Competition

  • August 01, 2024

    Calif. Jury Clears Bayer In Flea And Tick Med Antitrust Suit

    A California federal jury on Thursday cleared Bayer of allegations that it owes millions for cutting anticompetitive deals with pet product retailers to undermine competition from generics makers of flea and tick treatments for dogs.

  • August 01, 2024

    Apple Says DOJ Is Looking For 'Judicial Redesign' Of IPhone

    Apple Inc. urged a New Jersey federal judge Thursday to throw out the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust lawsuit, calling claims of restricted app access meant to lock users into the iPhone as a government effort to control protocols the company contends are needed to ensure security and reliability.

  • August 01, 2024

    TD Bank's $25M Client Poach Case Hits FINRA Snags

    Ex-TD Bank employees accused of siphoning $25 million in business to Raymond James Financial Services Inc. agreed to move a dispute over a restraining order into arbitration to shield themselves from negative press, the bank told a federal judge Thursday after the defendants complained about delays to the proceeding.

  • August 01, 2024

    AliveCor Asks 9th Circ. To Revive Apple Watch Antitrust Case

    Medical monitoring startup AliveCor Inc. told the Ninth Circuit that Apple Inc. should not be immunized from antitrust claims over the removal of access to heart rate data on the Apple Watch because the change was intended to block competition and not improve the device.

  • August 01, 2024

    Merchandising Co. Says Ex-VP Sunk $47M Deal With Lowe's

    An ex-merchandising company executive exploited trade secrets to sabotage a $47 million deal with home improvement giant Lowe's Cos. Inc., the executive's former employer has alleged in a federal lawsuit in North Carolina.

  • August 01, 2024

    JPML Greenlights Shale Oil Price-Fixing MDL In New Mexico

    A group of U.S. shale oil producers will have to defend claims that they conspired with OPEC to artificially inflate gas prices in New Mexico federal court after the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation centralized at least five suits there Thursday.

  • August 01, 2024

    6th Circ. Puts Net Neutrality Rule On Ice During Appeals

    The Sixth Circuit on Thursday granted industry groups' bid to put a hold on the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules while appellate court challenges play out, saying there is a strong chance that internet service providers will eventually prevail.

  • August 01, 2024

    EU Approves $18B Grain Deal With Asset Sales

    European enforcers on Thursday approved grain and seed supplier Bunge Ltd.'s plan to buy global grain trader Viterra Ltd. in an $18 billion deal, conditioned on the sale of Viterra's oilseed businesses in Hungary and Poland.

  • August 01, 2024

    Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

    The Federal Trade Commission brought its latest case contesting a vertical merger, Tempur Sealy's bid for Mattress Firm, while continuing to battle Microsoft's purchase of Activision and Kroger's purchase of Albertsons, even as the agency allowed several oil deals to move forward without challenge.

  • August 01, 2024

    Turf Co.'s Injunction Bid Is Too Vague, Ga. Judge Rules

    A Georgia federal judge rejected a major artificial turf manufacturer's attempt to stop a rival turf company from using files allegedly stolen by one of its former executives before he jumped ship, saying the requested injunction was too vague and only sought to force the company to follow existing law.

  • August 01, 2024

    DAF Can't Take Trucks Cartel Appeal To Top UK Court

    The U.K. Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal brought by DAF Trucks Ltd. against a ruling requiring it to shell out more than £15.2 million ($19.3 million) to BT and Royal Mail over a price-fixing scheme.

  • August 01, 2024

    Rising Star: White & Case's Heather Greenfield

    Heather Greenfield of White & Case LLP led Novasep Process through the first successful prior approval issued by the FTC after it revived the '90s-era policy requiring companies that inked deals with the agency to get prior approval for any mergers over the next decade, earning her a spot among competition attorneys under age 40 honored as Law360 as Rising Stars.

  • August 01, 2024

    Cérélia Can't Fight Order To Sell Jus-Rol, UK Top Court Rules

    The U.K.'s top court refused Thursday to allow dough maker Cérélia a chance to appeal a decision forcing it to sell its Jus-Rol brand, ruling there were no legal grounds to challenge the finding that the move is necessary to protect competitive markets.

  • July 31, 2024

    Live Nation Says In-House Attys Can't Access DOJ Docs

    As it warned would be the case, Live Nation is telling a New York federal judge that it has no in-house counsel that will be able to meet his rules on counsel access to highly confidential material in the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust suit against the live events company.

  • July 31, 2024

    UFC Fighters' $335M Wage Deal Rejected Amid Scrutiny

    A Nevada federal court has rejected a $335 million deal that would end claims from mixed martial arts fighters accusing Ultimate Fighting Championship of suppressing their wages, setting up a potential trial later this year.

