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Judge Mulls If Google Could Still Vie To Be Default Search
A D.C. federal judge probed potential middle grounds Tuesday for how to give Google's search engine rivals a leg up against the company's monopoly, asking how to avoid a "duopoly" with Microsoft and if Google might be permitted to continue paying browsers and phonemakers for default placement.
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May 23, 2025
FTC Probing Alcon's $430M Lensar Deal
The Federal Trade Commission has requested additional information about Swiss eye care company Alcon Inc.'s planned purchase of Florida-based medical technology developer Lensar Inc. in a deal worth up to $430 million.
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May 23, 2025
Judge Skeptical Of Harm In Recall Of Tribe's Gambling Eligibility
A D.C. federal judge on Friday signaled concerns with the Interior Department's decision to revoke a California tribe's gambling eligibility for a casino-resort project in the Bay Area, but said that the tribe faces an uphill battle in establishing the irreparable harm needed to secure a preliminary injunction.
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May 23, 2025
Musk Doubles Down After OpenAI Drops For-Profit Transition
OpenAI's decision to abandon its transition into a for-profit enterprise was not enough to appease Elon Musk, who doubled down Thursday with an amended California federal court complaint continuing to allege the ChatGPT maker tricked him into contributing nearly $45 million with false promises of remaining a nonprofit.
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May 23, 2025
AIG, Insurance Startup Resolve Trade Secrets Feud
American International Group Inc. has settled and permanently dismissed its trade secrets lawsuit brought in New Jersey federal court against an insurance startup that was created by former senior executives at AIG.
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May 23, 2025
Off The Bench: Tennis Officials, NCAA Stay On The Defensive
In this week's Off The Bench, tennis players face pushback from the governing bodies they are accusing of antitrust violations, college basketball players claiming the NCAA exploited them want their class action revived, and a baseball player seeking one last year to play in college hits another legal roadblock.
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May 23, 2025
Insulet Foe Rips $30M Atty Fee Ask As 'Over-Lawyered'
A South Korean medical device maker told a Massachusetts federal judge that rival Insulet's request for $30 million in attorney fees following a $60 million trade secrets judgment should be denied, calling that amount "exorbitant" and saying Insulet "consistently over-lawyered disputes."
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May 23, 2025
FTC Finally Drops Challenge To Microsoft-Activision Deal
The Federal Trade Commission has dropped its in-house case seeking to block Microsoft's $68.7 billion purchase of video game developer Activision Blizzard, after its Ninth Circuit loss earlier this month, ending a lingering challenge to a deal that closed in late 2023.
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May 23, 2025
Switchblade Maker Claims Competitor Infringed Lock Patent
The makers of a switchblade knife featured in a "John Wick" movie claim a competitor copied their patented design for keeping the blade from wiggling or rattling, according to a federal lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania.
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May 22, 2025
Asphalt Exec Gets 6 Months For $22M Bid-Rigging Scheme
A Michigan federal judge on Thursday sentenced a former asphalt paving company president to six months in prison, saying the roughly $22 million in contracts that his involvement in a bid-rigging scheme earned his company warrants prison time to deter white-collar crime.
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May 22, 2025
FTC Can't Get Amazon Execs' Financials Yet In Prime Case
A Washington federal court has refused the Federal Trade Commission's request to immediately force several Amazon executives to turn over sensitive financial information, ruling the agency must instead wait until after trial in its case accusing the company of trapping consumers into renewing Prime subscriptions.
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May 22, 2025
Cities Say They Fixed Bid To Divest Axon Police Camera Buy
A trio of local governments urged a New Jersey federal judge Wednesday not to tee up an attack on their bid to force Axon Enterprise Inc. to divest a police body camera company whose purchase they say helped it monopolize the market, arguing they've fixed failings from an earlier complaint.
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May 22, 2025
Fla. Can't End Tech Groups' Challenge To Social Media Law
A Florida federal judge on Thursday denied the state's motion to dismiss a complaint brought by technology groups challenging a Florida law restricting social media companies from blocking political candidates, ruling that the plaintiffs have standing to sue on behalf of their members.
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May 22, 2025
EpiPen Direct Buyers, Mylan Get Final OK On Antitrust Deal
Mylan Pharmaceuticals' $73.5 million settlement with a class of direct EpiPen buyers has received final approval from a Kansas federal judge, closing out claims from institutional drug resellers that Mylan worked with Pfizer to forestall an EpiPen generic from hitting the market and artificially inflating prices for the emergency injectable.
