Competition

  • September 24, 2024

    Buyers Seek $97M Fees From $335M Drug Price-Fixing Deals

    A class of direct purchaser plaintiffs in the multidistrict antitrust litigation over generic drug pricing asked a Pennsylvania federal judge Monday to award them $97 million in fees across six settlements with pharmaceutical firms, arguing its attorneys "spent the better part of a decade and hundreds of thousands of hours litigating this case."

  • September 24, 2024

    Pac-12 Suit Says Mountain West 'Poaching' Fee Goes Too Far

    The Pac-12 Conference, which has spent much of September luring away five Mountain West Conference universities to rebuild its depleted membership, sued the rival conference Tuesday for imposing a "poaching penalty" of tens of millions of dollars in exit fees that it called "one-sided" and anticompetitive.

  • September 24, 2024

    Dish Owner Tells FCC Device Unlocking Good For Competition

    Dish and its parent company EchoStar are leaning on the Federal Communications Commission to finalize requirements that mobile providers unlock a customer's device within 60 days of them signing up, so they can change carriers if they want.

  • September 24, 2024

    Dish Slams 'Entitled' Standard General Exec's Race Bias Suit

    Dish Network has called for sanctions against Soo Kim, his hedge fund Standard General and their attorneys, calling Kim's racial discrimination suit against Dish, the Federal Communications Commission and a collection of other media players "an expensive temper tantrum."

  • September 24, 2024

    Apple, Amazon Say Funding Sinks £500M Price Fixing Claim

    Apple and Amazon urged a London tribunal on Tuesday to dismiss a consumer advocate's £500 million ($669.3 million) price fixing class action, arguing that her funding agreements disqualify her from representing the class.

  • September 24, 2024

    Firms Allowed To Exit IP Case After Gaining Philips' Consent

    A North Carolina federal judge allowed Dentons and Morningstar Law Group to withdraw as Transtate Equipment Co. Inc.'s counsel in a copyright and unfair competition case, after a stipulation was struck with opposing attorneys representing a Dutch health technology conglomerate that initially scoffed at the request.

  • September 24, 2024

    Conn. Judge Sends Law Firm's Trade Secrets Case To Fla.

    A Connecticut boutique law firm must go to Florida if it wants to continue pursuing its trade secrets case against a consultant it accused of making off with some of its confidential information because the Constitution State is an improper venue, a federal judge has ruled.

  • September 24, 2024

    DOJ Accuses Visa Of Monopolizing Debit Card Market

    The U.S. Department of Justice accused Visa on Tuesday of illegally maintaining a monopoly over debit card networks by using its dominance to thwart competition from new and existing rivals, as the Biden administration continues its push to combat high prices using antitrust law.

  • September 24, 2024

    Water Firms Say £800M Sewage Case Is Unfit For Class Action

    Six water companies argued before Britain's antitrust tribunal on Thursday that an £800 million ($1 billion) claim accusing them of underreporting sewage spills should not be certified as a class action, asserting that their status as "statutory monopolists" exempts them from competition law.

  • September 24, 2024

    3 Firms Rep As Blackstone, Vista Ink $8.4B Smartsheet Buy

    Work management platform Smartsheet Inc. will be purchased by private equity giants Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners in an all-cash, take-private deal valued at around $8.4 billion that was built by three law firms, the companies said Tuesday.

  • September 24, 2024

    Nasdaq, Deutsche Boerse Targeted In EU Antitrust Raids

    Nasdaq and Deutsche Boerse said Tuesday that they are among the financial services firms being investigated by the European Commission over alleged violations of EU competition laws in derivatives trading.

  • September 24, 2024

    Swisscom's €8B Vodafone Italia Deal Gets EU Clearance

    Swisscom AG said Tuesday that Europe's competition authority has cleared its proposed €8 billion ($8.9 billion) acquisition of Vodafone Group PLC's Italian business under the bloc's foreign subsidies rules.

