Competition

  • June 13, 2024

    Apple Fights To Ax 'Speculative' IPhone App Antitrust Suit

    Apple urged a California federal judge Thursday to toss a proposed antitrust class action alleging the company illegally prevents iPhones from running web-based apps that don't need to be downloaded, arguing consumers don't have standing to bring the "speculative" litigation since they're not directly injured by Apple's agreements with developers.

  • June 13, 2024

    DirecTV's 'NFL Tax' Gouged Sunday Ticket Buyers, Jury Told

    DirecTV gouged its Sunday Ticket subscribers by charging 24.6% above the "optimal price" it should have charged if the company was looking to maximize its profits instead of instituting an "NFL tax," an economist told a California federal jury considering multibillion-dollar antitrust claims against the league on Thursday.

  • June 13, 2024

    Canadian Businessman Cops To Stealing Tesla Trade Secrets

    A Canadian businessman residing in China pled guilty in New York federal court to scheming to sell secret battery manufacturing technology that belongs to Tesla, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday.

  • June 13, 2024

    FTC's Ferguson Says He's A Law Enforcer, Not A Policymaker

    Recently minted Federal Trade Commissioner Andrew Ferguson said Thursday that he views his new role as a law enforcer and not a policymaker and said the biggest issue for antitrust law right now is dealing with Big Tech.

  • June 13, 2024

    2nd Circ. Case Over NY Broadband Law Could Wrap Up

    An agreement could soon be reached between internet providers and the New York attorney general's office that would avoid the need for further Second Circuit review of New York's controversial low-cost broadband law, court records show.

  • June 13, 2024

    Apple Wants Discovery Hearing Closed In IPhone Class Action

    Apple is asking a California federal judge to close the courtroom during an upcoming discovery hearing in the ongoing antitrust class action it's facing from consumers, arguing that the proceeding is likely to reveal consumer data and billing information that should be kept out of public view.

  • June 13, 2024

    Judge OKs RBS, Lloyds Bank and Others' $1.9M Libor Deal

    A New York federal judge has granted preliminary approval to a $1.9 million deal between lender plaintiffs and several large banks, including the Royal Banks of Scotland, Lloyds, and others, over their alleged role in manipulating the London Interbank Offered Rate.

  • June 13, 2024

    Teva Wins Pause Of Order Ousting Patents From Orange Book

    A New Jersey federal judge ordered on Thursday a 30-day stay of his Monday ruling that a handful of patents covering Teva-brand asthma inhalers were improperly listed in the federal Orange Book, saying he wanted the matter to reach the Federal Circuit in the most orderly way possible.

  • June 13, 2024

    CVS Dodges Discovery Audit In Generic Drug Collusion Suit

    A federal judge declined to make CVS hire a forensic auditor to evaluate its compliance with information demands in a lawsuit alleging it colluded with drugmakers to keep Medicare beneficiaries from accessing certain generic drugs, despite a whistleblower bemoaning "woefully deficient" discovery on the pharmacy chain's part.

  • June 13, 2024

    Verizon Opposes AT&T's FirstNet As 4.9 GHz Band Manager

    Verizon is done letting proxies speak for it in the war of words over a plan to make AT&T's FirstNet the national manager of the 4.9 gigahertz public safety band, telling the Federal Communications Commission in a new filing that the idea would disrupt the public safety spectrum marketplace.

  • June 13, 2024

    Blackstone's $10B AIR Buy Gets Nod From Top 2 Proxy Firms

    Denver-based Apartment Income REIT Corp.'s shareholders have recommendations from the two leading proxy advisory firms to approve an agreement to sell off the real estate investment trust to private equity giant Blackstone for $10 billion, the company announced June 13. 

  • June 13, 2024

    EU Makes First Ever Formal Pharma Price-Fixing Complaint

    European Union antitrust authorities issued their first ever price-fixing complaint in the pharmaceutical industry Thursday, going after the only company that did not agree to a €13.4 million ($14.4 million) settlement in October.

  • June 13, 2024

    IBM Resets Antitrust Review Clock For $6.4B HashiCorp Buy

    IBM has refiled the notice of its proposed $6.4 billion purchase of HashiCorp to the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, resetting the 30-day review clock for enforcers to review the deal, according to a HashiCorp proxy statement filed Thursday.

