Competition

  • April 05, 2024

    IP Firm Sues Florida Attorney For Using Soundalike Name

    Georgia-based intellectual property firm Bekiares Eliezer LLP has sued an attorney in Florida federal court, alleging he marketed his services with a name similar to its "Founders Legal" brand.

  • April 05, 2024

    US Gas Cos. Delay $7.4B Deal Closing Date Amid FTC Scrutiny

    A month after a group of 50 lawmakers urged the Federal Trade Commission to investigate a recent string of mergers and acquisitions in the oil industry, the regulatory agency is putting Chesapeake Energy and Southwestern Energy's planned $7.4 billion merger under the microscope.

  • April 04, 2024

    Punishing Docs' Statements Chills Free Speech, 5th Circ. Told

    A right-leaning nonprofit sparred with a group of specialty medical boards and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in front of the Fifth Circuit during oral arguments Thursday, saying that revoking doctors' medical licenses in retaliation for public statements on issues like abortion chills free speech.

  • April 04, 2024

    ISP Tells FCC Bulk Billing Deals Are Pro-Consumer

    An internet service provider is trying to convince the Federal Communications Commission that banning bulk billing in apartment buildings is not the way to go and that the arrangements are actually a "key tool for closing the digital divide."

  • April 04, 2024

    Crypto Bank, Chair Blast FTX Investors' 'Gatling Gun' Claims

    A crypto bank and its chairman have urged a Florida federal judge to toss a second amended complaint from FTX investors alleging they helped Sam Bankman-Fried abscond with $8 billion in customer assets, saying the investors "employ a Gatling gun approach to pleading."

  • April 04, 2024

    Caterpillar 'Talking Out Both Sides,' Judge Says

    A Delaware federal judge chastised Caterpillar Inc. ahead of trial in a series of orders mostly siding with claims from a defunct construction equipment supplier accusing the company of pressuring an online auctioneer to break an important contract with the would-be competitor.

  • April 04, 2024

    Athletes Say NCAA's Own Actions Prove NIL Rules No Good

    Athletes suing the NCAA over restrictions on the use of their names, images and likenesses are seeking summary judgment, arguing the practice dampens competition with no legitimate justification and that the organization's own actions have shown that to be true.

  • April 04, 2024

    FCC's Net Neutrality Plan Leaves Network 'Slicing' Uncategorized

    The Federal Communications Commission will not automatically apply net neutrality rules to 5G mobile network "slices" when a plan to reimpose the rules on broadband service comes up for an agency vote later this month, but also said slices cannot be used to evade the regulations.

  • April 04, 2024

    Novo Holdings, Catalent Reset Review Clock On $16.5B Deal

    Novo Nordisk Foundation has given the Federal Trade Commission more time for an initial review of Novo Holdings' plan to acquire Catalent in a deal that values the pharmaceutical services company at $16.5 billion.

  • April 04, 2024

    Structure Defense Remains In FTC Hospital Case, But Not Hearing

    When the Federal Trade Commission goes to trial April 29 against an allegedly anti-competitive hospital merger, the agency won't have to contend with defense assertions that its structure is unconstitutional right away, but a North Carolina federal judge refused Thursday to scrub them entirely.

  • April 04, 2024

    Mattress Co. Can Redo Conspiracy Suit After 10th Circ. Trip

    A Utah federal judge has rejected arguments from leading mattress manufacturers that a competitor is too late to amend an antitrust lawsuit alleging the spread of false information, saying a Tenth Circuit appeal prevented the competitor from updating its claims sooner.

  • April 04, 2024

    Wash. AG Defends Authority To Block Kroger-Albertsons Deal

    The Washington Attorney General's Office has told a state court that a local consumer protection law allows it to bring actions challenging anti-competitive mergers and urged the court to reject contentions from Kroger and Albertsons that the state lacks authority to block a nationwide deal.

  • April 04, 2024

    Judge Recuses Herself From Cartel Case Over Exxon Stock

    A Nevada federal judge has recused herself from a batch of antitrust lawsuits claiming U.S. shale oil producers colluded with OPEC to drive up prices at the pump, citing her ownership of a "significant" amount of Exxon Mobil Corp. stock.

  • April 04, 2024

    MLB's Athletics To Play In Sacramento Before Move To Vegas

    The Oakland Athletics will play the 2025 to 2027 seasons in Sacramento's 14,000-capacity minor-league ballpark while their planned stadium in Las Vegas is built, the franchise and Major League Baseball announced Thursday morning, officially making this season the team's last in Oakland after 57 years.

