Competition

  • February 27, 2025

    IBM Closes $6.4B HashiCorp Deal After UK Nod

    IBM said Thursday that it had completed its $6.4 billion acquisition of infrastructure automation company HashiCorp, just two days after U.K. regulators disclosed that the deal had their green light.

  • February 27, 2025

    7-Eleven Owner Says $58B Bid Is Off Due To Financing Hitch

    Seven & i Holdings Co. said Thursday that a buyout offer from an executive and one of his companies, said to be worth about $58 billion, has fallen through after the bidding party was unable to secure necessary financing, putting a prior bid from Canada's Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. back into focus. 

  • February 26, 2025

    Apple Comms Director's Texts Reveal Criticisms Of Judge

    An Apple communications director's text messages came to light Wednesday on the last day of a high-stakes hearing into whether Apple complied with a 2021 antitrust injunction, revealing the director had criticized the judge extensively when the hearing began in May.

  • February 26, 2025

    Merck, Glenmark Trim United Healthcare's Zetia Antitrust Suit

    A Minnesota federal judge has trimmed a United Healthcare unit's antitrust suit claiming that Merck and Glenmark conspired to delay a generic version of the anti-cholesterol drug Zetia, throwing out non-Minnesota state-law claims he called a "bare and conclusory pleading."

  • February 26, 2025

    Card Shuffler Maker Inks $73M Deal To Settle Antitrust Claims

    Scientific Games Corp. has reached a $72.5 million agreement to settle its Illinois federal lawsuit with a would-be rival business that accused the company of monopolizing the automatic card shuffler market, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

  • February 26, 2025

    Trump Orders Fed Agencies To Plan For Large Layoffs

    The White House is telling federal agencies to submit plans for "large-scale" layoffs by mid-March, accusing them of siphoning funding for "unproductive and unnecessary programs" and "not producing results for the American public."

  • February 26, 2025

    Frontier Airlines Rips Feds' DC Airport Slots Snub

    Frontier Airlines Inc. has told the D.C. Circuit that the U.S. Department of Transportation unlawfully excluded it from competing for new slot exemptions at Ronald Reagan National Airport to operate long-distance flights, while carrier Spirit Airlines wants to have a say in the dispute.

  • February 26, 2025

    Dewberry Ruling May Lead To More Defendants In TM Fights

    Plaintiffs in trademark disputes likely will consider including multiple defendants in their complaints when it's unclear who holds the profits from the alleged infringement, according to intellectual property attorneys, after the U.S. Supreme Court remanded a case because nonparty affiliates of a defendant were ordered to pay an award that reached nearly $47 million.

  • February 26, 2025

    COVID Plausible Cause For Tire Price Hikes, Judge Says

    Consumers, dealerships and other tire purchasers will need more than claims of pretextual explanations for price hikes by Bridgestone, Goodyear, Michelin and other producers after an Ohio federal judge dismissed the "unsupported conclusion" that the pandemic doesn't explain their claims of consolidated price fixing.

  • February 26, 2025

    No DQ For Norton Rose In Texas Competition Row, Court Says

    Norton Rose Fulbright shouldn't be disqualified in a competitive spat between two industrial maintenance companies even though the firm has represented both entities in recent years, a state appeals court has ruled.

  • February 26, 2025

    Top Dem Urges Trump To Leave Independent Agencies Alone

    The top Democrat on the House Administration Committee urged President Donald Trump on Wednesday to rescind his executive order seeking to assert more control over independent agencies, which the congressman says is an "unprecedented violation" of law.

  • February 26, 2025

    DOJ Says RealPage Can't Ditch Antitrust Claims

    The U.S. Department of Justice and a group of states are urging a North Carolina federal judge to reject a move by RealPage Inc. and a group of landlords to escape claims that use of the company's software paves the way for collusion on setting rental prices.

  • February 26, 2025

    CVS Ordered To Comply With FTC's PBM Subpoena

    A D.C. federal judge is ordering CVS to turn over new materials in the Federal Trade Commission's investigation into its pharmacy benefit manager Caremark Rx, saying that just because producing updated documents would cost the company more doesn't mean it faces an "undue burden."

