Central District of California Judge Cormac J. Carney has held that an antitrust plaintiff in a Section 2 case may not use evidence of lawful conduct to bolster claims that other allegedly predatory conduct constituted unlawful monopolization. Judge Carney certified the ruling for interlocutory appeal. The plaintiff, Arminak, a household products packaging company alleged that Calmar […]
Category Archives: Section 2 Standards
Class Certified in Case Alleging that It Delayed Generic Entrant
June 3, 2011 – 9:04 am
Update November 2010: The court has certified a class of direct purchasers. Eastern District of Pennsylvania Judge Anita B. Brody rejected Glaxo-SmithKline’s (GSK) motion to dismiss a case alleging that it anticompetitively delayed the entry of generic Flonase into the market by filing citizens petitions before the FDA. GSK argued that its conduct was protected […]
Hospital’s Campaign to Block New Entrant Protected by Noerr-Pennington Doctrine
June 3, 2011 – 8:52 am
The Seventh Circuit has affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Lake Forest Hospital in a Section 2 case filed by the Mercatus Group, which was attempting to open a competing health care facility. Lake Forest adopted a multi-pronged campaign to (1) lobby the local council not to grant Mercatus the […]
Monoplization Case Against Pfizer to Go Forward
June 1, 2011 – 9:31 am
Judge Faith Hochberg, District of New Jersey, denied Pfizer’s motion to dismiss claims alleging that it unlawfully sought to monopolize the market for gabapentin products. Pharmacies purchasing the drugs argued that Pfizer violated the antitrust laws by, inter alia, manipulating the patent approval process and filing sham law suits. The court rejected Pfizer’s defenses that […]
Refusal to Sell Drug Needed to Obtain Approval for Generic Version to Move Forward
May 31, 2011 – 4:01 pm
Eastern District of Pennsylvania Timothy J. Savage denied Celgene’s motion to dismiss antitrust claims filed by Lannet Co. The complaint alleges that Celgene violated the antitrust laws by refusing to sell Thalomid pills so that it could conduct a bioequivalence study that is needed to obtain approval to sell a genetic version of the drug. The […]
E-bay Monopolization Case Dismissed
May 28, 2011 – 11:26 am
Update May 2011: The 9th Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision. Judge Jeremy Fogel, N.D. California, has granted summary judgment to E-bay in a case alleging that it monopolized the online auction market on the ground that the plaintiffs lacked antitrust injury. The court found that the plaintiffs had presented no evidence of either restricted output […]
ECJ Upholds Fine on Visa for Excluding Bank From Payment System
May 12, 2011 – 2:32 pm
The European Court of Justice has upheld a 2007 EC decision finding that Visa infringed EU rules on restrictive business practices by refusing to admit Morgan Stanley Bank as a member to its payment card network. The Court also upheld the €10.2 million fine imposed on Visa.
Heavy Duty Manual Transmission Verdict Upheld
May 12, 2011 – 1:35 pm
District of Delaware Judge Sue Robinson denied defendant Eaton Corp.’s motion for judgment seeking to overturn a jury verdict finding that Eaton violated Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act. The plaintiffs, transmission manufacturer competitors ZF and Meritor, argued that Eaton took anticompetitive actions to foreclose the plaintiffs from the manual transmission market. These […]