'s plan to inoculate against the anticompetitive effects of its $25 billion merger with Albertsons is doomed to fail because the company that would acquire hundreds of stores is a "liquidator" with no intention of running the stores long term.
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September 30, 2024
Epic Judge Slams Apple's 'Bad Behavior' Managing Discovery
A California federal magistrate judge overseeing discovery in Epic Games' antitrust compliance fight with Apple has refused to grant Apple's request to extend a compliance deadline to produce documents, slamming the tech giant for its "bad behavior" and eleventh-hour extension request and noting Apple has extensive resources to meet Monday's deadline.
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September 30, 2024
Siemens Will Pay $104M For Stealing GE, Mitsubishi Secrets
Siemens Energy on Monday pled guilty to wire fraud and agreed to pay $104 million to put to rest federal prosecutors' case accusing the company of misappropriating the confidential information of General Electric and Mitsubishi, a plea deal that comes after multiple former Siemens executives pled guilty in related cases.
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September 30, 2024
Takeda End Payors, Direct Buyers Win Antitrust Class Cert.
A New York federal judge Monday adopted a magistrate judge's recommendation to certify two classes of direct purchasers and end payors in consolidated antitrust actions accusing Takeda Pharmaceuticals Co. of unlawfully inflating the price of its diabetes treatment Actos by delaying entry of generic alternatives.
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September 30, 2024
AI Co.'s Antitrust Claims Against Thomson Reuters Tossed
A Delaware federal court dismissed antitrust counterclaims being brought by tech startup ROSS Intelligence in a case from Thomson Reuters alleging ROSS ripped off the Westlaw research platform for its artificial intelligence product.
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September 30, 2024
Alaska-Hawaiian Merger, An Aviation Anomaly
A promise to keep their distinct brands and a smaller national market share with few overlapping routes helped Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines seal their merger, a rare feat amid the Biden administration's tough antitrust enforcement and zealous opposition to consolidation, experts say.
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September 30, 2024
FCC Approves Audacy's Soros Deal, Triggering GOP Anger
The Federal Communications Commission has given the green light to the purchase of an ownership interest in bankrupt radio station owner Audacy Inc. by a fund manager with ties to George Soros.
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September 30, 2024
FTC Withdraws From Feds' Merger Review Labor Pact
The Federal Trade Commission is withdrawing from an agreement signed in August with the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board that's meant to increase collaboration when looking at labor issues in mergers.
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September 30, 2024
AGs, Academics Back Media Giants In Sports Streaming Fight
ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. have picked up allies in their push to move ahead with a "sports-first" broadcasting service, with six state attorneys general and a host of respected economics professors urging the Second Circuit to undo a New York court order that blocked the service's launch.
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September 30, 2024
Schwab Nears Deal In Antitrust Suit Over TD Ameritrade Buy
Charles Schwab Corp. has reached "an agreement in principle" with retail investors who filed a proposed class action alleging increased transaction costs for trades and other antitrust injury following the Schwab-TD Ameritrade merger, the parties told a Texas federal judge Friday.
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September 30, 2024
Medical Device Co. Wins $25M Verdict In Poaching Trial
Medical device company Cynosure has won a $25 million jury award following a weekslong trial in Massachusetts federal court on its claims that a rival business raided its sales and marketing talent and caused the employees to breach their noncompete and nonsolicitation agreements.
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September 30, 2024
Chevron-Hess 2nd Oil Merger To Get FTC OK With CEO Ban
A divided Federal Trade Commission signed off Monday on a deal allowing Chevron to buy Hess, permitting the $53 billion megamerger on the condition that Hess CEO John B. Hess be banned from Chevron's board, in the second such CEO-banning deal the FTC has inked in the last year.
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September 30, 2024
Epic Accuses Samsung Of Helping Google Block App Fix
Epic Games filed a new federal lawsuit Monday against Google and Samsung, alleging the search giant and the phonemaker have teamed up "to preemptively undermine" a looming order forcing Google to permit competition with its Play Store.
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September 30, 2024
5 Firms Guide DirecTV, Dish On $10B Debt Exchange Merger
DirecTV said Monday it has agreed to purchase EchoStar's video distribution business Dish DBS, including Dish TV and Sling TV, for a nominal $1 while absorbing nearly $10 billion worth of its debt, in a rare debt exchange-driven megadeal that is being led by at least five law firms.
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September 27, 2024
Calif. Appeals Court Won't Revive Suit Targeting Zero Emission Reg
A California appeals court has refused to jump-start a natural gas vehicle coalition's lawsuit targeting an Advanced Clean Trucks regulation aimed at boosting the sale of electric zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, ruling state regulators properly considered alternatives and impacts.
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September 27, 2024
Apple, Visa And Mastercard Want Out Of 'Tap Pay' Fee Suit
Apple, Visa and Mastercard on Thursday urged an Illinois federal court to toss several retailers' proposed antitrust class action accusing the three of conspiring to restrain competition in point-of-sale transaction payment networks, saying in separate motions that allegedly unlawful agreements they entered "expressly preserve" Apple's right to compete.