  • July 31, 2024

    NFL Finds Judge Open To Tossing $4.7B Sunday Ticket Award

    A California federal judge appeared open Wednesday to the NFL's argument that he should throw out a jury's stunning $4.7 billion antitrust verdict over the league's Sunday Ticket television package, saying he has "trouble" with the jury's damages award and suggesting that jurors may have disregarded his instructions.

  • July 31, 2024

    GoDaddy Asks To Have Tech Co.'s Antitrust Suit Culled

    Domain registrar GoDaddy is asking a Virginia federal court to knock out half of a lawsuit accusing it of blackballing a tech company from its platform, saying that after failing to secure a licensing deal, the suing company "has now turned to antitrust law to try to compel a result it could not obtain through arms-length negotiation."

  • July 31, 2024

    Trade Secrets Cases To Watch In 2024: A Midyear Report

    A Virginia appellate court reversed a historic $2 billion trade secrets verdict in a closely watched case, and the Seventh Circuit emphasized that the federal trade secrets law applies to conduct abroad, expanding the damages landscape. Here are some of the most notable trade secrets cases to watch for the rest of 2024.

  • July 31, 2024

    Justices Urged To Review Airline Price-Fixing Deal Payout

    Two class members in a long-running airline price-fixing suit are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a secondary distribution of over $5 million in settlement money, saying unclaimed funds should have been sent to state treasuries, not class counsel.

  • July 31, 2024

    Judge Rips 'Stinky' Business In Skiplagged Ticketing Suit

    A Texas federal judge gave early wins Wednesday to American Airlines Inc. and Skiplagged Inc. in the airline's suit alleging the booking site used a "loophole" in booking connecting flights to sell unauthorized tickets, but he made sure to note his issues with the ticketing firm's business practices.

  • July 31, 2024

    Inhaler Patents 'Must Be' In Orange Book, Teva Tells Fed. Circ.

    Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. urged the Federal Circuit to upend a lower court decision ejecting inhaler device patents from an important government database, arguing that the delisting, won by Amneal Pharmaceuticals Inc. in an infringement lawsuit, ignores broad protection envisioned under intellectual property law.

  • July 31, 2024

    Jury Instruction Error Kills $21M Verdict Over Noncompete

    Three former employees of a consulting group who jumped to a competitor in 2016 were let off the hook for a $21 million jury verdict Wednesday by an intermediate Massachusetts appellate court over a prejudicial error in jury instructions.

  • July 31, 2024

    Antitrust Group Backs Naval Engineers' No-Poach Case

    An advocacy group that supports robust enforcement of antitrust laws has urged the Fourth Circuit to revive a case from former naval engineers accusing military shipbuilders of using secret "no-poach" agreements to avoid competing for workers.

  • July 31, 2024

    Insurer Wants Out Of Yacht Brokerage Group Antitrust Suit

    A professional liability insurer for a yacht brokerage trade group has told a Florida federal court that it owes no coverage for an underlying proposed class action accusing the group of engaging in anticompetitive conduct, pointing to an exclusion barring coverage for "standard setting" claims.

  • July 31, 2024

    5 Trials To Watch In The 2nd Half Of 2024

    Upcoming high-profile trials over star lawyer Tom Girardi's alleged fraud, Hunter Biden's taxes and Washington state's "patent troll" law are among the cases to watch in the latter half of the year.

Expert Analysis

  • Mitigating Risks Amid 10-Year Sanctions Enforcement Window

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    In response to recent legislation, which doubles the statute of limitations for actions related to certain U.S. sanctions and provides regulators greater opportunity to investigate possible violations, companies should take specific steps to account for the increased civil and criminal enforcement risk, say attorneys at Freshfields.

  • Opinion

    States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions

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    Despite growing buzz, normalized nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a distant prospect, so the legal community should focus first on liberalizing state restrictions on attorney and firm purchases of practices, which would bolster succession planning and improve access to justice, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.

  • FBI Raid Signals Growing Criminal Enforcement Of Algorithms

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    The U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division's increased willingness to pursue the use of algorithmic pricing as a potential criminal violation means that companies need to understand the software solutions they employ and stay abreast of antitrust best practices when contracting with providers, say attorneys at Rule Garza.

  • Series

    Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.

  • What UK Digital Markets Act Will Mean For Competition Law

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    The new Digital Markets Act’s reforms will strengthen the Competition and Markets Authority's investigatory and enforcement powers across its full remit of merger control and antitrust investigations, representing a seismic shift in the U.K. competition and consumer law landscape, say lawyers at Travers Smith.

  • Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice

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    The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.

  • Realtor Settlement May Create New Antitrust Pitfalls

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    Following a recent antitrust settlement between the National Association of Realtors and home sellers, practices are set to change and the increased competition may benefit both brokers and homebuyers, but the loss of the customary method of buyer broker compensation could lead to new antitrust concerns, says Colin Ahler at Snell & Wilmer.

  • 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.

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