Competition

  • March 22, 2024

    Meta Can't Stop FTC Privacy Tweaks, Feds Say

    The Federal Trade Commission told the D.C. Circuit that Meta Platforms Inc. cannot nitpick the agency's structure to dodge in-house proceedings over proposed revisions to a $5 billion data privacy settlement between the commission and the social media giant.

  • March 22, 2024

    Cheerleading Giant Varsity Spirit Must Face Antitrust Suit

    A Texas federal court has refused to toss a suit accusing Varsity Spirit of working with competitive cheerleading governance bodies to boycott potential rivals and maintain its dominance over the sport.

  • March 22, 2024

    Nexstar Faces $1.2M Fine For 'De Facto' Control Of NY Station

    The Federal Communications Commission has floated a $1.2 million fine against TV giant Nexstar Media Group Inc. after discovering it obtained "de facto" control of a New York City station and exceeded the FCC's 39% national ownership cap.

  • March 22, 2024

    Google Can Arbitrate Collusion Claims While Apple Beats Suit

    For the second time, a California federal judge has forced into arbitration antitrust claims brought by a Golden State crane operator training school accusing Google of paying off Apple to not develop its own search engine while dismissing the rest of the claims against both tech behemoths.

  • March 22, 2024

    Amazon, Apple Say Antitrust Attys Can't Ditch 'Fatal' Class Rep

    Amazon and Apple say plaintiffs' counsel in a proposed antitrust suit should be stuck with their class representative, who apparently ghosted his attorneys, arguing the lawyers should have to live with a plaintiff whose purchasing habits undercut the suit's very premise.

  • March 22, 2024

    Google Loses New Trial Bid After Epic Games' Antitrust Win

    A California federal judge denied Google LLC's bid for a new trial and teed up for a May hearing on a possible court-ordered injunction against the tech giant, following Epic Games' jury win on antitrust claims related to Google Play Store and Android apps.

  • March 22, 2024

    Flyers Say JetBlue-Spirit Deal Case Not Done, Push For Win

    The private plaintiffs challenging the failed JetBlue-Spirit merger indicated they're not done despite the companies' abandonment of the deal, pushing a Massachusetts federal court to grant them a win on their antitrust claims.

  • March 22, 2024

    Home Sellers Hope $58M Compass Deal Helps Spur Others

    Compass Inc. announced Friday that it would pay home sellers $57.5 million in the first settlement since the National Association of Realtors reached its own deal this month to pay $418 million and overhaul rules that have effectively restricted how brokers buy and sell homes and how they're paid.

  • March 22, 2024

    US Antitrust Enforcers Keep Big Tech Cases Coming

    A backlash against powerful tech companies is reaching a fever pitch in the U.S., as enforcers with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission now have pending lawsuits accusing Apple, Amazon, Google and Meta of monopolizing key digital markets.

  • March 22, 2024

    Off The Bench: Ohtani Lawyers Up, UFC Settles, ACC Clash

    MLB superstar Shohei Ohtani enlists a Hollywood boutique to advise him amid a still-unfolding sports betting scandal, UFC forks over $335 million to settle a wage class action and Clemson's bid to join a new conference spills into court. Catch up with the sports and betting stories that had Law360's readers talking with this week's Off The Bench.

  • March 22, 2024

    Commerce Lifts Block On Transnational Subsidy Probes

    The U.S. Department of Commerce erased a nearly 40-year-old regulation on Friday so it can impose countervailing duties on subsidies China provides its trade partners, despite opposition from foreign governments that the move would conflict with World Trade Organization obligations.

  • March 22, 2024

    US Greenlights Novartis' $2.9B MorphoSys Takeover

    Germany's MorphoSys AG said Friday it has received U.S. antitrust clearance for the biopharmaceutical company's planned $2.9 billion sale to Swiss Pharma giant Novartis AG, a development that clears the final regulatory hurdle needed before closing the deal. 

  • March 22, 2024

    UK Says £16.5B Vodafone-Three Deal May Hurt Consumers

    Britain's antitrust authority said Friday that plans by Vodafone and Three to merge their U.K. telecommunications networks to create a £16.5 billion ($20.8 billion) mobile operator could lead to higher prices for consumers.

