Competition

  • April 23, 2024

    ACLU Backs States' Power To Preempt Feds' Net Neutrality

    The ACLU is a supporter of the Federal Communications Commission's plans to usher in a new era of net neutrality later this month, but the civil rights organization is also pressing the agency to make sure that states are free to enact stricter open internet protections if they see fit.

  • April 23, 2024

    Grain Co.'s $18B Deal Raises Competition Flags For Canada

    Canada's competition enforcer said Tuesday it has concerns over grain and seed supplier Bunge Ltd.'s plan to buy global grain trader Viterra Ltd. in an $18 billion deal, saying the acquisition could result in lower prices paid to farmers and higher prices for refined canola oil.

  • April 23, 2024

    Realtors, Home Sellers Get OK For $418M Broker Rules Deal

    The National Association of Realtors and a nationwide class of home sellers on Tuesday scored a Missouri federal judge's initial approval of their $418 million settlement resolving claims that the trade group's broker commission rules caused home sellers across the country to pay inflated fees.

  • April 23, 2024

    Nexstar Calls FCC's Floated $1.2M Fine Over WPIX 'Unlawful'

    Broadcast giant Nexstar slammed the Federal Communications Commission's proposed $1.2 million penalty over its "de facto control" of New York station WPIX, saying the fine is unconstitutional and that the agency is running afoul of both the Communications Act and procedural law.

  • April 23, 2024

    CoStar Rival Is Asking To Free Ride, 9th Circ. Told

    CoStar urged the Ninth Circuit not to revive antitrust counterclaims from Commercial Real Estate Exchange Inc., despite backing from the Federal Trade Commission, arguing the rival is trying to use antitrust law to get free access to its platforms.

  • April 23, 2024

    Chinese Foam-Making Chemicals Dominate Market, Co. Warns

    The U.S. subsidiary of an Israel-based chemical manufacturer urged the U.S. government Tuesday to impose anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Chinese-origin alkyl phosphate esters, saying imports of the chemical commonly used in making polyurethane foam are taking over the U.S. market.

  • April 23, 2024

    Sugar Giants Accused Of Using Shadow Analyst To Fix Prices

    A putative class action filed in Illinois federal court on Monday accuses top sugar producers of colluding with each other since at least 2019 to illegally fix the price for white, refined table sugar, driving up the prices of granulated sugar since in "one of the steepest climbs ever."

  • April 23, 2024

    Broadcasters Support Bill To Revive Diversity Tax Certificate

    Broadcasters are supporting the recent reintroduction of a bill that seeks to increase diversity in the broadcasting industry by requiring the Federal Communications Commission to bring back a tax incentive program to facilitate the sale of broadcast stations to people of color and women.

  • April 23, 2024

    Drugmakers Hit With RICO Suit Over Insulin Price Hikes

    The world's three largest insulin manufacturers engineered an enormous increase in the price of the lifesaving diabetes medication through an "unfair and deceptive conspiracy" with household-name pharmacies, letting all involved reap extraordinary profits for 20 years, according to a lawsuit in Connecticut federal court.

  • April 23, 2024

    Cleveland-Cliffs Execs Say US Steel-Nippon Deal Is 'Dead'

    Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. executives said Tuesday that U.S. Steel is "denying reality" as it continues to pursue its $14.9 billion sale to Japan's Nippon Steel, suggesting that the deal is effectively "dead" following President Joe Biden's opposition to it and that the Ohio-based steel manufacturer remains the only viable buyer.   

  • April 23, 2024

    Virtua Says Trinity Health Won't Pay $12M ER Fight Legal Bill

    Virtua claimed Monday in New Jersey federal court that Trinity Health has backed out of an agreement to cover $12 million in counsel fees and costs incurred in a legal fight with a rival healthcare system over Virtua's acquisition of Our Lady of Lourdes Health Care Services from Trinity.

  • April 23, 2024

    Blank Rome Attys Defend Lawsuit Called A 'Pound Of Flesh'

    Partners with BigLaw firm Blank Rome LLP said they had legitimate reasons to file a lawsuit against a former attorney from the firm, rejecting accusations that their lawsuit was an effort to punish their ex-colleague for switching to the plaintiffs' bar.

