Competition

February 25, 2025
Apple Exploited App Market, Developers Say In £1.5B Trial

Apple was accused Tuesday in a £1.5 billion ($1.9 billion) London competition trial of charging app developers excessively high commissions even when they willingly agreed to pay them, in closing arguments of the first U.K. class action trial against a Big Tech company.
February 25, 2025
Telefónica's $1.2B Argentina Unit Sale Faces Antitrust Probe

The president of Argentina has disclosed plans to probe whether the $1.25 billion sale by Spanish telecommunications giant Telefónica of its business in the South American country to Telecom Argentina will create a monopoly.
February 24, 2025
Apple Exec Had Doubts Over New App Store Fee Compliance

Apple fellow Phil Schiller testified Monday during a high-stakes compliance evidentiary hearing that he had initially been concerned that Apple's decision to implement a new 27% commission on purchases made outside Apple's App Store wouldn't comply with the court's 2021 anti-steering injunction in its yearslong antitrust fight with Epic Games.
February 24, 2025
US Steel, Nippon Urge Court Not To Toss Cleveland-Cliffs Suit

U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel have pressed a Pennsylvania federal court to leave intact their suit accusing Cleveland-Cliffs and United Steelworkers union leadership of illegally conspiring to prevent their planned $14.9 billion merger, arguing that they're trying to block an "unlawful agreement," not shut down political speech.
February 24, 2025
CPKC Tells DC Circ. Gov't Merger Approval 'Airtight'

Canadian Pacific Kansas City is defending the government's approval of the $31 billion merger that created the railroad, telling the D.C. Circuit to reject a challenge to that decision because there was no flaw in the Surface Transportation Board's findings.
February 24, 2025
'Fraternal Duty' No Grounds For Conspiracy, 11th Circ. Told

A Georgia man found guilty last year of participating in a bid-rigging and price-fixing scheme for tens of millions of dollars of ready-mix concrete contracts asked the Eleventh Circuit Friday to throw out his conviction, arguing federal prosecutors failed to prove a wide-ranging conspiracy that captured the coastal concrete market.
February 24, 2025
Charter Communications Keeps Trade Secrets Suit In Conn.

A Charter Communications Inc. trade secrets lawsuit against a former Colorado-based vice president will remain in Connecticut, a federal judge ruled from the bench on Monday, greenlighting the company's request for a preliminary injunction in its home state.
February 24, 2025
PBMs To Challenge FTC Case At 8th Circ., But Without Pause

A Missouri federal judge summarily refused, again, on Monday to temporarily block the Federal Trade Commission's in-house case accusing Caremark Rx, Express Scripts and OptumRx of artificially inflating insulin prices, letting the case proceed while the pharmacy benefits managers appeal to the Eighth Circuit.
February 24, 2025
Tax Software Co. Says Rival Is The Real Trade Secrets Thief

Corporate-focused tax preparation software company Avalara, accused by Vertex Inc. of poaching workers to steal trade secrets, has asked to file counterclaims, arguing Vertex has actually done the illegal poaching.
February 24, 2025
Placement Co. Hit With False Ads Suit Over Referral Model

A company that places senior citizens in retirement homes was hit with proposed class claims alleging it falsely advertises free services and steers business away from communities that decline to participate in its "pay-to-play" business model.
February 24, 2025
Atty Faces $190K Demand After Losing Malicious Litigation Trial

A trio of Blank Rome LLP attorneys and an aviation company told a Pennsylvania federal court on Friday they are owed combined costs of nearly $200,000 from an attorney who lost a malicious litigation jury trial against them in December.
February 24, 2025
Competition Group Of The Year: WilmerHale

The competition group at WilmerHale helped Tesla score a key ruling last year in a case challenging efforts to block its direct-sales model in Louisiana and also helped Novelis Inc. reach a favorable settlement in a long-standing dispute with a rival aluminum supplier, earning a spot among the 2024 Law360 Competition Groups of the Year.
February 24, 2025
Apple Antitrust Ace Returns To Latham In Bay Area

