Competition

  • September 30, 2024

    Takeda End Payors, Direct Buyers Win Antitrust Class Cert.

    A New York federal judge Monday adopted a magistrate judge's recommendation to certify two classes of direct purchasers and end payors in consolidated antitrust actions accusing Takeda Pharmaceuticals Co. of unlawfully inflating the price of its diabetes treatment Actos by delaying entry of generic alternatives.

  • September 30, 2024

    AI Co.'s Antitrust Claims Against Thomson Reuters Tossed

    A Delaware federal court dismissed antitrust counterclaims being brought by tech startup ROSS Intelligence in a case from Thomson Reuters alleging ROSS ripped off the Westlaw research platform for its artificial intelligence product.

  • September 30, 2024

    Alaska-Hawaiian Merger, An Aviation Anomaly

    A promise to keep their distinct brands and a smaller national market share with few overlapping routes helped Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines seal their merger, a rare feat amid the Biden administration's tough antitrust enforcement and zealous opposition to consolidation, experts say.

  • September 30, 2024

    FCC Approves Audacy's Soros Deal, Triggering GOP Anger

    The Federal Communications Commission has given the green light to the purchase of an ownership interest in bankrupt radio station owner Audacy Inc. by a fund manager with ties to George Soros.

  • September 30, 2024

    FTC Withdraws From Feds' Merger Review Labor Pact

    The Federal Trade Commission is withdrawing from an agreement signed in August with the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board that's meant to increase collaboration when looking at labor issues in mergers.

  • September 30, 2024

    AGs, Academics Back Media Giants In Sports Streaming Fight

    ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. have picked up allies in their push to move ahead with a "sports-first" broadcasting service, with six state attorneys general and a host of respected economics professors urging the Second Circuit to undo a New York court order that blocked the service's launch.

  • September 30, 2024

    Schwab Nears Deal In Antitrust Suit Over TD Ameritrade Buy

    Charles Schwab Corp. has reached "an agreement in principle" with retail investors who filed a proposed class action alleging increased transaction costs for trades and other antitrust injury following the Schwab-TD Ameritrade merger, the parties told a Texas federal judge Friday.

  • September 30, 2024

    Medical Device Co. Wins $25M Verdict In Poaching Trial

    Medical device company Cynosure has won a $25 million jury award following a weekslong trial in Massachusetts federal court on its claims that a rival business raided its sales and marketing talent and caused the employees to breach their noncompete and nonsolicitation agreements.

  • September 30, 2024

    Chevron-Hess 2nd Oil Merger To Get FTC OK With CEO Ban

    A divided Federal Trade Commission signed off Monday on a deal allowing Chevron to buy Hess, permitting the $53 billion megamerger on the condition that Hess CEO John B. Hess be banned from Chevron's board, in the second such CEO-banning deal the FTC has inked in the last year.

  • September 30, 2024

    Epic Accuses Samsung Of Helping Google Block App Fix

    Epic Games filed a new federal lawsuit Monday against Google and Samsung, alleging the search giant and the phonemaker have teamed up "to preemptively undermine" a looming order forcing Google to permit competition with its Play Store.

  • September 30, 2024

    5 Firms Guide DirecTV, Dish On $10B Debt Exchange Merger

    DirecTV said Monday it has agreed to purchase EchoStar's video distribution business Dish DBS, including Dish TV and Sling TV, for a nominal $1 while absorbing nearly $10 billion worth of its debt, in a rare debt exchange-driven megadeal that is being led by at least five law firms. 

  • September 27, 2024

    Calif. Appeals Court Won't Revive Suit Targeting Zero Emission Reg

    A California appeals court has refused to jump-start a natural gas vehicle coalition's lawsuit targeting an Advanced Clean Trucks regulation aimed at boosting the sale of electric zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, ruling state regulators properly considered alternatives and impacts.

  • September 27, 2024

    Apple, Visa And Mastercard Want Out Of 'Tap Pay' Fee Suit

    Apple, Visa and Mastercard on Thursday urged an Illinois federal court to toss several retailers' proposed antitrust class action accusing the three of conspiring to restrain competition in point-of-sale transaction payment networks, saying in separate motions that allegedly unlawful agreements they entered "expressly preserve" Apple's right to compete.