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May 22, 2025
Sutter Health's $228.5M Antitrust Deal Gets Initial OK
A California federal judge on Thursday preliminarily approved Sutter Health's $228.5 million deal settling a 13-year case over claims the hospital chain boosted costs by pushing all-or-nothing networks on insurers, saying that after a trial and a Ninth Circuit reversal, "it's nice that we didn't have to try this case twice."
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May 22, 2025
NCAA Pushes Back On U. Of Montana Athlete's Eligibility Bid
College sports' "five-year rule" capping how long an athlete can play their sport at four years doesn't violate antitrust law or unfairly deny a University of Montana basketball player a chance to both play and earn name, image and likeness compensation, the NCAA argued in opposing that player's bid for an injunction allowing him to play next season.
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May 22, 2025
Federal Gov't Backs States' BlackRock Coal Investments Suit
The federal government on Thursday threw its support behind a case from Texas and several other states that accuses investment groups including BlackRock Inc. of using their energy holdings to drive up coal prices under the guise of environmental concerns.
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May 22, 2025
Coalition Backs Calif. Tribe's Fight Over $700M Casino Project
A coalition of tribes weighed in on a dispute over the federal government's decision to rescind gambling eligibility for the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians' $700 million casino project, questioning the federal government's perceived acquiescence to pushback from other tribes.
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May 22, 2025
GOP FTC Drops Dems' Pepsi Price Discrimination Suit
The Republican-controlled Federal Trade Commission on Thursday dropped one of the last cases approved by agency Democrats before they handed over the gavel, abandoning a New York federal court complaint accusing Pepsi of giving a big box retailer better terms and promotional payments than smaller competitors.
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May 21, 2025
FTC Urges 8th Circ. Not To Pause In-House PBM Case
The Eighth Circuit should once again say no to a request to pause the Federal Trade Commission's in-house case accusing three pharmacy benefit managers of hiking up the price of insulin to line their own pockets, the agency has told the appellate court.
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May 21, 2025
Verizon Looks To Break Free Of TracFone Unlocking Condition
Verizon is once again asking the Federal Communications Commission to let it out of a condition from its takeover of TracFone requiring the carrier to unlock its mobile phones after 60 days.
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May 21, 2025
9th Circ. Judge Asks If Apple's Watch Updates 'Ice Out' Rivals
Two Ninth Circuit judges appeared skeptical Wednesday of Apple Inc.'s arguments against reviving an antitrust suit brought by medical monitoring startup AliveCor Inc. after Apple blocked third-party access to medical data on the Apple Watch, with one judge asking rhetorically whether a "marginal" improvement by Apple could actually be a way to "ice out" competition.
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May 21, 2025
Tennis Groups Serve Up Bids To Nix Players' Antitrust Claims
The international governing bodies for tennis are looking to escape a proposed antitrust class action filed by players who have accused them of operating as a "cartel," arguing in a series of briefs submitted to a New York federal court that the claims should be tossed, transferred or arbitrated.
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May 21, 2025
Google Gets Rumble's Video-Sharing Antitrust Case Tossed
A California federal court on Wednesday agreed with Google that Rumble waited too long to file an antitrust case accusing the tech giant of rigging search results to favor its YouTube unit over the rival video-sharing site.
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May 21, 2025
GOP FTC Renews Calls For Orange Book Patent Delistings
The now-Republican controlled Federal Trade Commission again called on Teva, Novartis, Mylan and other drugmakers to remove patents from a key federal database that partially insulates their drugs from generic competition, arguing Wednesday the patents cover "devices," not drugs, and thus don't warrant such protection.
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May 21, 2025
Courts Can't Review Trump's Tariff Emergencies, Gov't Says
Courts can't review President Donald Trump's decision that unusual or extraordinary threats exist under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a government attorney told the U.S. Court of International Trade on Wednesday as 12 states seek to block Trump's tariffs under the law.
Editor's Picks
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Google Ad Tech Trial: 15 Days On The Rocket Docket
The Justice Department wrapped an extraordinary antitrust trial last week that left a Virginia federal judge pondering whether Google is even dominant in the display advertising placement technology market or just another player.
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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.
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US Antitrust Holds Fast: No 'Environmental Justice' Goals
A top Federal Trade Commission official in her latest address to antitrust lawyers offered little comfort to U.S. companies seeking to collaborate on environmental initiatives.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Power To The Paralegals: An Untapped Source For Biz Roles
Law firms looking to recruit legal business talent should consider turning to paralegals, who practice several key skills every day that prepare them to thrive in marketing and client development roles, says Vanessa Torres at Lowenstein Sandler.
