Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Competition
-
July 10, 2024
Pa. Judge Skeptical Of Pausing FTC's Noncompete Ban
A Pennsylvania federal judge on Wednesday seemed hesitant to grant a tree services company's request to halt the Federal Trade Commission's recent ban on noncompete agreements, as attorneys for the company struggled to point to concrete harms it would suffer if the ban were to take effect as scheduled.
-
July 10, 2024
Kirkland, Skadden Steer $1.8B Honeywell Natural Gas Biz Deal
Kirkland & Ellis LLP-led Honeywell said Wednesday it has agreed to acquire Air Products' liquefied natural gas process technology and equipment business for $1.81 billion in an all-cash transaction, with Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP sitting on the other side of the bargaining table.
-
July 10, 2024
SEC Probes NYSE's Bid To Extend SPAC Merger Deadlines
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commision wants more time to investigate a New York Stock Exchange proposal that would lengthen deadlines to complete certain mergers involving special purpose acquisition companies to 42 months, saying NYSE's proposal departs from typical time limits intended to protect investors.
-
July 09, 2024
South Africa Drops J&J Probe After TB Drug Price Cuts
South Africa's antitrust office has said it's going to drop its investigation over whether Johnson & Johnson engaged in anticompetitive conduct by filing a patent there for a tuberculosis drug, after the drugmaker agreed to lower the cost of bedaquiline by 40% and allow generic versions of the drug on the market.
-
July 09, 2024
2 Cases In Visa, Mastercard MDL Ready For Trial, Judge Says
The New York federal judge handling multidistrict litigation over Visa and Mastercard merchant fees suggested on Monday separating from the MDL the lawsuits involving the Target and 7-Eleven plaintiffs, saying the cases are ready for trial and should be transferred to the Southern District of New York.
-
July 09, 2024
Industry, FCC Argue Net Neutrality's Fate After Chevron's Fall
Industry groups and the Federal Communications Commission filed competing briefs with the Sixth Circuit over whether to delay the enforcement of net neutrality rules after the U.S. Supreme Court tossed the longstanding Chevron doctrine that gave wide deference to agency decision making.
-
July 09, 2024
Fla. Judge Won't Nix Antitrust Claims Against Alcon
The Florida federal judge presiding over the multidistrict litigation alleging disposable contact lens sellers conspired to fix prices refused Tuesday to let Alcon escape antitrust claims by an online contact lens reseller and sent the suit back to New York.
-
July 09, 2024
Amazon Gets 'Buy Box' Rigging Case Tossed, For Now
A Washington federal court has dismissed a proposed class action accusing Amazon of using its "Buy Box" feature to deceive consumers after finding that the two men bringing the claims failed to include any details about the transactions they made and allegedly overpaid for.
-
July 09, 2024
Healthcare Cases To Watch: A 2024 Midyear Report
Courts across the U.S. this year will oversee key cases to the healthcare industry, from multidistrict litigation over the Change Healthcare hack to a challenge of a state gender-affirming care ban at the Supreme Court. Here are the healthcare cases to watch in the second half of 2024.
-
July 09, 2024
FTC Is Denied Amazon's Instructions On Signal Use, For Now
A Washington federal judge refused Tuesday to give the Federal Trade Commission a peek into what it contends is the extensive use of Signal by Jeff Bezos and other top Amazon.com executives to hide communications relevant to a monopolization lawsuit, preferring to order deposition testimony on that use first.
-
July 09, 2024
Google Says Social Media Ruling Hurts Common Carrier Case
Google is telling an Ohio state court that a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling bolsters its case against being reclassified as a common carrier.
-
July 09, 2024
FCC Majority Takes Heat From House GOP Over New Regs
Democratic leaders of the Federal Communications Commission defended their regulatory policies Tuesday against House GOP critics who accused the agency of tacking in a partisan direction and passing new rules that Republicans said exceed the agency's statutory limits.
-
July 09, 2024
Aetna Beats Blue Cross In NC Health Plan Contract Battle
An administrative judge affirmed North Carolina's switch of its employee and retiree health plan to Aetna, reasoning Blue Cross Blue Shield failed to prove state officials made errors favoring the competitor when evaluating bids.