  • June 13, 2024

    UK Digital Markets Law Will Spur Group Consumer Litigation

    Hastily passed legislation that equipped the competition regulator with the clout to punish companies for breaches of consumer protection will probably spur litigation, lawyers say, although claims will be limited for now after the proposal to extend the class action scheme was abandoned.

  • June 12, 2024

    Tillis Told Drug Patents Are Too Complex For Easy Answers

    When and how generic drugs enter the marketplace varies widely among different drugs and isn't necessarily related to how many patents are covering those drugs, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said Wednesday in a report requested by a top member of the U.S. Senate's Intellectual Property Subcommittee.

  • June 12, 2024

    NFL Exec Denies League Fixed Sunday Ticket Price At Trial

    One of the NFL's top executives denied on the witness stand Wednesday in a California federal courtroom that the league dictated the cost of the DirecTV Sunday Ticket package, pushing back when an attorney for subscribers bringing multibillion-dollar antitrust claims suggested some internal emails are evidence the league fixed the price.

  • June 12, 2024

    Texas Judge 'Exasperated' By Parties In Skiplagged Suit

    An "exasperated" Texas federal judge on Wednesday ordered American Airlines and airfare search engine Skiplagged Inc. into mediation after the parties ran into their sixth discovery dispute in litigation around Skiplagged's alleged unauthorized ticket sales, saying the court didn't want to referee "countless discovery disputes used as litigation tactics."

  • June 12, 2024

    Axos Bank Can't Arbitrate 'Bait & Switch' Suit, Customers Say

    Customers suing Axos urged a federal judge not to let the bank arbitrate their claims in a consolidated dispute over how it handled interest rates on savings deposit accounts offered through online banking division UFB Direct, arguing that the court, not an arbitrator, must decide arbitrability.

  • June 12, 2024

    FTC Tells DC Circ. It Can Modify $5B Meta Privacy Deal

    The Federal Trade Commission told the D.C. Circuit on Wednesday that it has the authority to reopen its in-house proceedings in order to revise a $5 billion privacy settlement with Meta Platforms, saying the courts do not have oversight of the agency's administrative order.

  • June 12, 2024

    Trade Group Wants Out Of Mattress Conspiracy Suit

    A trade association for mattress manufacturers has asked a Utah federal court to dismiss it from an antitrust suit alleging the spread of false information from an importer that has landed back in the Utah court from a trip to the Tenth Circuit.

  • June 12, 2024

    FTC's Amazon Prime Trial Moved To June 2025 Amid Doc Fight

    A Washington federal judge agreed Wednesday to push back to June 2025 a high-stakes bench trial over the Federal Trade Commission's claims Amazon.com Inc. tricks consumers into enrolling in its Prime service, delaying the trial by months after the FTC accused Amazon of delaying discovery production.

  • June 12, 2024

    League's Antitrust Case Against US Soccer, MLS Survives

    Major League Soccer and the sport's U.S. governing body must face allegations that they colluded to impose standards in a lopsided manner in order to hamper the North American Soccer League, after a New York federal judge refused to toss the claim.

  • June 12, 2024

    Texas Anesthesia Co. Appealing To Duck FTC Suit To 5th Circ.

    U.S. Anesthesia Partners Inc. gave notice Wednesday that it will ask the Fifth Circuit to review a Texas federal judge's mid-May decision refusing to toss Federal Trade Commission allegations of a monopolistic "roll-up" of Lone Star State anesthesia practices.

  • June 12, 2024

    GOP, Dems Fight Over Climate Investment 'Collusion'

    House Judiciary Democrats and Republicans traded barbs and competing staff reports Wednesday over investment industry initiatives to combat climate change that the GOP called a "climate cartel" and their partisan rivals said is simply responsible, and voluntary, investing.

  • June 12, 2024

    Lipitor Buyers Get Final OK For $93M Deal In Antitrust Fight

    A New Jersey federal judge gave final approval Wednesday to a $93 million settlement between a class of buyers of Lipitor and Pfizer, resolving their claims in sprawling antitrust litigation that Pfizer conspired with a drug manufacturer to delay the release of a cheaper generic version of Lipitor and monopolize the market.