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The Legal Risks Of US Restrictions On Investments In China
The second Trump administration has continued to embrace a more restrictive economic policy toward China, including an ongoing review of further restrictions on the flow of U.S. capital to China, so early planning and enhanced diligence can reduce exposure to the challenges resulting from further restrictions, say attorneys at Cleary.
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Series
Playing Poker Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Poker is a master class in psychology, risk management and strategic thinking, and I’m a better attorney because it has taught me to read my opponents, adapt when I’m dealt the unexpected and stay patient until I'm ready to reveal my hand, says Casey Kingsley at McCreadyLaw.
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4 Ways Slater Is Priming DOJ For Continued Antitrust Success
Just as Jonathan Kanter did during his recent tenure leading the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater is following the effective blueprint set by Thurman Arnold when he modernized the division more than 80 years ago, says Perry Apelbaum at Kressin Powers.
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What EU 'Killer Acquisition' Study Means For Pharma Deals
The European Commission’s recent study of pharmaceutical companies' acquisitions of emerging competitive threats, the first of its kind globally, has important implications for the industry, and may lead to increased awareness of merger control risks in collaborative agreements, say lawyers at Paul Weiss.
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Why Texas Should Slow Down On Healthcare Merger Bills
More time is needed to study three Texas bills aimed at considering the effects of healthcare consolidation to increase affordability and access to healthcare, which could have the opposite effect, say John Saran and Harshita Rathore at Holland & Knight and Robbie Allen at U.S. Heart and Vascular.
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Series
Law School's Missed Lessons: Becoming A Firmwide MVP
Though lawyers don't have a neat metric like baseball players for measuring the value they contribute to their organizations, the sooner new attorneys learn skills frequently skipped in law school — like networking, marketing, client development and case evaluation — the more valuable, and less replaceable, they will be, says Alex Barnett at DiCello Levitt.
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Big Tech M&A Risk Under Trump May Resemble Biden Era
Merger review under the Trump administration may not differ substantially from merger review under the Biden administration, particularly in the Big Tech arena, in which case dealmakers and investors should shift the antitrust discount on M&A deals upward, says Jonathan Barnett at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law.
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Takeaways From DOJ's 1st Wage-Fixing Jury Conviction
U.S. v. Lopez marked the U.S. Department of Justice's first labor market conviction at trial as a Nevada federal jury found a home healthcare staffing executive guilty of wage-fixing and wire fraud, signaling that improper agreements risk facing successful criminal prosecution, say attorneys at McGuireWoods.
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FTC Focus: Interlocking Directorate Enforcement May Persist
Though the Federal Trade Commission under Chair Andrew Ferguson seems likely to adopt a pro-business approach to antitrust enforcement, his endorsement of broader liability for officers or directors who illegally sit on boards of competing corporations signals that businesses should not expect board-level antitrust scrutiny to slacken, says Timothy Burroughs at Proskauer.
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$38M Law Firm Settlement Highlights 'Unworthy Client' Perils
A recent settlement of claims against law firm Eckert Seamans for allegedly abetting a Ponzi scheme underscores the continuing threat of clients who seek to exploit their lawyers in perpetrating fraud, and the critical importance of preemptive measures to avoid these clients, say attorneys at Lockton Companies.
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Series
Teaching Business Law Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Teaching business law to college students has rekindled my sense of purpose as a lawyer — I am more mindful of the importance of the rule of law and the benefits of our common law system, which helps me maintain a clearer perspective on work, says David Feldman at Feldman Legal Advisors.
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Navigating The Expanding Frontier Of Premerger Notice Laws
Washington's newly enacted law requiring premerger notification to state enforcers builds upon a growing trend of state scrutiny into transactions in the healthcare sector and beyond, and may inspire other states to enact similar legislation, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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Evolving Federal Rules Pose Further Obstacles To NY LLC Act
Following the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's recent changes to beneficial ownership information reporting under the federal Corporate Transparency Act — dramatically reducing the number of companies required to make disclosures — the utility of New York's LLC Transparency Act becomes less apparent, say attorneys at Pillsbury.
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Series
Law School's Missed Lessons: Mastering Discovery
The discovery process and the rules that govern it are often absent from law school curricula, but developing a solid grasp of the particulars can give any new attorney a leg up in their practice, says Jordan Davies at Knowles Gallant.