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September 27, 2024
Disney Wants FuboTV Tying Suit Tossed Before Trial
Disney told a New York federal judge Thursday that FuboTV in its tying claims against the programming giant still hasn't shown how Disney's bundling practice is out of the ordinary, saying that similar bundles have existed for years and have been cleared by the courts and the Federal Communications Commision.
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September 27, 2024
RealPage Wants DOJ Antitrust Case Moved To Tennessee
RealPage has asked a North Carolina federal court to transfer the government's antitrust case against it to Tennessee, where private litigation has been playing out over claims the software company helps residential landlords fix rental prices.
Expert Analysis
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Remedy May Be Google's Biggest Hurdle Yet In Antitrust Case
There are difficulties ahead in the remedies phase of the antitrust case against Google in District of Columbia federal court, including the search engine giant's scale advantage and the fast-moving nature of the tech industry, setting the stage for the most challenging of the proceedings so far, says Jonathan Rubin at MoginRubin.
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ECJ Cartel Damages Rulings Are Wins For Multinational Cos.
Two decisions from the European Court of Justice last month clarifying the limits of the single economic unit doctrine in cartel damages proceedings will help multinational companies anticipate and prepare for litigation within a narrower band of possible jurisdictions, say lawyers at Linklaters.
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Opinion
The Big Issues A BigLaw Associates' Union Could Address
A BigLaw associates’ union could address a number of issues that have the potential to meaningfully improve working conditions, diversity and attorney well-being — from restructured billable hour requirements to origination credit allocation, return-to-office mandates and more, says Tara Rhoades at The Sanity Plea.
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Opinion
It's Time For A BigLaw Associates' Union
As BigLaw faces a steady stream of criticism about its employment policies and practices, an associates union could effect real change — and it could start with law students organizing around opposition to recent recruiting trends, says Tara Rhoades at The Sanity Plea.
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Look For Flags On Expert Claims After Sunday Ticket Reversal
A California federal judge’s recent reversal of a jury’s $4.7 billion antitrust verdict in the NFL Sunday Ticket case indicates that litigants may be inclined to challenge expert testimony admissibility under Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence, and that judges may increasingly accept such challenges, say attorneys at Kutak Rock.
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Takeaways From Virginia's $2B Trade Secrets Verdict Reversal
The Virginia Court of Appeals' recent reversal of the $2 billion damages award in Pegasystems v. Appian underscores the claimant's burden to show damages causation and highlights how an evidentiary ruling could lead to reversible error, say John Lanham and Kamran Jamil at Morrison Foerster.
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UK Judgment Could Change Anti-Money Laundering Regimes
After the Court of Appeal of England and Wales' determination that criminal property remains criminal property in the hands of its purchaser even if purchased at market value, many businesses could face a new or heightened risk of prosecution for criminality in their supply chains and related money laundering offenses, say lawyers at Macfarlanes.
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How Justices Upended The Administrative Procedure Act
In its recent Loper Bright, Corner Post and Jarkesy decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court fundamentally changed the Administrative Procedure Act in ways that undermine Congress and the executive branch, shift power to the judiciary, curtail public and business input, and create great uncertainty, say Alene Taber and Beth Hummer at Hanson Bridgett.
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Jarkesy May Thwart Consumer Agencies' Civil Penalty Power
The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy not only implicates future SEC administrative adjudications, but those of other agencies that operate similarly — and may stymie regulators' efforts to levy civil monetary penalties in a range of consumer protection enforcement actions, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.
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Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Is My Counterclaim Bound To Fall?
A Pennsylvania federal court’s recent dismissal of the defendants’ counterclaims in Morgan v. Noss should remind attorneys to avoid the temptation to repackage a claim’s facts and law into a mirror-image counterclaim, as this approach will often result in a waste of time and resources, says Matthew Selmasska at Kaufman Dolowich.
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Bank M&A Continues To Lag Amid Regulatory Ambiguity
Bank M&A activity in the first half of 2024 continued to be lower than in prior years, as the industry is recovering from the 2023 bank failures, and regulatory and macroeconomic conditions have not otherwise been prime for deals, say Robert Azarow and Amber Hay at Arnold & Porter.
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FTC's Drug Middlemen Probe Highlights Ongoing Scrutiny
The Federal Trade Commission's interim staff report on its inquiry into pharmacy benefit managers suggests that the industry will remain under an enforcement microscope for the foreseeable future due to concerns about how PBMs affect drug costs and accessibility, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.
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Series
Playing Dungeons & Dragons Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Playing Dungeons & Dragons – a tabletop role-playing game – helped pave the way for my legal career by providing me with foundational skills such as persuasion and team building, says Derrick Carman at Robins Kaplan.
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Considerations When Using Publicly Available Data To Train AI
To maximize the benefits and mitigate the risks of using publicly available data to train artificial intelligence models, companies should maintain a balance between openness and protection, and consider certain best practices, says Michael Cole at Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America.
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Parsing NJ Court's Rationale For Denying Lipitor Class Cert.
A New Jersey federal court's recent Lipitor rulings granting summary judgment and denying motions for class certification for two plaintiff classes offer insight into the level of rigorous analysis required by both parties and their experts to satisfy the requirements of class certification, says Catia Twal at Edgeworth Economics.