  • April 04, 2024

    Boston Scientific's $3.7B Axonics Buy Under FTC Microscope

    Biomedical engineering company Boston Scientific Corp. on Thursday disclosed that the Federal Trade Commission requested more information on its planned $3.7 billion acquisition of medical technology company Axonics, which will result in a delay in the deal's closing.

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • Managing ANDA Venue Issues As Del. And NJ Filings Rise

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    Delaware and New Jersey have prevailed as the primary forum for pharmaceutical litigation as more generic companies file abbreviated new drug applications, but this venue scheme presents traps for the unwary, and legislation may still be necessary to ensure fairness and predictability, say Timothy Cook and Kevin Yurkerwich at WilmerHale.

  • Series

    Writing Thriller Novels Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Authoring several thriller novels has enriched my work by providing a fresh perspective on my privacy practice, expanding my knowledge, and keeping me alert to the next wave of issues in an increasingly complex space — a reminder to all lawyers that extracurricular activities can help sharpen professional instincts, says Reece Hirsch at Morgan Lewis.

  • What Lawyers Must Know About Calif. State Bar's AI Guidance

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    Initial recommendations from the State Bar of California regarding use of generative artificial intelligence by lawyers have the potential to become a useful set of guidelines in the industry, covering confidentiality, supervision and training, communications, discrimination and more, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Industry Must Elevate Native American Women Attys' Stories

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    The American Bar Association's recent research study into Native American women attorneys' experiences in the legal industry reveals the glacial pace of progress, and should inform efforts to amplify Native voices in the field, says Mary Smith, president of the ABA.

  • Understanding Discovery Obligations In Era Of Generative AI

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Attorneys and businesses must adapt to the unique discovery challenges presented by generative artificial intelligence, such as chatbot content and prompts, while upholding the principles of fairness, transparency and compliance with legal obligations in federal civil litigation, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • Why Criminal No-Poach Cases Can Be Deceptively Complex

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    Mark Rosman at Wilson Sonsini discusses the reasons many criminal no-poach cases that appear simple are actually more complicated than they seem, following several jury trial acquittals and two dismissed cases.

  • Forecasting The Impact Of High Court Debit Card Rule Case

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    John Delionado and Aidan Gross at Hunton consider how the U.S. Supreme Court's forthcoming ruling in a retailer's suit challenging a Federal Reserve rule on debit card swipe fees could affect agency regulations both new and old, as well as the businesses that might seek to challenge them.

  • The Case For Post-Bar Clerk Training Programs At Law Firms

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    In today's competitive legal hiring market, an intentionally designed training program for law school graduates awaiting bar admission can be an effective way of creating a pipeline of qualified candidates, says Brent Daub at Gilson Daub.

  • What's At Stake In Bystolic 'Side Deals' Litigation

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    In re: Bystolic Antitrust Litigation, which has oral argument set for next month, will likely shed light on how the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit views side deals, and could create a circuit split in pleading standards for reverse payment cases, say attorneys at Axinn.

  • Attorneys Have An Ethical Duty To Protect The Judiciary

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    The tenor of public disagreement and debate has become increasingly hostile against judges, and though the legislative branch is trying to ameliorate this safety gap, lawyers have a moral imperative and professional requirement to stand with judges in defusing attacks against them and their rulings, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Cross-Market Implications In FTC's Anesthesia Complaint

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent complaint against a private equity firm's acquisition of anesthesiology practices highlights the controversial issue of cross-market harm in health care provider mergers, and could provide important insights into how a court may view such theories of harm, say Christopher Lau and Dina Older Aguilar at Cornerstone Research.

  • FTC Orange Book Move Signals New Pharma Patent Scrutiny

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent dispute against improper listing of drug patents in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Orange Book indicates heightened surveillance of the pharmaceutical industry, particularly where competition-related consequences of patent or regulatory processes are concerned, say attorneys at Fenwick.

  • AI Can Help Lawyers Overcome The Programming Barrier

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    Legal professionals without programming expertise can use generative artificial intelligence to harness the power of automation and other technology solutions to streamline their work, without the steep learning curve traditionally associated with coding, says George Zalepa at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Preparing Law Students For A New, AI-Assisted Legal World

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    As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms the legal landscape, law schools must integrate technology and curricula that address AI’s innate challenges — from ethics to data security — to help students stay ahead of the curve, say Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics, Ryan Abbott at JAMS and Karen Silverman at Cantellus Group.

  • General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI

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    With the rise of accessible and powerful generative artificial intelligence solutions, it is imperative for general counsel to understand the use and application of data for myriad important activities, from evaluating the e-discovery process to monitoring compliance analytics and more, says Colin Levy at Malbek.

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