Updated May 2010: The U.S. Supreme Court has reversed the Seventh Circuit, holding that the NFL constitutes a group of separate individual teams that may conspire in violation of the Section 1 of the Sherman Act. Update July 2009: The U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari to decide whether a sports league can constitute a […]
Category Archives: High Importance
House Passes Bill to Retain Private Damage Protection for Successful Leniency Applicants
May 25, 2010 – 9:10 am
Update May 2010: The House has passed a bill extending the program through 2015, and the Senate is considering a similar bill with bi-partisan support. On June 19, 2009, just two days before the Antitrust Criminal Penalty Enhancement and Reform Act of 2004 (ACPERA) was set to expire, President Obama signed into law a provision extending […]
Second Circuit Urges En Banc Review While Upholding Reverse Payment Drug Settlement
March 7, 2010 – 10:20 am
Update March 2011: The U.S. Supreme Court has denied certiorari without explanation. Update: The Second Circuit has denied drug purchasers request for en banc review of the decision upholding a reverse payment settlement between a patented drug manufacturer and a generic drug manufacturer. The Second Circuit in Ciprofloxacin Hydrochloride Antitrust Litigation held that it was […]
ECJ Rules that Parent Can Be Liable for Anticompetitive Conduct of Subsidiary
September 10, 2009 – 9:12 am
The European Court of Justice dismissed Akzo Nobel‘s appeal of a 2007 Court of First Instance judgment affirming a fine for cartel activities regarding choline chloride, a feed additive. The fine included the participating subsidiaries as well as the parent company on a theory of joint and several liability. The decision amounts to high court confirmation of the […]
House Sub-Committee Reports Bill to Overturn Leegin Leather
July 30, 2009 – 11:06 am
Update July 2009: The Courts and Competition Policy sub-committee of the House Judiciary Committee reported out a bill that would reverse Leegin and restore the per se rule. Although the current version had no exceptions, representatives generally supporting the measure also expressed support for limiting provisions that would permit Resale Price Maintenance in circumstances likely […]
Ninth Circuit Rejects Monopoly Leveraging Claim
July 16, 2009 – 7:05 am
The Ninth Circuit has rejected a monopoly leveraging claim against Abbot Labs. In that claim, plaintiffs alleged that Abbot violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act by increasing the price of Norvir, an HIV booster drug on which it held a monopoly position, while leaving at competitive levels the price for Kaletra, a protease inhibitor […]
Patent Reverse Payments Involving Cipro
July 8, 2009 – 5:37 pm
Update July 2009: In a similar Second Circuit case, the court requested the views of the Department of Justice. During the Bush administration, the DOJ had been at odds with the FTC over reverse payments, with the Commission asserting that such payments were presumptively illegal and the DOJ maintaining a more permissive view. In its […]
EC’s Microsoft Investigation
June 15, 2009 – 12:10 pm
The EC has taken note of Microsoft‘s plan to offer a version of Windows 7 in the EU without Internet Explorer. The Commission said that it would soon determine whether Microsoft’s tying of the two from 1996 to date constituted an abusive of its dominant position. The U.S. Courts have previously determined that many aspects of Microsoft’s conduct relating to IE violated […]
9th Circuit Revives Web Domain Name Case
June 9, 2009 – 1:08 pm
A group calling itself the Coalition for ICANN Transparency, Inc. brought antitrust claims against Verisign, Inc., the sole entity licensed by ICANN to register .com and .net domain names. The district court dismissed the case, but the 9th Circuit reversed, holding that the complaint adequately stated antitrust claims. All parties agreed that as a practical […]
Whole Foods Merger: Market Definition & Marginal Consumers
June 1, 2009 – 2:50 pm
Update June 2009: The FTC has granted final approval to the proposed settlement. Update March 2009: The parties have reached a settlement allowing the merger to move forward with Whole Foods agreeing to divest the intellectual property in the Wild Oats brand, 13 stores, and the leases and assests of 19 closed stores. A divestiture […]