  • September 23, 2024

    Reggie Bush Says USC, NCAA, Pac-12 Exploited His Image

    Former University of Southern California star running back Reggie Bush on Monday accused his alma mater, as well as the NCAA and the Pac-12 Conference, of profiting off his name, image and likeness without ever compensating him in return, according to a suit filed in California state court.

  • September 23, 2024

    Albertsons Says Wash. AG 'Cherry-Picked' Merger Fears

    Counsel for Albertsons accused Washington regulators Monday of cherry-picking comments from the grocer's CEO hyping Kroger as key competition to bolster the government's case for blocking the merger and overcame the state's objections to introduce emails where the CEO expressed fears about Costco, Walmart and Amazon's ever-expanding reach.

  • September 23, 2024

    Google Executive Says There's No Internal Ad Tech Advantage

    A Google executive pushed back Monday on some of the U.S. Justice Department's most important allegations of a conflict of interest in the search giant's control over online display advertising placement technology, arguing that website publishers are in charge of how ads are placed and priced.

  • September 23, 2024

    Helicopter Co. Used Code Names To Oust Supplier, Jury Hears

    Under the code name "Project Cicada," Fort Worth-based Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. worked for years to replace California-based digital avionics equipment supplier Rogerson Aircraft Corporation with a competitor, a jury heard in a Texas state court Monday, using Rogerson's trade secrets to prep the rival for the eventual shift.

  • September 23, 2024

    Kroger Fights FTC's Bid To Move Constitutionality Case

    Kroger is fighting to keep its challenge to the Federal Trade Commission's in-house courts in Ohio federal court, pushing back against the agency's effort to get it paused or moved to Oregon, where the FTC's case against the company's merger with Albertson's is already playing out.

  • September 23, 2024

    Court Sinks Antitrust Claims Against Suns Owner

    A Florida federal court adopted the recommendations of a magistrate judge and tossed a mortgage broker's antitrust case against the owner of the NBA's Phoenix Suns and his company, United Wholesale Mortgage, over an alleged boycott.

  • September 23, 2024

    Medical Records Co. Accused Of Blocking Data Access

    A company that helps insurance providers access patient data on Monday accused medical records company Epic Systems Corp. of violating antitrust law by using its monopoly over electronic health records to squash an emerging competitor.

  • September 23, 2024

    GSK Claims Pfizer Hasn't Proven Misconduct In Vax IP Fight

    GlaxoSmithKline is urging a Delaware federal judge to block Pfizer and BioNTech's claims that it has misused its patents tied to COVID-19 vaccination technology, or that it and a predecessor acted inappropriately when applying for those patents.

  • September 23, 2024

    Edelson, Susman, Berger To Lead MultiPlan Collusion MDL

    An Illinois federal judge on Monday tapped a team of lawyers from Edelson PC, Susman Godfrey LLP and Berger Montague PC to take the lead for plaintiffs in multidistrict litigation accusing MultiPlan and a host of insurers of colluding through the use of the data firm's pricing tools to systematically underpay out-of-network providers.

  • September 23, 2024

    Cancer Test Cos. Strike Deal For Partial End To Patent Row

    Natera Inc. and Neogenomics Laboratories Inc. said they reached a confidential yet partial settlement Friday in their dispute covering intellectual property for a Natera DNA test meant to detect cancer.

  • September 23, 2024

    US Can't Pin Clean Water Act Violation On Fla. Farmer

    A Florida federal judge recommended that a court rule in favor of a landowner sued by the government for allegedly violating the Clean Water Act after polluting wetlands to build a farm, saying a man-made ditch bordering the property isn't technically connected to navigable waters of the United States.

  • September 23, 2024

    Tempur Sealy Sets Divestiture Plan Ahead Of FTC Court Battle

    Tempur Sealy International Inc. said Monday that it plans to sell 176 stores and seven distribution centers to Mattress Warehouse if it is able to close its planned $4 billion purchase of Mattress Firm Group Inc., in an effort to appease the Federal Trade Commission in its continued efforts to block the deal.