  • March 21, 2024

    Burford, Sysco Get OK To Swap Bid In Price-Fixing Cases

    An Illinois federal judge on Thursday agreed to allow an affiliate of legal investment firm Burford Capital to substitute for food giant Sysco in price-fixing litigation against broiler chicken producers, a ruling that comes a month after a Minnesota federal judge refused to allow the same Burford unit to substitute for Sysco in similar pork and beef price-fixing litigation.

  • March 21, 2024

    Nexstar Ducks Antitrust Suit Over Retransmission Fees

    DirecTV says it refused to ink retransmission deals with two companies that were illegally collaborating with Nexstar Media Group Inc. to fix prices, resulting in massive channel blackouts and customer loss, but according to a New York federal judge, that refusal is why its antitrust claims fall flat.

  • March 21, 2024

    Colo. Distributor Seeks $2.3M Sanction For Stryker Spoilation

    A Colorado medical device distributor urged a federal judge to make Stryker and its lawyers pay $2.3 million in attorney fees as sanctions for "pervasive misconduct" throughout discovery and trial, arguing discovery violations will otherwise become the "cost of doing business" for the medical technology giant.

  • March 21, 2024

    9th Circ. Partially Backs Meta Class Cert. In Ad Reach Row

    A split Ninth Circuit panel on Thursday affirmed certification of a damages class of Meta Platforms advertisers who were allegedly deceived about Facebook's "potential reach" tool, but upended certification of an injunction class, telling the district court to take a fresh look at whether the lead plaintiff actually has standing.

  • March 21, 2024

    LinkedIn Must Face Monopoly Lawsuit

    A California federal judge refused Thursday to toss a proposed antitrust class action accusing LinkedIn of using online interface access to pay off would-be rivals, even as he signaled potential trouble ahead once the factual details of those access agreements come into play.

  • March 21, 2024

    4 Things To Know About DOJ's Apple Antitrust Showdown

    As Apple prepares to fight state and federal prosecutors' monopoly claims filed Thursday, consumer advocates say it's high time allegations that the company stifles competition in the smartphone and app markets be taken to court, but Apple warns that a win for the government would harm its users.

  • March 21, 2024

    Microsoft, Meta, Others Say Apple Violating Court Order

    Major developers including Microsoft, Meta Platforms and Spotify have told a California federal court that Apple is not complying with an order secured by Epic Games barring Apple's use of anti-steering rules in the App Store.

  • March 21, 2024

    9th Circ. Won't Rethink Apple App Store Rival's Antitrust Suit

    A split Ninth Circuit panel has refused to rehear a rival app store developer's bid to revive an antitrust suit alleging that Apple monopolizes the market for app distribution on iOS devices with its App store.

  • March 21, 2024

    Avoid Major Extension Of Merger Reach, EU High Court Urged

    An important tool for extending European Union antitrust officials' merger scrutiny appears to be in jeopardy after a European Court of Justice advocate general effectively recommended Thursday that the bloc's high court restrict the ability to investigate transactions that don't normally trigger EU thresholds.

  • March 21, 2024

    FTC Says Retailers Used Pandemic To Boost Profits, Power

    The Federal Trade Commission said Thursday that some grocery retailers appear to have used their market power to avoid supply disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic and that grocery prices remain high because companies used rising costs as an opportunity to boost profits.

  • March 21, 2024

    Mike Ashley Sues Soccer Club Over Kit Amid Staveley Fight

    Newcastle United soccer club has been sued by its former owner, Mike Ashley, on allegations it restricted competition by refusing to provide his retail company with its newest replica soccer kits, Britain's antitrust tribunal said Thursday.

  • March 21, 2024

    Barings' Exec Helped Raid Employees To Join Rival, Suit Says

    A former executive of the investment firm Barings LLC is accused of joining a rival firm who together conspired to hire away 21 Barings employees and then offered to buy the decimated Barings unit for "on the dollar" in "one of the largest corporate raids at an asset manager in years," a suit alleges.

Expert Analysis

  • As AI Pricing Tools Evolve, So Does Antitrust Risk

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    As the use of pricing algorithms has given rise to regulatory scrutiny and civil actions, such as RealPage Rental Software Antitrust Litigation in the Middle District of Tennessee and Gibson v. MGM in the District of Nevada, independent pricing decisions and other best practices can help limit antitrust risk, say attorneys at Axinn.

