Competition

  • April 04, 2024

    Deals Rumor Mill: Alphabet, Honeywell, Syngenta IPO

    Google parent Alphabet is exploring whether to make an offer to acquire software company HubSpot; Chinese regulators encouraged pesticides giant Syngenta to pull its $9 billion IPO over concerns it could unsettle China's volatile market, and Honeywell wants to sell its personal protective equipment unit. Here, Law360 breaks down these and other notable deal rumors from the past week.

  • April 04, 2024

    Stagecoach Poised To Settle In £93M Train Ticket Class Action

    Train operator Stagecoach is seeking to end its role in a £93 million ($118 million) collective action brought on behalf of passengers who allegedly paid double for their journeys, documents published by the Competition Appeal Tribunal on Thursday reveal.

  • April 04, 2024

    UK Deepens Probe Into Vodafone-Three Telecoms Merger

    Britain's antitrust authority said Thursday that it has launched an in-depth probe into plans by Vodafone and Three to merge their U.K. telecommunications networks to create a £16.5 billion ($21 billion) mobile operator after the companies failed to alleviate competition concerns.

  • April 03, 2024

    FTC Won't Overlook 'Unanticipated' Harms, Slaughter Says

    The Federal Trade Commission won't hesitate to go after companies and their executives that fail to take steps to address the broad range of privacy harms and other risks that can arise from the emergence of new digital technologies, particularly in the wake of a recent federal court ruling that backed this theory, Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter said Wednesday. 

  • April 03, 2024

    Antitrust Suits Remain Low Despite Slight 2023 Spike

    Federal enforcers and private plaintiffs filed more new antitrust cases last year than the year before but the slight uptick still kept 2023 as the second lowest in a decade, according to a new Lex Machina report.

  • April 03, 2024

    2nd Circ. Told FIFA Bribery Convictions Rightly Nixed

    A former 21st Century Fox television executive and an Argentine sports marketing company told the Second Circuit that a lower court was right to toss their convictions related to the FIFA corruption scandal, contending that U.S. law does not reach foreign commercial bribery.

  • April 03, 2024

    Hawaii Bio Power Co. Can't Add Merger-Based Antitrust Claims

    A Hawaii federal magistrate judge has refused to permit the addition of new allegations, based on a 2017 fossil fuel plant acquisition, to a recently restarted lawsuit accusing the state's largest power company of anticompetitively canceling a contract for a new biomass energy plant.

  • April 03, 2024

    Apple Blasts Input From Microsoft, Meta, Others In Epic Case

    Apple asked a California federal judge Wednesday to reject attempts by Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Spotify and other major developers to insert themselves into Epic Games' argument that the iPhone maker is not complying with an order barring it from using anti-steering rules in the App Store.

  • April 03, 2024

    US Soccer Urges High Court To Hear Antitrust Fight

    The U.S. Soccer Federation on Wednesday once again asked the U.S. Surpeme Court to review the Second Circuit's decision reviving an antitrust lawsuit against it and FIFA, arguing that the government's opposition to the federation's petition failed to defend an "extreme membership liability" imposed by the circuit court ruling.

  • April 03, 2024

    Mortgage Co. Targeted In News Report Hit With RICO Suit

    United Wholesale Mortgage LLC, its parent company and its CEO were hit with a proposed class action Tuesday in Michigan federal court accusing them of scheming with mortgage brokers to steer borrowers into more expensive loans the same day that Hunterbrook Media, a new journalism and hedge fund outfit, published its first investigative piece focused on the company.

  • April 03, 2024

    Google's Win In Ad Tech Antitrust MDL To Get 2nd Circ. Look

    A group of Massachusetts-based gym and spa businesses informed a New York federal judge Wednesday they will be taking to the Second Circuit their challenge of the judge's order dismissing their antitrust claims in multidistrict litigation over Google's alleged monopoly in digital advertising.