  • September 23, 2024

    Consumers Seek Class Status For £800M Sewage Spill Claim

    An environmental consultant told Britain's antitrust tribunal Monday that a landmark £800 million ($1 billion) claim by millions of customers who allege six water companies misled regulators by underreporting spills should be allowed to go ahead as the first environmental class action in the U.K.

Expert Analysis

  • In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State

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    On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.

  • Preparing For CFPB 'Junk Fee' Push Into Mortgage Industry

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    As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau considers expanding its "junk fee" initiative into mortgage closing costs, mortgage lenders and third parties must develop plans now that anticipate potential rulemaking or enforcement activity in this space, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • How High Court Approached Time Limit On Reg Challenges

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve Board effectively gives new entities their own personal statute of limitations to challenge rules and regulations, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh's concurrence may portend the court's view that those entities do not need to be directly regulated, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.

  • Series

    After Chevron: FTC's 'Unfair Competition' Actions In Jeopardy

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    While the U.S. Supreme Court's decision ending Chevron deference will have limited effect on the Federal Trade Commission's merger guidelines, administrative enforcement actions and commission decisions on appeal, it could restrict the agency's expansive take on its rulemaking authority and threaten the noncompete ban, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

  • How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts

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    As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.

  • Series

    Boxing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Boxing has influenced my legal work by enabling me to confidently hone the skills I've learned from the sport, like the ability to remain calm under pressure, evaluate an opponent's weaknesses and recognize when to seize an important opportunity, says Kirsten Soto at Clyde & Co.

  • Opinion

    Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision will shape the contours of industry self-regulation in the years to come, providing opportunities for this often-misunderstood practice, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.

  • 3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court clearly thinks it has done something big in overturning the Chevron precedent that had given deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, but regulated parties have to consider how agencies retain significant power to shape the law and its meaning, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Roundup

    After Chevron

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    Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference standard in June, this Expert Analysis series has featured attorneys discussing the potential impact across 36 different rulemaking and litigation areas.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Expect Few Changes In ITC Rulemaking

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's opinion overruling the Chevron doctrine will have less impact on the U.S. International Trade Commission than other agencies administering trade statutes, given that the commission exercises its congressionally granted authority in a manner that allows for consistent decision making at both agency and judicial levels, say attorneys at Polsinelli.

  • Opinion

    Atty Well-Being Efforts Ignore Root Causes Of The Problem

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    The legal industry is engaged in a critical conversation about lawyers' mental health, but current attorney well-being programs primarily focus on helping lawyers cope with the stress of excessive workloads, instead of examining whether this work culture is even fundamentally compatible with lawyer well-being, says Jonathan Baum at Avenir Guild.

  • How Generative AI May Aid Merger Clearance Process

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    Generative artificial intelligence capable of analyzing and searching large datasets stands to revolutionize the merger clearance process, including by significantly reducing the time and effort required to respond to Hart-Scott-Rodino second requests, say Kenneth Koch and Brian Blush at BDO USA.

  • Antitrust In Retail: The Meaning Of 'Accessible Luxury'

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    In order for the Federal Trade Commission to block a deal that would put six "accessible luxury" brands, including Coach and Michael Kors, under one roof, the agency will need to prove that this category is distinct from the true luxury or mass-market categories, says David Kully at Holland & Knight.

  • 4 Important Events In Bank Regulation: A Midyear Review

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    The first six months of 2024 have been fairly stable for the banking industry, though U.S. Supreme Court decisions and proposals from regulators have significantly affected the regulatory standards applicable to insured depository institutions, says Christina Grigorian at Katten.

  • FTC Focus: Competition And The Right To Repair

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    If the Federal Trade Commission includes commercial and industrial products as part of copyright exemptions that allow consumers to modify or repair products, then businesses and affected rights holders will need to consider copyrights' impact on infringement issues, say attorneys at Proskauer.

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