  • September 27, 2024

    Disney Wants FuboTV Tying Suit Tossed Before Trial

    Disney told a New York federal judge Thursday that FuboTV in its tying claims against the programming giant still hasn't shown how Disney's bundling practice is out of the ordinary, saying that similar bundles have existed for years and have been cleared by the courts and the Federal Communications Commision.

  • September 27, 2024

    RealPage Wants DOJ Antitrust Case Moved To Tennessee

    RealPage has asked a North Carolina federal court to transfer the government's antitrust case against it to Tennessee, where private litigation has been playing out over claims the software company helps residential landlords fix rental prices.

  • September 27, 2024

    NC Biz Court Trims Pot Farm Fight With 'Amazon Of Hemp'

    An online hemp retailer has narrowed a North Carolina farm's lawsuit alleging the retailer doctored its THC reports before listing the farm's products for sale online, with a state Business Court judge finding they aren't competitors and the farm otherwise failed to show the retailer tried to pass off the hemp producer's products as its own.

  • September 27, 2024

    Why Many Drugs Remain Pricey 40 Years After Hatch-Waxman

    In the four decades since Congress passed the Hatch-Waxman Act in an effort to make generic drugs more available, the pharmaceutical industry has used patent thickets, "evergreening" and pay-for-delay tactics to block competition and keep prices of life-saving specialty drugs astronomical, several legal experts told Law360, while the industry argues other parties shoulder more of the blame.

  • September 27, 2024

    Off The Bench: College Sports Dominates Legal Landscape

    In this week's Off The Bench, the NCAA and the athletes in the big name, image and likeness settlement try to redo the terms to satisfy the overseeing judge, Reggie Bush says his image has been exploited by his alma mater and the NCAA for years, and the Pac-12 claims that it's being strong-armed by a rival conference for coaxing away its teams.

  • September 27, 2024

    NY Court Won't Transfer DOJ's Live Nation Antitrust Case

    The New York federal judge overseeing the government's antitrust case against Live Nation said Friday he will not transfer the action to Washington, D.C., where a court handled a settlement clearing the concert promotion giant's 2010 purchase of Ticketmaster.

  • September 27, 2024

    Lawyer Wields Blank Rome Atty Voicemail To Bolster DQ Bid

    An attorney who is suing three lawyers from Blank Rome LLP and has asked a federal court to disqualify the firm's other attorneys from representing their colleagues — alleging they contacted one of her witnesses — told the court Friday she accessed a phone message that strengthens her arguments.

  • September 27, 2024

    Taxation With Representation: Kirkland, Skadden, Cleary

    In this week's Taxation With Representation, Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners acquire Smartsheet Inc., Macquarie Asset Management takes a stake in D.E. Shaw Renewables Investment Group, and Apogee Enterprises Inc. buys UW Interco LLC from Heartwood Partners.

  • September 27, 2024

    'No Question' Google Faces Ad Tech Competition, Judge Says

    The Virginia federal judge weighing the fate of Google's display advertising placement technology signaled potential trouble for the Justice Department on Friday, during a dramatic last day of the bench trial where she suggested the market is as competitive as the search giant maintains.

  • September 27, 2024

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    This past week in London has seen Coca-Cola bring a trademark infringement claim against its former marketing director, Glencore face legal action by American Century ETF Trust, law firm Bishop Lloyd & Jackson defend itself against two solicitors it worked alongside during inquiries into Grenfell Tower, and a U.K. cruise line face a claim by a subsidiary of the sanctioned gambling platform GTLK.

  • September 27, 2024

    UK Drops Probe Into Amazon's $4B AI Investment

    The Competition and Markets Authority dropped its formal probe on Friday into Amazon's $4 billion investment in Anthropic, a U.S. artificial intelligence startup, after it found that the companies do not hit thresholds for investigation in Britain.

  • September 26, 2024

    NCAA, Athletes Make Tweaks To $2.78B NIL Settlement

    The National Collegiate Athletic Association and the athletes suing over the organization's name, image and likeness compensation rules on Thursday presented some clarifications to their proposed $2.78 billion antitrust settlement after a California federal judge took issue with some of the deal's terms.

Expert Analysis

  • Parsing NJ Court's Rationale For Denying Lipitor Class Cert.

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    A New Jersey federal court's recent Lipitor rulings granting summary judgment and denying motions for class certification for two plaintiff classes offer insight into the level of rigorous analysis required by both parties and their experts to satisfy the requirements of class certification, says Catia Twal at Edgeworth Economics.