  • February 26, 2025

    Justices Vacate TM Award That Put Co.'s Affiliates On Hook

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday vacated an award that reached nearly $47 million in a trademark dispute that questioned whether affiliates of a real estate development company should be liable for the payment even though they were not defendants in the case.

  • February 25, 2025

    DC Judge Blocks Trump's Federal Funding Freeze

    A D.C. federal judge on Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from implementing a federal spending freeze while a group of nonprofits challenge the freeze, calling the measure "ill-conceived from the beginning."

  • February 25, 2025

    Wage-Fixing Jury Should Hear Of DOJ Pivot, Exec Says

    A nursing executive headed for trial next month on wage-fixing charges has urged a Nevada federal judge to let the jury hear that before 2016 the Justice Department didn't view such conduct as criminal, in the lone remaining test of the DOJ's labor antitrust enforcement initiative.

  • February 25, 2025

    Apple Litigation Director Threatened With Sanctions At Hearing

    A California federal judge presiding over a high-stakes evidentiary hearing into whether Apple has complied with her 2021 antitrust injunction threatened to sanction Apple's commercial litigation director Tuesday, telling counsel she has "significant concerns" about Apple's over-designation of attorney-client privilege, saying, "Your client is not entitled to have you engage in unethical conduct."

  • February 25, 2025

    9th Circ. Won't Revive Consumers' Qualcomm Antitrust Suit

    The Ninth Circuit Tuesday declined to revive cellphone buyers' antitrust suit against Qualcomm, backing a California district court's rejection of the consumers' claim that Qualcomm's policy of refusing to sell chips to cellular manufacturers that did not license its patents ran afoul of California antitrust law.

  • February 25, 2025

    GoDaddy, Tech Co. Quietly Agree To Kill Antitrust Suit

    The world's largest domain registrar, GoDaddy, has come to terms with the company behind an antitrust suit claiming that it blackballed the tech company from its platform, according to documents filed recently in Virginia federal court.

  • February 25, 2025

    Meta Says 9th Circ. Shouldn't Touch Antitrust Cert. Denial

    The Ninth Circuit should refuse to take up the appeal of a proposed class that was denied certification due to its novel theory that Meta Platforms Inc. would have been forced to pay users for the use of their data if it hadn't lied about how it was using it, the social media behemoth has told the court.

  • February 25, 2025

    Petrochemical Cos. Want Judge Out Of Plastic Recycling Row

    Petrochemical companies called on a Missouri federal judge to recuse himself from a proposed class action accusing them of misleading customers about the recyclability of plastic, saying his wife has a direct interest in the case as a Kansas City city council member.

  • February 25, 2025

    FTC Probing $615M Healthcare Staffing Merger

    Talent software and staffing company Aya Healthcare Inc.'s roughly $615 million bid to buy Cross Country Healthcare Inc. and take the staffing and recruitment company private hit a snag last week with a Federal Trade Commission merger probe that prevents the transaction from closing, for now.

  • February 25, 2025

    Judge Lets RJ Reynolds, Altria Seal Docs From Juul Deal

    A federal judge in North Carolina on Tuesday granted requests by tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. and rival Philip Morris' parent company to seal documents in their ongoing royalty dispute, keeping details of their licensing agreements with the vape brand JUUL confidential.

  • February 25, 2025

    FTC Wins Discovery Spat In Amazon Prime Subscription Suit

    A Washington federal judge won't force the Federal Trade Commission to share with Amazon discussions during past rulemaking about the scope of a federal law protecting online shoppers from deceptive billing, concluding for a second time that such information is irrelevant to whether the company's Prime subscription practices are illegal.

  • February 25, 2025

    Insulet May Face Choice: $452M Award Or Stifling Rival

    A Boston federal judge on Tuesday suggested that a medical device maker could have to choose between portions of its nine-figure trade secrets verdict it won against a rival or its request for a court order to permanently block sales of products based on the stolen technologies.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Racing Corvettes Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The skills I use when racing Corvettes have enhanced my legal practice in several ways, because driving, like practicing law, requires precision, awareness and a good set of brakes — complete with the wisdom to know how and when to use them, says Kat Mateo at Olshan Frome.

