Competition

  • January 09, 2025

    'Stunned': Judge Rips Atty For Violating Antitrust Trial Order

    A California federal judge overseeing an antitrust jury trial over claims that Intuitive Surgical was a monopolist that abused its power by blocking hospitals from using a service to extend the life of a component related to its surgical-robot arms said Thursday she was "stunned" when plaintiff Surgical Instrument Service showed a video that violated a pretrial order.

  • January 09, 2025

    Vape Laptop Hacking Suit Belongs In Court, Co. Says

    A vape-maker has urged a California federal court to deny a bid by the founder of vape distributor Next Level to arbitrate the manufacturer's claims that he broke into a laptop to access its confidential information, saying he's not a signatory to an underlying arbitration agreement.

  • January 09, 2025

    Amgen Says Enbrel Protected By Legit Patents, Rulings

    Amgen has asked a Virginia federal judge to permanently toss the latest version of a proposed class action accusing it of illegally entrenching and expanding patent rights to stave off cheaper competition for Enbrel, arguing the blockbuster arthritis treatment is protected by legitimate patents and court rulings of validity.

  • January 09, 2025

    Cancer Org Fails To Get Rival's TM Counterclaims Tossed

    A Georgia federal judge said Thursday that the Glioblastoma Foundation Inc. can't yet escape a series of counterclaims filed against it by a rival nonprofit amid a trademark spat, ruling that its defenses in a dismissal bid largely relied on factual issues about whether the rival fraudulently obtained the marks at issue.

  • January 09, 2025

    Kroger Drops FTC Constitutionality Fight After Nixed Merger

    Kroger on Thursday voluntarily dismissed its case challenging the constitutionality of the Federal Trade Commission's in-house court, after the agency dropped its administrative case targeting the grocery chain's abandoned deal for Albertsons.

  • January 09, 2025

    NCAA Insists Player Seeking One More Season Is Out Of Time

    A former junior-college basketball player seeking to play one more season is not entitled to do so because he has played the maximum number of seasons allowed, the NCAA told a Mississippi federal court in defense of the eligibility policy the player seeks to upend.

  • January 09, 2025

    DOJ Wants Time At 9th Circ. In Zillow, NAR Antitrust Case

    The U.S. Department of Justice has asked the Ninth Circuit for permission to appear at oral arguments in an appeal looking to revive antitrust claims from a defunct brokerage platform against Zillow and the National Association of Realtors.

  • January 09, 2025

    Grocers Say Nothing Left To Fight In Colo. Merger Challenge

    Kroger and Albertsons told a Denver District Court that the state's challenge to its merger should be dismissed now that the deal is dead, arguing in a motion that the state always knew that decisions in other lawsuits could render its claim moot.

  • January 09, 2025

    Asphalt Exec Latest To Plead Guilty In Bid-Rigging Scheme

    A metro Detroit asphalt executive pled guilty Wednesday for his role in a conspiracy to rig bids for paving jobs in Michigan, the latest plea in the government's sprawling investigation into multiple companies and their leaders for a scheme that resulted in millions of dollars' worth of rigged contracts.

  • January 09, 2025

    DirecTV, Dish Say Sports Streamer Harmful Despite Fubo Deal

    DirecTV and Dish are hoping to pump the brakes on any immediate plans to unwind a New York federal court's injunction stopping the ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery joint sports venture from hitting the market after Disney announced its majority acquisition of the deal's biggest challenger, Fubo, this week.

  • January 09, 2025

    US Steel And Nippon's Lawsuit Seen As 'Hail Mary' Attempt

    President Joe Biden may not have put forth an airtight national security argument for blocking Nippon Steel's planned acquisition of U.S. Steel, but the companies' subsequent lawsuit is still highly unlikely to earn them another chance at making the deal happen, according to legal experts. 

  • January 09, 2025

    High Court Ruling Looms Over FERC Gas Enforcement Deal

    A TotalEnergies unit will pay $5 million to end a decadelong Federal Energy Regulatory Commission gas market manipulation probe, an enforcement case that was weakened by the U.S. Supreme Court's June ruling that limits the authority of in-house agency judges.

  • January 09, 2025

    DOJ Fights Apple's Intervention In Google Search Remedies

    The U.S. Department of Justice is opposing Apple Inc.'s "eleventh-hour effort" to have a say in what should be a proper fix for Google's search monopoly, telling a D.C. federal judge that the company has had ample opportunity to defend its lucrative revenue-sharing agreement with Google.