  • Preparing Your Legal Department For Pillar 2 Compliance

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    Multinational entities should familiarize themselves with Pillar Two of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s BEPs 2.0 project and prepare their internal legal tracking systems for related reporting requirements that may go into effect as early as January, says Daniel Robyn at Ernst & Young.

  • 10th Circ. ERISA Ruling Is Promising For Self-Funded Plans

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    Though some recent appellate decisions have seemingly narrowed application of Employee Retirement Income Security Act preemption, which generally helps protect self-funded health plans from state regulation, the Tenth Circuit's decision in PCMA v. Mulready takes a big step toward reaffirming preemption, say attorneys at Bass Berry.

  • What Large Language Models Mean For Document Review

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    Courts often subject parties using technology assisted review to greater scrutiny than parties conducting linear, manual document review, so parties using large language models for document review should expect even more attention, along with a corresponding need for quality control and validation, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Tossed FIFA Bribery Convictions May Spur New DOJ Offense

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    After a New York federal court vacated the bribery convictions of two defendants in the U.S. Department of Justice’s sprawling FIFA probe, prosecutors may continue to pursue foreign commercial corruption through other means, albeit with some limitations, say attorneys at Cleary.

  • Series

    Participating In Living History Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My role as a baron in a living history group, and my work as volunteer corporate counsel for a book series fan association, has provided me several opportunities to practice in unexpected areas of law — opening doors to experiences that have nurtured invaluable personal and professional skills, says Matthew Parker at the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

  • Opinion

    Private Equity Owners Can Remedy Law Firms' Agency Issues

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    Nonlawyer, private-equity ownership of law firms can benefit shareholders and others vulnerable to governance issues such as disparate interests, and can in turn help resolve agency problems, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.

  • How To Protect Atty-Client Privilege While Using Generative AI

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    When using generative artificial intelligence tools, attorneys should consider several safeguards to avoid breaches or complications in attorney-client privilege, say Antonious Sadek and Christopher Campbell at DLA Piper.

  • Kentucky Tax Talk: Taking Up The Dormant Commerce Clause

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    Attorneys at Frost Brown examine whether the U.S. Supreme Court is likely to review Foresight Coal Sales v. Kent Chandler to consider whether a Kentucky utility rate law discriminates against interstate commerce, and how the decision may affect dormant commerce clause jurisprudence.

  • How New Lawyers Can Leverage Feedback For Growth

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    Embracing constructive criticism as a tool for success can help new lawyers accelerate their professional growth and law firms build a culture of continuous improvement, says Katie Aldrich at Fringe Professional Development.

  • Key Elements Of The Proposed Credit Card Competition Act

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    Attorneys at Troutman Pepper examine the most noteworthy provisions in the recently proposed Credit Card Competition Act, including changes to payment card network access, Federal Reserve Board review, who would qualify as a covered institution, and routing restrictions.

  • Opinion

    Address The Data Monopoly, Otherwise Tech Giants Control AI

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    It is likely that we will experience a severe monopoly on artificial intelligence systems and patents by the largest players in the tech industry, so the way we treat data needs to change, whether through the legislature, the courts or tech companies, says Pranav Katti at Barclay Damon.

  • Info Exchanges Must Stay Inside Now-Invisible Antitrust Lines

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    While the antitrust agencies recently withdrew long-standing enforcement policy statements for being "overly permissive" on information exchanges, we should not assume that all information exchanges are inherently suspect — they are still permissible if carefully constructed and vigorously managed, say attorneys at Nelson Mullins.

  • Twitter Legal Fees Suit Offers Crash Course In Billing Ethics

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    X Corp.'s suit alleging that Wachtell grossly inflated its fees in the final days of Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition provides a case study in how firms should protect their reputations by hewing to ethical billing practices and the high standards for professional conduct that govern attorney-client relationships, says Lourdes Fuentes at Karta Legal.

  • Amgen-Horizon Deal May Signal FTC's Return To Bargaining

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent settlement of its challenge to Amgen's proposed acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics marks the latest in a string of midlitigation settlements, and may signal that competition regulators are more inclined toward such negotiations following recent litigation losses, say attorneys at Freshfields.

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