  • Opinion

    Attorneys Must Act Now To Protect Judicial Independence

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    Given the Trump administration's recent moves threatening the independence of the judiciary, including efforts to impeach judges who ruled against executive actions, lawyers must protect the rule of law and resist attempts to dilute the judicial branch’s authority, says attorney Bhavleen Sabharwal.

  • Rethinking 'No Comment' For Clients Facing Public Crises

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    “No comment” is no longer a cost-free or even a viable public communications strategy for companies in crisis, and counsel must tailor their guidance based on a variety of competing factors to help clients emerge successfully, says Robert Bowers at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Antitrust In Retail: Rude Awakening For FTC In Tempur Sealy

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    A Texas federal court's recent denial of a Federal Trade Commision order to stop a giant mattress merger because of lack of evidence on market segments shows that such definitions are only a viable path for regulating vertical mergers if antitrust agencies provide adequate documentation, says David Kully at Holland & Knight.

  • How Design Thinking Can Help Lawyers Find Purpose In Work

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    Lawyers everywhere are feeling overwhelmed amid mass government layoffs, increasing political instability and a justice system stretched to its limits — but a design-thinking framework can help attorneys navigate this uncertainty and find meaning in their work, say law professors at the University of Michigan.

  • Opinion

    US Steel-Nippon Merger Should Not Have Been Blocked

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    The Biden administration's block of the U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel merger on national security grounds was unconstitutional overreach and needs to be overturned, with the harms remedied in federal court, says attorney Chuck Meyer. 

  • Biden-Era M&A Data Shows Continuity, Not Revolution

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    While the federal antitrust agencies under former President Joe Biden made broad claims about increasing merger enforcement activity, the data tells a different story, with key claims under Biden coming in at the lowest levels in decades, say attorneys at Covington.

  • What Travis Hill's Vision For FDIC Could Portend For Banks

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    If selected to lead the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in a permanent capacity, acting Chairman Travis Hill is likely to prioritize removing barriers to innovation and institution-level growth, emphasizing the idea that eliminating rules, relaxing standards and reducing scrutiny will reinvigorate the industry, say attorneys at Mitchell Sandler.

  • 10 Issues To Watch In Aerospace And Defense Contracting

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    This year, in addition to evergreen developments driven by national security priorities, disruptive new technologies and competition with rival powers, federal contractors will see significant disruptions driven by the new administration’s efforts to reduce government spending, regulation and the size of the federal workforce, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

  • Will Independent Federal Agencies Remain Independent?

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    For 90 years, members of multimember independent federal agencies have relied on the U.S. Supreme Court's 1935 ruling in Humphrey's Executor v. U.S. establishing the security of their positions — but as the Trump administration attempts to overturn this understanding, it is unclear how the high court will respond, says Harvey Reiter at Stinson.

  • What To Expect From The New FCC Chair

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    As a vocal critic of the Federal Communications Commission's recent priorities, newly appointed chair Brendan Carr has described a vision for the agency that would bring significant changes to telecommunication regulation and Telephone Consumer Protection Act enforcement in the U.S., say attorneys at BCLP.

  • Exploring China's 1st Administrative Merger Control Ruling

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    As the first judicial ruling in China's merger control regime, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court's recent upholding of Simcere's acquisition of Tobishi helps to clarify how the Chinese antitrust authority and court assess remedies, say attorneys at Tian Yuan Law Firm.

  • Series

    Competitive Weightlifting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The parallels between the core principles required for competitive weightlifting and practicing law have helped me to excel in both endeavors, with each holding important lessons about discipline, dedication, drive and failure, says Damien Bielli at VF Law.

  • How Southern Calif. Fires Can Affect National, Local Pricing

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    The fire-related California state of emergency declared last month in Los Angeles and Ventura counties triggered laws around price-gouging and pricing restrictions that affect not just individuals and businesses in the state, but also nationwide, meaning sellers should be mindful of how price changes are discussed and rolled out, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • Opinion

    DOJ's Visa Suit Shows Pitfalls Of Regulating Innovative Tech

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    A policy of allowing free-market mechanisms to operate without undue interference remains the most effective way to foster innovation, and the U.S. Department of Justice's 2024 case against Visa illustrates the drawbacks of regulating innovative technology, says attorney Thomas Willcox.

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