Update Sept. 2009: In Synergetics USA Inc. v. Alcon Laboratories Inc. et al., Southern District of New York Judge Denise Cote denied microsurgical device maker Synergetics USA Inc.’s bid to revive its theory of price coercion in an antitrust suit accusing Swiss rival Alcon Inc. of illegal product tying. Judge Cote ruled that Synergetics was […]
Category Archives: US Federal Courts
DC Circuit Overturns FCC Cable Market Share Limit
September 10, 2009 – 9:32 am
In Comcast Corp. V. FCC, District of Columbia’s Circuit Court of Appeals scrapped the Federal Communication Commission’s subscriber-share limit for cable providers, handing cable challengers a victory in a 16-year effort to scrap the ownership cap. The Court held that the FCC had clearly failed to take into account growing competition for video programming from satellite and […]
Monopolization Claims Relating to Video Football to Proceed
August 31, 2009 – 9:48 am
In Pecover et al. v. Electronic Arts Inc., Northern District of California Judge Vaughn Walker refused to throw out Sherman Act and California’s Cartwright Act claims in a proposed consumer class action alleging that Electronic Arts Inc.’s exclusive licenses with various football leagues have “killed off” competition for its Madden series of football games, which […]
Coastal Shipping Cartel Civil Case Dismissed Without Prejudice
August 23, 2009 – 11:10 am
Update August 2009: Judge Thomas Zilly, Western District of Washington, dismissed a private civil action alleging a conspiracy to increase prices in Pacific shipping routes. The court held that the plaintiffs allegations of parallel price increases in a market with rising fuel costs and guilty pleas by executives relating to shipping in another geographic area […]
Redbox Vertical Boycott Allegations Against Universal to Proceed
August 20, 2009 – 4:11 pm
In Redbox Automated Retail LLC v. Universal Studios Home Entertainment LLC et al., Delaware District Court Judge Robert B. Kugler allowed Redbox Automated Retail LLC to proceed with its antitrust allegations against Universal Studios Home Entertainment LLC, while dismissing Redbox’s misuse of copyright and interference with contract allegations. Judge Kugler found that Redbox had sufficiently […]
Fourth Circuit Affirms that Maryland Liquor Regulation is Anticompetitive
August 20, 2009 – 4:07 pm
In TFWS Inc. v. Peter Franchot et al., 4th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to reverse its earlier decision that Maryland’s liquor and wine regulations involving 1) post-and-hold pricing system, which governs how and when liquor wholesalers may charge their prices; and 2) a volume discount ban, which prevents wholesalers from offering lower prices to […]
Court Dismisses Lumber Cartel Complaint on Twombly Grounds
August 20, 2009 – 2:36 pm
In Bailey Lumber & Supply Co. et al. v. Georgia-Pacific Corp. et al., Southern District of Mississippi Judge Louis Guirola, Jr. has approved a bid by building products manufacturers Georgia-Pacific Co., Weyerhaeuser Co., and Louisiana-Pacific Corp., to dismiss claims of an antitrust conspiracy to fix prices for plywood. The plaintiffs, Bailey Lumber & Supply Co. and […]
D.C. Circuit Remands Airline Antitrust Claims to DOT
August 20, 2009 – 2:34 pm
In Alaska Airlines Inc. et al. v. U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia has ordered the U.S. Department of Transportation to reconsider antitrust allegations by Southwest Airlines Co., US Airways Group Inc. and other airlines that Los Angeles International Airport and the city of Los Angeles unfairly discriminated in hiking […]
Small Local Telephone Providers Accuse AT&T of Predatory Pricing
August 18, 2009 – 5:43 pm
In a Northern District of Texas case, local telephone providers are accusing AT&T of seeking to drive them out of business by refusing to permit new customers of the competitors to receive the $50 rebate that AT&T provides to its own new customers. In the past, AT&T had made this rebate available to all new […]