Latham & Watkins LLP announced Monday that it has welcomed back an attorney who was working as in-house counsel for Apple to bolster its antitrust and competition practice and enhance its efforts to handle monopolization cases.
February 24, 2025
NCAA Blasts Baseball Player's Bid For More Eligibility

The NCAA came out firing against a college baseball player's attempt to play at the University of Tennessee, asserting that its rules governing athletes' eligibility are not reviewable under federal antitrust law despite a recent court decision calling that position into question.
February 24, 2025
High Court Declines To Review Reach Of Trade Secrets Law

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned down a petition from a Chinese company asking it to review whether the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 can apply extraterritorially.
February 24, 2025
Justices Won't Rehear Case Against NY Broadband Price Cap

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday again rejected a telecom industry bid to reverse a New York state law capping the price for basic broadband service plans that must be offered to low-income households after first turning down the case in December.
February 22, 2025
NY Judge Extends Block On DOGE's Treasury Access

A New York federal judge on Friday barred Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency from accessing U.S. Treasury Department data, handing a win to 19 state attorneys general who claimed giving the new entity access to citizens' personal information posed a massive cybersecurity risk.
February 21, 2025
FTC's Holyoak Has Her Eyes On DeepSeek

Federal Trade Commission member Melissa Holyoak suggested Friday that DeepSeek, the Chinese artificial intelligence startup whose rise has roiled AI markets, could have competed unfairly if it really trained its model using ChatGPT in violation of OpenAI's policies, as has been suggested.
February 21, 2025
Apple Can Claw Back Mistakenly Produced Docs In Epic Fight

A California federal magistrate judge said Friday that Apple can claw back two documents the tech giant said it accidentally produced during discovery for an antitrust suit brought by Epic Games, rejecting the game developer's assertion that Apple's bid was "opportunistic."
February 21, 2025
Drugmakers Slam 'Untimely' Claims In Employers' Antitrust Suit

Pharmaceutical companies targeted by sweeping antitrust lawsuits from major employers, including Target, Lowe's and American Airlines, have asked a Pennsylvania federal judge to trim conspiracy claims from a lawsuit accusing them of orchestrating illegal agreements for price-fixing and customer allocation, arguing the allegation was unsupported and untimely.
February 21, 2025
MSN Calls Novartis' Entresto Delisting Protest 'Disingenuous'

Novartis' claim that there's no rush to decide whether a patent covering its blockbuster cardiovascular drug Entresto should be removed from a key drug database is "disingenuous and a complete about-face," MSN Pharmaceuticals has told a Delaware federal judge.
February 21, 2025
Eli Lilly Has Exclusivity Over Weight Loss Drug, FDA Says

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration asked a Texas federal court to reject a request for an injunction that would allow compounding pharmacies to produce a lucrative weight loss drug, saying the agency based its decision on sound facts and it was within its authority.
February 21, 2025
Exxon Can't Dodge RICO Claims In Puerto Rico Federal Court

A U.S. magistrate judge said Puerto Rican municipalities should be allowed to pursue racketeering and antitrust claims against energy companies including Exxon Mobil Corp. that they allege misrepresented the climate dangers of fossil fuel products.
February 21, 2025
'Unsupported Conclusions' Doom Ad App Suit Against Google

A California federal judge has permanently tossed an antitrust suit accusing Google of kicking a now-defunct advertising app maker out of the Play Store in order to squelch a potential digital advertising rival, finding that the act alone was not enough to show harm to the market from the alleged monopolization.
February 21, 2025
Off The Bench: White House Hosts PGA Tour-LIV Golf Summit

In this week's Off The Bench, the two former rival pro golf tours join the president to discuss their long-delayed combination, several NBA teams support a bid for the U.S. Supreme Court to keep copyright claims in check, and prosecutors charge Chilean nationals with robbing the homes of high-profile athletes.