  • April 03, 2024

    EU Probing Solar Project Under Foreign Subsidy Rules

    European enforcers launched a pair of investigations Wednesday to assess whether companies bidding on a solar project in Romania received an unfair advantage through foreign subsidies.

  • April 03, 2024

    FCC Adopts Contested New Radio Geotargeting Rules

    Two members of the Federal Communications Commission said new rules allowing hyper-local targeting of radio broadcast content will help small and minority-owned stations after the agency passed them despite worries from larger broadcasters.

  • April 03, 2024

    Epoxy Cos. Say Unfair Trade Threatens Crucial Domestic Industry

    Epoxy resin producers have called on U.S. officials to investigate rivals in Asia for unfair trade practices, arguing Wednesday that an influx of allegedly undervalued imports is threatening the domestic supply of an item with automotive, electronic and defense applications.

  • April 03, 2024

    Anheuser-Busch 'Choking Off' Beer Supply, Distributor Says

    A New York beer distributor accused Anheuser-Busch InBev of slowly cutting off its supply using force that could only be exerted by such a "corporate behemoth," according to a suit filed in Manhattan federal court.

  • April 03, 2024

    Oil Company Says Judge's Recusal Not Needed In Cartel Suits

    Pioneer Natural Resources Co. fired back at gasoline buyers' attempt to recuse a Nevada federal judge from the parties' antitrust litigation over her stock ownership in ExxonMobil Corp., arguing that the company isn't a party to the case, and that the litigation should be transferred to Texas.

  • April 03, 2024

    FCC To Vote On Net Neutrality Plan At Late April Meeting

    The Federal Communications Commission said Wednesday the agency will vote April 25 on a Democratic proposal floated in October to restore net neutrality rules last imposed on internet services during the Obama administration, but repealed by Republicans in 2017.

  • April 02, 2024

    Jon Stewart Reveals Apple's Heavy Hand In Lina Khan Chat

    Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan appeared on "The Daily Show" on Monday night for a wide-ranging conversation in which host Jon Stewart revealed that Apple wouldn't allow him to speak with her on a podcast related to his Apple TV+ show.

  • April 02, 2024

    Broadcasters Gear Up For FCC Fight Over 'Sidecar' Deals

    The Federal Communications Commission's recent effort to fine broadcast titan Nexstar more than $1 million over a "sidecar" arrangement with a New York TV station reflects tensions between the FCC and the industry over complex ownership deals going back years.

  • April 02, 2024

    2 More Poultry Cos. Settle Wage-Fixing Suit

    Poultry processing workers sought preliminary approval Monday for deals with Case Foods Inc. and Mountaire Farms totaling $22 million that would make the companies the 10th and 11th wage-fixing defendants to settle out of a broader Maryland federal court case where total payouts reach $217.25 million.

  • April 02, 2024

    Amazon, Apple Buyers Defend Adding New Class Reps

    Attorneys for a proposed antitrust class action against Apple and Amazon say the tech giants are being unreasonable by trying to stop them from adding new class representatives to the case after the initial delegate stopped talking with his legal team.

  • April 02, 2024

    Tesla Pushed On La. Antitrust Claims In 5th Circ.

    Tesla Inc.'s claims that Louisiana car dealers and regulators illegally excluded the direct-sale automaker from the state's market met a Fifth Circuit panel Tuesday that questioned how the case might be impacted by a Pelican State probe into the company's allegedly unlawful conduct.

  • April 02, 2024

    Consumers Ask To Update Amazon Antitrust Claims

    Consumers seeking billions of dollars over allegations that Amazon's merchant contracts cause them to pay higher prices are asking a Washington federal court for permission to update their claims to include more details about the tactics the e-commerce giant allegedly used.

  • April 02, 2024

    Fanatics Exec To Take Stand In DraftKings Noncompete Suit

    A Boston federal judge said Tuesday she expects a former DraftKings executive to testify later this month in a hearing to sort out competing narratives and allegations of corporate espionage related to his abrupt departure to work for rival sportsbook Fanatics.