Expert Analysis

  • How High Court SEC Case Could Affect The ITC

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    While the U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy will likely spare the U.S. International Trade Commission from major operative changes, the ITC’s ability to issue penalties for violations of its orders may change, say Gwendolyn Tawresey and Ryan Deck at Troutman Pepper.

  • HR Antitrust Compliance Crucial Amid DOJ Scrutiny

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    The Justice Department's Antitrust Division recently announced a required human resources component for antitrust compliance programs, which means companies should evaluate their policies to prevent, detect and remediate potential violations as they add training for HR professionals, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Mass Arb. Rule Changes May Be A Hindrance For Consumers

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    The American Arbitration Association's recent changes to its mass arbitration supplementary rules and fee schedule, including a shift from filing fees to initiation and per-case fees, may reduce consumers' ability to counteract businesses' mandatory arbitration agreements, say Eduard Korsinsky and Alexander Krot at Levi & Korsinsky.

  • ChristianaCare Settlement Reveals FCA Pitfalls For Hospitals

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    ChristianaCare's False Claims Act settlement in December is the first one based on a hospital allegedly providing private physicians with free services in the form of hospital-employed clinicians and provides important compliance lessons as the government ramps up scrutiny of compensation arrangements, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Series

    Coaching High School Wrestling Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Coaching my son’s high school wrestling team has been great fun, but it’s also demonstrated how a legal career can benefit from certain experiences, such as embracing the unknown, studying the rules and engaging with new people, says Richard Davis at Maynard Nexsen.

  • SG's Office Is Case Study To Help Close Legal Gender Gap

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    As women continue to be underrepresented in the upper echelons of the legal profession, law firms could learn from the example set by the Office of the Solicitor General, where culture and workplace policies have helped foster greater gender equality, say attorneys at Ocean Tomo.

  • The Latest Antitrust Areas For In-House Counsel To Watch

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    The U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission's increasingly aggressive approach to antitrust enforcement means in-house counsel should closely monitor five key compliance issues, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

  • NCAA's Antitrust Litigation History Offers Clues For NIL Case

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    Attorneys at Perkins Coie analyze the NCAA's long history of antitrust litigation to predict how state attorney general claims against NCAA recruiting rules surrounding name, image and likeness discussions will stand up in Tennessee federal court.

  • Opinion

    Proposed Rule Could Impair MDL Flexibility, Harm Plaintiffs

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    While proposed Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16.1 is intended to enhance the management of multidistrict litigation proceedings, its one-size-fits-all requirements could stifle the flexibility that judges need to address the varying circumstances of MDLs effectively, and jeopardize plaintiffs' ability to pursue justice, say Christopher Seeger and Jennifer Scullion at Seeger Weiss.

  • Litigation Funding Implications Amid Post-PACCAR Disputes

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    An English tribunal's recent decision in Neill v. Sony, allowing an appeal on the enforceability of a litigation funding agreement, highlights how the legislative developments on funding limits following the U.K. Supreme Court's 2023 decision in Paccar v. Competition Appeal Tribunal may affect practitioners, say Andrew Leitch and Anoma Rekhi at BCLP.

  • Healthcare Collabs Can Alleviate Labor, Antitrust Challenges

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    Two major challenges facing hospitals and health systems include labor shortages and increased antitrust scrutiny at both federal and state levels, but collaborative efforts may help with addressing these difficulties, says Sumaya Noush at McDermott.

  • FTC AI Inquiry Signals Intensified Focus On Emerging Tech

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent inquiry into investments and partnerships between Big Tech companies and artificial intelligence startups appears to be directed at guiding future enforcement decisions in competition, privacy and consumer protection — and three principles discussed at a related tech summit give insight on the agency's approach, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Reimagining Law Firm Culture To Break The Cycle Of Burnout

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    While attorney burnout remains a perennial issue in the legal profession, shifting post-pandemic expectations mean that law firms must adapt their office cultures to retain talent, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.

  • Assessing Merger Guideline Feedback With Machine Learning

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    Large language modeling appears to show that public sentiment matches agency intent around the new merger control guidelines from the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Justice Department, says Andrew Sfekas at Cornerstone Research.

  • Series

    Competing In Dressage Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My lifelong participation in the sport of dressage — often called ballet on horses — has proven that several skills developed through training and competition are transferable to legal work, especially the ability to harness focus, persistence and versatility when negotiating a deal, says Stephanie Coco at V&E.

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