-
July 09, 2024
FTC Says Drug Middlemen Inflate Costs, Squeeze Pharmacies
The Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday that its study of pharmacy benefit managers has shown that six large companies now control 95% of all prescriptions filled in the U.S., allowing them to profit at the expense of patients and independent pharmacies.
-
July 09, 2024
Chicken Buyers' Cost-Saving Deal With Producers Approved
An Illinois federal judge granted final approval Tuesday to settlements direct chicken buyers struck with producers that beat their price-fixing claims at summary judgment or trial, saving them about $1 million in costs they could have otherwise owed the companies.
-
July 09, 2024
House Dems Seek Info From DOI Over Alleged Shale Cartel
House Democrats sitting on the House Natural Resources Committee penned a letter Tuesday seeking information from the U.S. Department of the Interior concerning eight oil companies accused of colluding with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Companies to artificially inflate gas prices.
-
July 09, 2024
Judge Calls Cost Of DOJ's Assa Abloy Market Study 'Insane'
A D.C. federal judge took the U.S. Department of Justice and its monitoring trustee to task Tuesday for their pursuit of an open-ended look at Assa Abloy's books to check for anticompetitive harms from a 2023 merger, excoriating budget estimates pricing the investigation at a minimum of $1.7 million.
-
July 09, 2024
Goodwin Adds MoFo Antitrust, Fintech Leaders In DC
Goodwin Procter LLP has brought on three partners from Morrison Foerster LLP in Washington, D.C., including the chair of Morrison Foerster's antitrust litigation practice and the co-leader of its financial technology practice, the firm announced Monday.
-
July 08, 2024
Smoke Shops Say Rivals Are Copying Name, Filching Goodwill
A Washington smoke chain has hit several rivals with trademark infringement lawsuits, accusing them of unauthorized use of its name, Smoke City, so they can lean on the goodwill it has developed with customers.
-
July 08, 2024
Hyundai Falsely Inflates Electric Car Sale Growth, Dealers Say
Hyundai dealers filed a Robinson-Patman Act price discrimination suit in Illinois federal court Friday accusing the automotive giant of running a scheme to keep up the appearance of growing electric car sales by causing dealers to report fake sales and rewarding them with perks including discounts, popular models and coupons for customers.
-
July 08, 2024
Assa Abloy Says No Monitor 'Blank Check' After Merger Deal
Assa Abloy on Monday reasserted its bid to rein in a monitoring trustee installed after the company settled a government merger challenge, arguing ahead of a court hearing that the government is aiming to roll back the parties' deal and carry out a more expansive investigation through the monitor.
-
July 08, 2024
Texas Anesthesia Co. Can't Pause Or Appeal Suit, FTC Says
The Federal Trade Commission urged a Texas federal court not to pause its suit accusing U.S. Anesthesia Partners Inc. of a monopolistic "roll-up" of Lone Star State anesthesia practices, arguing the company can't appeal an order refusing to toss the case against it.
-
July 08, 2024
Justices Told To Ignore 'Hopeless' Challenge To Antitrust Test
A group of wholesalers who say the makers of 5-Hour Energy illegally favored Costco in distributing the energy drink shots told the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to reject the drink-maker's certiorari petition, saying it asks the justices to take on the role of fact-finders.
-
July 08, 2024
Kirkland, Fenwick Steer Lilly's $3.2B Morphic Acquisition
Eli Lilly and Co. unveiled Monday a $3.2 billion all-cash deal to acquire biopharmaceutical company Morphic Holding Inc., which is developing oral therapies to treat Crohn's disease and other bowel chronic diseases, in a 10-figure transaction guided by Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Fenwick & West LLP.
-
July 08, 2024
Kirkland-Led Devon To Buy Grayson's Williston Biz For $5B
Devon Energy announced Monday that the Oklahoma-based public company has cut a $5 billion cash-and-stock deal to acquire private equity-backed Grayson Mill Energy's Williston Basin oil and gas business in a transaction guided by Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Vinson & Elkins LLP.
Expert Analysis
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.