  • April 02, 2024

    Qualcomm Says 9th Circ. Panel Already Heard Chip Claims

    Qualcomm is urging the Ninth Circuit to assign an appeal from phone and tablet buyers looking to revive allegations that the chipmaker uses anti-competitive licensing practices to the same panel that nixed a class certification ruling in the long-running case.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • EU Antitrust Rules Set To Pose Challenges To US Businesses

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    With stark differences between U.S. and European Union antitrust regimes, and potential for the forthcoming EU guidelines to turbocharge the commission's appetite for intervention, it is important that U.S. businesses with activities in the region take note of the reforms, say Andrea Pomana and Sarah Wilks at Mayer Brown.

  • ABA's Money-Laundering Resolution Is A Balancing Act

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    While the American Bar Association’s recently passed resolution recognizes a lawyer's duty to discontinue representation that could facilitate money laundering and other fraudulent activity, it preserves, at least for now, the delicate balance of judicial, state-based regulation of the legal profession and the sanctity of the attorney-client relationship, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

  • Behind The Economics Of The DOJ's Case Against Google

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    Ahead of the U.S. v. Google search monopolization case set for trial in D.C. federal court Tuesday, economist Tessie LiJu Su discusses bundling, exclusive dealing, and the allegations of anti-competitive practices against the technology giant.

  • 2 High Court Cases Could Upend Administrative Law Bedrock

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    Next term, the U.S. Supreme Court will be deciding two cases likely to change the nature and shape of agency-facing litigation in perpetuity, and while one will clarify or overturn Chevron, far more is at stake in the other, say Dan Wolff and Henry Leung at Crowell & Moring.

  • Law Firm Professional Development Steps To Thrive In AI Era

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    As generative artificial intelligence tools rapidly evolve, professional development leaders are instrumental in preparing law firms for the paradigm shifts ahead, and should consider three strategies to help empower legal talent with the skills required to succeed in an increasingly complex technological landscape, say Steve Gluckman and Anusia Gillespie at SkillBurst Interactive.

  • HHS Neuromonitoring Advisory May Have Broad Relevance

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    The Health Department Office of Inspector General's recent advisory opinion rejecting a neuromonitoring service's proposal for a shell arrangement isn't surprising, but it could be a harbinger of more warnings against problematic joint venture arrangements to come, says Mary Kohler at Kohler Health Law.

  • Merger Proposals Reflect Agency Leaders' Antitrust Principles

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    Attorneys at Covington trace the recently proposed Hart-Scott-Rodino and merger guidelines changes to certain foundational concerns of the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division leadership, including issues related to concentration associated with horizontal and vertical mergers.

  • The Basics Of Being A Knowledge Management Attorney

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Michael Lehet at Ogletree Deakins discusses the role of knowledge management attorneys at law firms, the common tasks they perform and practical tips for lawyers who may be considering becoming one.

  • Challenging Standing In Antitrust Classes: The Uninjured

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    In virtually every antitrust class action, parties at the certification phase disagree about whether the proposed class includes uninjured members, but the goals of Rule 23 and judicial economy are best served by synthesizing two distinct approaches circuit courts take on this issue, say Michael Hamburger and Holly Tao at White & Case.

  • How 'Purely Legal' Issues Ruling Applies To Rule 12 Motions

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent Dupree v. Younger holding that purely legal issues resolved on summary judgment need not be reraised in post-trial motions guides litigators on when to preserve certain arguments for appeal, but raises the question of how Rule 12(b) and (c) motion denials will be affected, say Blaine Evanson and Jeremy Christiansen at Gibson Dunn.

  • Pros And Cons Of Top-Four Network Rule In The Digital Age

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    In the era of streaming, broadcasters have recently urged the Federal Communications Commission to remove the top-four network rule — which prohibits common ownership of any two major network stations — in some or all markets, but others argue the rule preserves competition and diversity, say Gregg Skall and Ashley Brydone-Jack at Telecommunications Law Professionals.

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