  • April 23, 2024

    Md.-Based Career Public Servant Is The FTC's Newest ALJ

    The Federal Trade Commission announced the appointment of another administrative law judge on Tuesday, elevating a longtime public servant who had previously become the first female Muslim American administrative law judge at the Maryland Office of Administrative Hearings.

  • April 23, 2024

    FTC Bars Employers From Imposing Noncompete Contracts

    The Federal Trade Commission voted 3-2 on Tuesday to ban essentially all noncompete agreements that employers frequently impose on workers, leaving an earlier draft of the ban mostly unchanged other than to allow existing noncompete agreements with senior executives to remain while banning future ones for top corporate officials.

  • April 23, 2024

    Why A New York Federal Judge 'Loves' Discovery Disputes

    While discovery disputes can be a frustration for many judges and attorneys, U.S. District Judge Denise L. Cote says that she loves them because they teach her a lot about the cases she is overseeing, the parties involved and the attorneys working on them.

  • April 23, 2024

    Embattled Ex-Animal Rescue Executive Hit With TM Suit

    Last Chance Ranch, a nonprofit animal shelter and rescue based in Pennsylvania, has sued its former executive director — who was accused of stealing a kangaroo — and a new nonprofit she created, alleging unauthorized use of the shelter's name and trademarks.

  • April 22, 2024

    DOJ Antitrust Concerns Topple $960M Insulation Biz Merger

    Insulation and building material provider TopBuild Corp. said Monday it has terminated its $960 million agreement to buy mechanical insulation provider Specialty Products & Insulation from private equity firm Incline Equity Partners, saying it was unable to reach a deal with the U.S. Department of Justice over antitrust concerns.

  • April 22, 2024

    FCC Fines AT&T, Internet Co. For Discussing Auction Bids

    AT&T Services Inc. and AMG Technology Investment Group LLC have not been able to convince the Federal Communications Commission to kibosh a combined $175,000 in fines for talking to each other during the bidding process for an auction of funds to subsidize infrastructure build-out.

  • April 22, 2024

    FCC Eyes Rule Changes For Independent Video Programmers

    The Federal Communications Commission plans to explore how federal rules can better help independent video programmers thrive in a competitive media landscape and may prohibit a pair of provisions that affect their contracts with distributors.

  • April 22, 2024

    Construction Supplier's Threats Cost Rival $30M, Jury Told

    A construction supplier told a Colorado federal jury Monday that a Berkshire Hathaway-owned rival tried to smother its entry into the calcium silicate industrial insulation market, alleging the larger company warned customers to stay away from the newcomer so that it could maintain its monopoly.

  • April 22, 2024

    Kroger, Albertsons Expand Divestiture Plan

    Supermarket giants Kroger and Albertsons are willing to let go of an extra 166 stores in the hopes of swaying federal and state regulators to drop their opposition to the $25 billion grocer union, they said Monday.

  • April 22, 2024

    Gambling Co., Casinos Battle Over Shuffler Antitrust Claims

    Scientific Games successor Light & Wonder has urged an Illinois federal judge not to certify a class of automatic card shuffler buyers, even as the riverboat casinos accusing it of tricking the patent office into shoring up its shuffler monopoly argued that their claims should go to trial.

  • April 22, 2024

    Robinhood 'Meme Stock' Investors Lose New Class Cert. Bid

    A Florida federal judge has denied a bid from Robinhood investors to file a new motion for class certification in a suit over the trading platform's suspension of so-called meme stock purchases, saying the deadline for class certification has passed and the investors have not shown a good reason to extend it.

  • April 22, 2024

    Court Tosses Shipbuilders No-Poach Case As Untimely

    A Virginia federal court found that a pair of warship designers haven't shown that major shipbuilders for the U.S. military, including General Dynamics and Huntington Ingalls Industries, concealed a "gentlemen's agreement" to not poach workers from one another.

  • April 22, 2024

    Chamber Planning Prompt Challenge Of FTC Noncompete Ban

    U.S. Chamber of Commerce officials vowed Monday to immediately challenge an impending Federal Trade Commission rule that would ban essentially all noncompete agreements that employers impose on their workers, raising concerns focused principally on opening a "Pandora's box" of rulemaking they say is beyond FTC authority.

