In Ritz Camera & Image LLC v. SanDisk Corp., the Federal Circuit will decide whether a firm that is not at risk of being sued for patent infringement can prosecute an antitrust claim based on fraudulently obtained patent. Defendant SanDisk Corp. argued that an affirmative decision would “open the floodgates” to litigation. The putative class […]
Category Archives: Section 2 Standards
Federal Circuit to Decide Whether Patent Fraud Antitrust Claims Can Be Asserted Independently of Infringement Claims and Amended Complaint Upheld in Related Flash Memory Monopolization Challenge
November 9, 2012 – 9:19 am
Conditioning Rebates on Percentage Purchased May Violate the Antitrust Laws Even If Prices are Above Cost
October 30, 2012 – 11:32 am
In ZF Meritor v. Eaton Corp., a divided panel of the Third Circuit upheld a jury verdict in favor of the plaintiff truck transmission manufacturer against its competitor Eaton Corp. The complaint alleged that Eaton violated the antitrust laws by entering agreements with each large truck manufacturer that contained the following provisions: (1) Conditional rebate […]
Tentative Settlement in Comcast Monpolization Class Action Not Enforceable; Supreme Court Review to Move Forward
October 12, 2012 – 4:38 pm
In Behrend et al. v. Comcast Corp. et al., Eastern District of Pennsylvania Judge John R. Padova refused to compel Comcast to follow through on a settlement to which the parties had tentatively agreement before the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari to review a class certification issue in Comcast Corp. et al. v. Caroline Behrend […]
Monopolization Case Against Live Nation Requires Further Discovery
September 17, 2012 – 9:40 am
In It’s My Party Inc. et al. v. Live Nation Inc., District of Maryland Judge J. Frederick Motz denied the defendant’s motion for summary judgment in a case in which a concert promoter is alleging that Live Nation monopolized the concert market and entered anticompetitively tying its promotional services for artists to the use of […]
Computer Seller Monopolization Case Dismissed
September 9, 2012 – 10:52 am
In QSGI Inc. v. IBM Global Financing et al., Southern District of Florida Judge Kenneth L. Ryskamp dismissed computer reseller QSGI Inc.’s claim that IBM’s monopolistic conduct bankrupted it. The court held that the fatal flaw in QSGI complaint was the lack of injury to competition, as opposed to the company itself. As a result, […]
Microsoft’s Decision to Withdraw Windows Support for WordPerfect Not Antitrust Conduct
August 7, 2012 – 4:23 pm
In Novell Inc. v. Microsoft Corp, District of Utah Judge J. Frederick Motz granted Microsoft’s motion for judgment on Novell’s eight-year-old claim that the software giant violated the antitrust laws by eliminating certain APIs from Windows that Novell used to run applications such as WordPerfect. The claim had gone to a jury, which was unable […]
Third Circuit and EU: Pay-for-Delay Generic Drug Settlement Can Violate Antitrust Law
August 7, 2012 – 4:20 pm
Update: The Third Circuit has refused to stay its ruling pending Supreme Court review. The defendant sought the stay in hopes of restraining the FTC and private plaintiffs from using the ruling to justify attacks on other drug patent settlements. In In re: K-Dur Antitrust Litigation, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit […]
US Supreme Court Grants Cert. to Resolve State Action and Class Action Disputes
July 2, 2012 – 4:40 pm
In the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) prosecution of the Phoebe Putney Health System Inc. merger, the U.S. Supreme Court will clarify the degree of specificity that state lawmakers must use in adopting an anticompetitive state regulation in order to secure an exemption from the federal antitrust laws. The Eleventh Circuit upheld Phoebe Putney’s $195 million […]
Microsoft Loses Bid to Overturn EU Fine
July 2, 2012 – 4:38 pm
The European Commission fined Microsoft a $1.1 billion dollars for abusing its dominant position in the operating system market. Microsoft challenged the fine, but the EU General Court upheld it, requiring the software giant to license on reasonable terms interoperability data needed by firms writing programs that would be compatible with Windows. The decision bolsters […]
Antitrust Investigation of Visa Debit Card Fees
May 30, 2012 – 4:20 pm
The United States Department of Justice is investigating whether Visa violated the antitrust laws when it responded to the debit card fee regulations imposed by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act by increasing fees on merchants. In response to the legislation limiting per transaction debit card fees to about half their former […]