  • January 09, 2025

    Beer Sales Rep Can't Show Lasting Harm From Noncompete

    A former Boston Beer Co. sales employee challenging a one-year noncompete agreement has failed to show how she will suffer irreparable harm without a preliminary injunction, a Massachusetts federal judge ruled Wednesday, saying any damages are "readily calculable" if she ultimately wins the case.

  • January 09, 2025

    UK Scrutinizes Bidvest's Plan To Buy Hygiene Products Biz

    The Competition and Markets Authority said on Thursday that it is launching a formal investigation into a proposal by South African conglomerate Bidvest to acquire a washroom products business, as it seeks to determine whether the merger could harm competition in domestic markets.

  • January 08, 2025

    2nd Circ. Weighs FIFA Verdicts In Light Of High Court Rulings

    Brooklyn federal prosecutors on Wednesday urged the Second Circuit to reverse a lower court's controversial decision to overturn the bribery convictions of a former 21st Century Fox television executive and an Argentine marketing company, disputing that the U.S. Supreme Court's recent corruption rulings impact the massive FIFA corruption ordeal.

  • January 08, 2025

    Intuitive Killed Biz For Reusing Robo-Surgery Arms, Jury Told

    The president of a family-owned medical instrument repair business suing biotechnology company Intuitive Surgical on antitrust claims told a California federal jury Wednesday that his company saw a "huge opportunity" in providing a service that extended the life of Intuitive's surgical robot arms, but hospitals balked after Intuitive sent threatening letters.

  • January 08, 2025

    Michael Jordan 'Bought Into' System, NASCAR Tells NC Judge

    NASCAR implored a North Carolina federal judge on Wednesday to throw out portions of an antitrust suit brought by Michael Jordan's team and award a $36 million bond, saying it was the teams themselves who demanded the contracts they now claim are monopolistic.

  • January 08, 2025

    PowerPlan To Pay $24M, Ending Rival's Monopoly Claims

    Roper Technologies subsidiary PowerPlan Inc. has agreed to pay $24 million in a settlement with a rival firm formed by former employees who said the utility software giant tried to lock them out of the market by threatening litigation against them and prospective clients.

  • January 08, 2025

    UnitedHealth Wants $3.3B Amedisys Deal Challenge Tossed

    UnitedHealth Group and Amedisys Inc. asked a Maryland federal court Wednesday to toss a challenge of their planned $3.3 billion merger, contending that federal and state enforcers are refusing to say what "local" home health and hospice service markets would be hurt by the deal.

  • January 08, 2025

    Khan Acknowledges 'Open Question' On Trump Antitrust Plan

    Outgoing Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina M. Khan argued Wednesday that the Biden administration's aggressive antitrust enforcement has scored real wins, even as she expressed mixed optimism in remarks about that legacy as Donald Trump retakes the White House.

  • January 08, 2025

    Epic Gets Backing For Google App Store Changes

    Epic Games has received support from federal antitrust enforcers, Microsoft and others at the Ninth Circuit as the game developer fights Google's bid to appeal an order forcing the tech giant to loosen its policies surrounding the distribution of apps on Android devices.

  • January 08, 2025

    T-Mobile-UScellular Deal Won't Hurt Wireless Market, FCC Told

    T-Mobile's $4.4 billion plan to buy spectrum and lease cell towers from UScellular appears likely to benefit consumers, a free-market think tank told the Federal Communications Commission as public interest groups continue to fight the deal.

  • January 08, 2025

    Shoppers Say Kroger Merger Suit Still Alive After Nixed Deal

    Consumers challenging the abandoned merger between Kroger Co. and Albertsons urged a California federal court not to toss their case despite two court injunctions against the deal, arguing that they have effectively prevailed on their antitrust claims and should get an injunction and attorney fees.

  • January 07, 2025

    Robo Surgery Co. Gets Billions From Selling Parts, Jury Told

    Surgical Instrument Service accused Intuitive Surgical at the start of a federal trial Tuesday of being a monopolist making billions of dollars by blocking hospitals from extending the life of reusable surgical-robot components, while Intuitive blasted the medical instrument repair company for "trying to misuse antitrust laws to enrich itself."

Expert Analysis

  • A Look At UK, EU And US Cartel Enforcement Trends

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    The European Union, U.K. and U.S. competition agencies' recently issued joint statement on competition risks in generative artificial intelligence demonstrates increased cross-border collaboration on cartel investigations, meaning companies facing investigations in one jurisdiction should anticipate related investigations in other jurisdictions, say lawyers at Latham & Watkins.