Expert Analysis

  • Tips For Healthcare M&A Amid Heightened Antitrust Scrutiny

    Author Photo

    As the Biden administration maintains its aggressive approach to antitrust merger enforcement, prudent healthcare M&A counsel will consider practical advice when contemplating their next transaction, including carefully selecting a merger partner and preparing for a potentially long waiting period prior to closing, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: March Lessons

    Author Photo

    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses four notable circuit court decisions on topics from consumer fraud to employment — and provides key takeaways for counsel on issues including coercive communications with putative class members and Article III standing at the class certification stage.

  • Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents

    Author Photo

    Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.

  • EU Inquiry Offers First Insight Into Foreign Subsidy Law

    Author Photo

    The European Commission's first in-depth investigation under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation into a public procurement process, and subsequent brief on regulatory trends, sheds light on the commission's approach to such cases, as well as jurisdictional, procedural and substantive issues under the regulation, says Matthew Hall at McGuireWoods.

  • Opinion

    PACCAR Should Be 1st Step To Regulating Litigation Funders

    Author Photo

    Rather than reversing the U.K. Supreme Court's well-reasoned judgment in PACCAR v. Competition Appeal Tribunal, imposing a regulatory regime on litigation funders in parity with that of lawyers, legislators should build upon it to create a more transparent, competitive and fairer funding industry, says Rosa Curling at Foxglove.

  • What The NIL Negotiation Rules Injunction Means For NCAA

    Author Photo

    A Tennessee federal court's recent preliminary injunction reverses several prominent and well-established NCAA rules on negotiations with student-athletes over name, image and likeness compensation and shows that collegiate athletics is a profoundly unsettled legal environment, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • Md. May See Vigorous Resale Price Maintenance Enforcement

    Author Photo

    In Maryland, indications of a new focus on resale price maintenance agreements are significant because state prosecution in this area has been rare, particularly outside California, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • What 2 Years Of Ukraine-Russia Conflict Can Teach Cos.

    Author Photo

    A few key legal lessons for the global business community since Russia's invasion of Ukraine could help protect global commerce in times of future conflict, including how to respond to disparate trade restrictions and sanctions, navigate war-related contract disputes, and protect against heightened cybersecurity risks, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Antitrust Enforcers' Views On Info Exchanges Are Evolving

    Author Photo

    As antitrust enforcers' views on information exchanges between competing companies have matured in response to technological advances, companies would do well to reconsider whether the exchanges in which they participate meet the most recent compliance benchmarks, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks

    Author Photo

    Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.

  • The Epic Antitrust Cases And Challenges Of Injunctive Relief

    Author Photo

    The Epic cases against Apple and Google offer a window into the courts' considerable challenges in Big Tech litigation and establishing injunctive relief that enhances competition and benefits consumers, say Kelly Lear Nordby and Jon Tomlin at Ankura Consulting.

  • Decline In Same-Industry M&A Tells A Nuanced Policy Story

    Author Photo

    In light of newly available Hart-Scott-Rodino Act data suggesting that intraindustry mergers are down overall and pharmaceutical and hospital intraindustry transactions tend to face greater antitrust scrutiny than in the past, attorneys at Morgan Lewis explore whether Biden administration enforcement policies may be curbing pro-competitive strategic M&A.

  • Behind The 'CVR Spin' Method Of Unlocking Assets In M&A

    Author Photo

    The spinoff of contingent value rights, or the CVR spin, can unlock secondary and noncore assets in public mergers and acquisitions, while resolving the market dislocation of some traditional divestitures, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.

  • Opinion

    European Union Criticisms Of The FCPA Are Misguided

    Author Photo

    Some in the European Union have criticized U.S. enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for what they perceive as jurisdictional overreach, but this appears to overlook the crucial fact that jurisdiction is voluntary, and critics should focus instead on the lack of equivalent laws in their own region, say John Joy and YuTong Wang at FTI Law.

  • 5 Models For Structuring Health Provider-Payor Partnerships

    Author Photo

    With recent data showing that the U.S. continues to spend more and get less for healthcare services compared to other industrialized nations, providers and payors should consider a variety of partnership structures that can help achieve the so-called triple aim of improving the health of individuals and populations while reducing per capita costs, says John Howard at Thompson Coburn.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Competition archive.
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!