The California Supreme Court has followed federal law in rejecting the pass-on defense, i.e. the argument that a defendant is not liable to a direct purchasing plaintiff for anticompetitive overcharges because the plaintiff passed on the overcharge to indirect purchasers. The court recognized two exceptions: (1) for cost-plus contracts that essentially require the direct purchaser […]
Category Archives: Indirect Purchaser Issues
Fines Imposed in Ice Cartel Case
March 18, 2010 – 1:06 pm
Southern District of Ohio Judge Herman Weber has imposed $9 million dollar fines on Home City Ice Co. and Artic Glacier International for conspiring to fix the price for prepackaged ice in the Detroit area. The fines constitute a significant reduction from the sentencing guidelines in response to the parties cooperation with the investigation. Reddy […]
Indirect Purchasers Seek to Join I-Pod Antitrust Litigation
May 21, 2009 – 1:48 pm
Update: May 2009: A Northern District of California Judge dismissed the claim that Apple improperly tied I-pods to its itunes music software. The court found that the company did not link the sale of the two products and that either could be used without the other. A class of plaintiffs that have purchased I-Pods from […]
Hypodermic Product Direct Purchaser Monpolization Case Settles
May 2, 2009 – 2:49 pm
In Louisiana Wholesale Drug Co. Inc. v. Becton Dickinson & Co. Inc., Beckton Dickinson & Co. Inc. has reached a $45 million settlement with direct purchasers in five antitrust suits accusing the medical device maker of monopolizing the market for hypodermic products by providing incentives and paying kickbacks to GPOs in return for selling BD products […]
Qualcomm Patent Standard Challenge Dismissed on Standing Grounds
March 5, 2009 – 2:22 pm
In Meyer v. Qualcomm, the court dismissed the claim that Qualcomm acted anticompetitively in refusing to license patents essential to a standardized technology. The S.D. of California court ruled that the plaintiff lacked antitrust standing because the chip set it purchased included a broad package of technologies, not just the patented technology involved. Although the […]
LCD Private Action Survives Motion to Dismiss
March 5, 2009 – 2:09 pm
In In re: TFT-LCD (Flat Panel) Display Antitrust Litigation, N.D. California Judge Susan Illston denied the LCD television manufacturers’ motion to dismiss a private action filed by direct purchasers. The defendants argued that the allegations of conspiracy were too vague outside the post-2000 period covered by the defendants’ executives guilty pleas in a related criminal proceeding. […]
Case Alleges that SmithKline Beecham Anticompetitive Delayed Generic Flonase
August 25, 2008 – 11:54 am
July 2009: In a case brought by Roxane Laboratories, Judge Anita Brody, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, denied SKB’s motion to dismiss after the plaintiff amended the complaint to allege specific reasons to believe that it’s ANDA would have been approved for generic Flonase were it not for SKB’s strategically filed consumer complaints. Roxane alleged that it […]