  • A Preview Of AI Priorities Under The Next President

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    For the first time in a presidential election, both of the leading candidates and their parties have been vocal about artificial intelligence policy, offering clues on the future of regulation as AI continues to advance and congressional action continues to stall, say attorneys at Mintz.

  • DOJ Must Overcome Hurdles In RealPage Antitrust Case

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recent claims that RealPage's pricing software violates the Sherman Act mark a creative, and apparently contradictory, shift in the agency's approach to algorithmic price-fixing that will face several key challenges, say attorneys at Clifford Chance.

  • 11 Patent Cases To Watch At Fed. Circ. And High Court

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    As we head into fall, there are 11 patent cases to monitor, touching on a range of issues that could affect patent strategy, such as biotech innovation, administrative rulemaking and patent eligibility, say Edward Lanquist and Wesley Barbee at Baker Donelson.

  • EU Merger Control Concerns Remain After ECJ Illumina Ruling

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    The recent European Court of Justice judgment in Illumina-Grail is a welcome check on the commission's power to review low-threshold transactions, but with uncertainty persisting under existing laws and discretion left to national regulators, many pitfalls in European Union merger control remain, says Matthew Hall at McGuireWoods.

  • Why India May Become A Major Patent Litigation Forum

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    India is reinventing itself with the goal of becoming a global hot spot for patent litigation, with recent developments at the Delhi High Court creating incentives for plaintiffs to assert patent rights in India, say Ranganath Sudarshan at Covington and IP litigator Udit Sood.

  • Court Denial Of $335M UFC Deal Sets Bold Antitrust Precedent

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    A Nevada federal court’s recent refusal to accept a $335 million deal between Ultimate Fighting Championship and a group of former fighters to settle claims of anticompetitive conduct was a rare decision that risks the floodgates opening on established antitrust case law, says Mohit Pasricha at Lawrence Stephens.

  • How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations

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    Textualists at the U.S. Supreme Court are increasingly considering new methods such as corpus linguistics and surveys to evaluate what a statute's text communicates to an ordinary reader, while lower courts even mull large language models like ChatGPT as supplements, says Kevin Tobia at Georgetown Law.

  • FTC Focus: What Access To Patent Settlements Would Mean

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    Settling parties should adopt a series of practice tips, including specifying rationales to support specific terms, as the Federal Trade Commission seeks to expand its access to settlements before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, say Shannon McGowan and David Munkittrick at Proskauer.

  • Why Attorneys Should Consider Community Leadership Roles

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    Volunteering and nonprofit board service are complementary to, but distinct from, traditional pro bono work, and taking on these community leadership roles can produce dividends for lawyers, their firms and the nonprofit causes they support, says Katie Beacham at Kilpatrick.

  • Firms Must Offer A Trifecta Of Services In Post-Chevron World

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision overturning Chevron deference, law firms will need to integrate litigation, lobbying and communications functions to keep up with the ramifications of the ruling and provide adequate counsel quickly, says Neil Hare at Dentons.

  • 5 Tips To Succeed In A Master Of Laws Program And Beyond

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    As lawyers and recent law school graduates begin their Master of Laws coursework across the country, they should keep a few pointers in mind to get the most out of their programs and kick-start successful careers in their practice areas, says Kelley Miller at Reed Smith.

  • Bayer Antitrust Case Hinged On Evolving Market Definition

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    Generic flea and tick medication manufacturer Tevra's evolving market definition played a key role in the development and outcome of its five-year antitrust litigation against Bayer Healthcare, highlighting challenges that litigants may face when a proposed definition is assessed at trial, say Amy Vegari and Colleen Anderson at Patterson Belknap.

  • NYC Wage Info Bill Highlights Rise In Pay Transparency Laws

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    With New York City the latest to mull requiring companies to annually report employee wage data, national employers should consider adapting their compliance practices to comply with increasingly common pay transparency and disclosure obligations at state and local levels, says Kelly Cardin at Littler Mendelson.

  • IP Hot Topic: The Intersection Of Trademark And Antitrust Law

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    Antitrust claims – like those in the U.S. Department of Justice’s recent case against Apple – are increasingly influencing trademark disputes and enforcement practices, demonstrating how antitrust law can dilute the power of a trademark, say attorneys at Dentons.

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