Expert Analysis

Takeaways From DOJ, FTC End To Collaboration Guidelines

The Federal Trade Commission's and U.S. Department of Justice's recent decision to withdraw the guidelines for collaborations among competitors may reflect a desire for clearer parameters by emphasizing case law on specific ventures, but it also carries the potential to chill some future collaboration, say attorneys at Patterson Belknap.
What To Expect In Higher Ed Enforcement Under Trump

Colleges and universities should prepare for shifting priorities, as President-elect Donald Trump is likely to focus less on antitrust cases and more on foreign relations policy, while congressional oversight of higher education continues to increase, say attorneys at Steptoe.
Series

NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q4

In 2024's final quarter, the New York State Department of Financial Services published guidance on mitigating the rising cybersecurity risks of artificial intelligence and remote technology workers with North Korean ties, and the state attorney general launched an antitrust investigation into Capital One's proposed Discover merger, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.
Series

Exercising On My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

While I originally came to the Peloton bike for exercise, one cycling instructor’s teachings have come to serve as a road map for practicing law thoughtfully and mindfully, which has opened opportunities for growth and change in my career, says Andrea Kirshenbaum at Littler.
3 Factors Affecting Retail M&A Deals In 2025

Retailers considering mergers and acquisitions this year face an evolving antitrust environment, including a new administration under President-elect Donald Trump, revised merger guidelines and a precedent set last year by a canceled $8.5 billion handbag merger, say attorneys at DLA Piper.
FTC Picks Augur Pro-Business Bent For Much Of Economy

President-elect Donald Trump's choice of two top Federal Trade Commission officials suggests a business-friendly climate for a significant portion of the U.S. economy, with noteworthy exceptions of continued scrutiny of healthcare and Big Tech companies, excluding artificial intelligence, say attorneys at BCLP.
Top 10 Legal Issues This Year For Transportation Industry GCs

General counsel must carefully consider numerous legal and policy challenges facing the automotive and transportation industry in the year to come, especially while navigating new technologies, regulations and global markets, says Francesco Liberatore at Squire Patton.
Exploring Venue Strategy For Trump-Era Regulatory Litigation

Litigation will likely play a prominent role in shaping policy outcomes during the second Trump administration, and stakeholders have several tools at their disposal to steer regulatory litigation toward more favorable venues, say attorneys at Covington.
What 2024's Noncompete Turmoil Means For Banks In 2025

A look back at the most significant legal challenges to the enforceability of various restrictive covenants like noncompete and nonsolicitation agreements in 2024 can help financial institutions address the use of these critical tools this year, say attorneys at Maynard Nexsen.
Searching For Insight On Requested Google Chrome Remedy

The potential for Google to divest its Chrome browser — a remedy requested by the Justice Department following a D.C. federal court’s finding the company is a monopolist — has drawn both criticism and endorsement, but legal precedent likely supports the former, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.
Opinion

3 New Year's Resolutions For Antitrust Agencies To Consider

James Fredricks at Skadden rings in 2025 with his wish list for the federal antitrust agencies, starting with a provision for a presumptive safe harbor for information sharing.
FTC Focus: A Changing Of The Guard

While rigorous antitrust enforcement is unlikely to slow down at the Federal Trade Commission, the focus will undoubtedly change, including when it comes to Big Tech, as Andrew Ferguson prepares to take the reins from Chair Lina Khan, say attorneys at Proskauer.
Series

Playing Esports Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Competing in a global esports tournament at Wimbledon last year not only fulfilled my childhood dream, but also sharpened skills that are essential to my day job, including strategic thinking, confidence and networking, says AJ Schuyler at Jackson Lewis.
An Associate's Guide To Career Development In 2025

As the new year begins, associates at all levels should consider establishing career metrics, fostering key relationships and employing other specific strategies to help move through the complexities of the legal profession with confidence and emerge as trailblazers, say EJ Stern and Amanda George at Fractional Law Firm.
5 Antitrust Issues For In-House Counsel In 2025

Attorneys at Squire Patton evaluate the top areas where U.S. antitrust policy is likely to change in the next 12 months, including major challenges to the Federal Trade Commission's authority that could reshape enforcement.