  • Unpacking The Latest FTC Guidance On Multilevel Marketing

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    Branko Jovanovic and Monica Zhong at Edgeworth Economics discuss the Federal Trade Commission's recent advice for multilevel marketers on how MLMs should approach their income and earnings reports, including participants costs, typical proceeds and distributor gains.

  • 3 Leadership Practices For A More Supportive Firm Culture

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    Traditional leadership styles frequently amplify the inherent pressures of legal work, but a few simple, time-neutral strategies can strengthen the skills and confidence of employees and foster a more collaborative culture, while supporting individual growth and contribution to organizational goals, says Benjamin Grimes at BKG Leadership.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Hyperlinked Documents

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    Recent rulings show that counsel should engage in early discussions with clients regarding the potential of hyperlinked documents in electronically stored information, which will allow for more deliberate negotiation of any agreements regarding the scope of discovery, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Loper Bright Limits Federal Agencies' Ability To Alter Course

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to dismantle Chevron deference also effectively overrules its 2005 decision in National Cable & Telecommunications Association v. Brand X, greatly diminishing agencies' ability to change regulatory course from one administration to the next, says Steven Gordon at Holland & Knight.

  • Calif. Out-Of-State Noncompete Ban Faces Several Hurdles

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    California's attempt to bolster its noncompete law has encountered significant procedural and constitutional challenges, and litigating parties must carefully analyze not only the restrictive covenants contained in their agreements, but also the forum-selection and choice-of-law provisions, say Jennifer Redmond and Gal Gressel at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Series

    Teaching Scuba Diving Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    As a master scuba instructor, I’ve learned how to prepare for the unexpected, overcome fears and practice patience, and each of these skills – among the many others I’ve developed – has profoundly enhanced my work as a lawyer, says Ron Raether at Troutman Pepper.

  • Lawyers Can Take Action To Honor The Voting Rights Act

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    As the Voting Rights Act reaches its 59th anniversary Tuesday, it must urgently be reinforced against recent efforts to dismantle voter protections, and lawyers can pitch in immediately by volunteering and taking on pro bono work to directly help safeguard the right to vote, says Anna Chu at We The Action.

  • Proposed NIL Deal Leaves NCAA Antitrust Liability Door Open

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    The proposed House v. NCAA settlement filed in California federal court creates the possibility of significant direct payments to student-athletes for the first time, but the resulting framework is unlikely to withstand future antitrust scrutiny because it still represents an agreement among competitors to limit labor cost, says Yaman Desai at Lynn Pinker.

  • Navigating Antitrust Considerations In ESG Collaborations

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    The intersection of ESG goals and antitrust laws presents a complex challenge for businesses and their counsel — but by creating clear frameworks for collaboration, adhering to established guidelines and carefully considering the competitive implications of their actions, companies can work toward sustainability while mitigating legal risks, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • How To Grow Marketing, Biz Dev Teams In A Tight Market

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    Faced with fierce competition and rising operating costs, firms are feeling the pressure to build a well-oiled marketing and business development team that supports strategic priorities, but they’ll need to be flexible and creative given a tight talent market, says Ben Curle at Ambition.

  • Considerations For Federal Right Of Publicity As AI Advances

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    Amid rapid advances in generative artificial intelligence technology, Congress should consider how a federal right of publicity would interact with the existing patchwork of state name, image and likeness laws, as well as other issues like scope, harm recognized and available relief, says Ross Bagley at Pryor Cashman.

  • FTC Focus: Private Equity Investments In Healthcare

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    As the Federal Trade Commission is tightening its scrutiny of private equity investment in healthcare, the agency is finding novel grounds to challenge key focus areas, including rollup acquisitions, the flip-and-strip approach and minority investments in rival providers, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • Patent Lessons From 5 Federal Circuit Reversals In June

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    A look at June cases where the Federal Circuit reversed or vacated decisions by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board or a federal district court highlights a potential path for branded drugmakers to sue generic-drug makers for off-label uses, potential downsides of violating a pretrial order offering testimony, and more, say Denise De Mory and Li Guo at Bunsow De Mory.

  • Series

    Rock Climbing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Rock climbing requires problem-solving, focus, risk management and resilience, skills that are also invaluable assets in my role as a finance lawyer, says Mei Zhang at Haynes and Boone.

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