Competition Law News
Microsoft Fails to Quell Antitrust Concerns in Europe Over Teams Bundling
Microsoft Corp.’s plan to unbundle Teams from its flagship Office offerings in Europe has not allayed the antitrust concerns of competition regulators in Luxemburg. The…
Six More Platforms Must Show Compliance with EU’s Digital Markets Act
Signaling greater antitrust scrutiny in Europe, Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, ByteDance (TikTok), Meta (Facebook), and Microsoft have earned designations as “gatekeepers” by the European Commission…
Real Estate Services Company Settles Two Antitrust Suits
Anywhere Real Estate has settled out of antitrust class action litigation brought by home sellers claiming the National Association of Realtors, Anywhere, and other major…
DOJ Continues Campaign Against Competitors Sharing Directors
More corporate directors have resigned in light of the Department of Justice Antitrust Division’s initiative to stop competitors from sharing corporate leadership. Two directors on…
Two More Companies Admit to Fixing Generic Drug Prices
Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Inc., USA have agreed to the terms demanded by the Department of Justice to resolve price-fixing charges against…
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FTC, States Agree on Path Forward for Amgen’s Horizon Therapeutics Deal
Settlement said to resolve anticompetitive concerns over critical drugs. The Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general from six states – California, Illinois, Minnesota, New York,…
Google’s A.I. Service Draws Early Copyright and Privacy Class Action
Google Bard competitor ChatGPT also getting attention from plaintiffs and regulators. Allegations have lingered for centuries in far-off corners of the literary world that…
Revived: Antitrust Case Against Johns Manville for Abusing Calcium Silicate Monopoly Power
Company allegedly threatened to cut off distributors who sold rival products. A 2019 antitrust lawsuit against Berkshire Hathaway’s Johns Manville (JM) brought by rival calcium…
Amazon Investors Amazon Execs Hid Antitrust Troubles
Shareholders say Bezos and Execs Caused Them “Massive” Losses Two Amazon Inc. investors have filed a shareholder derivative lawsuit against Jeff Bezos and other senior…
Live Nation Must Litigate, Not Arbitrate, Consumer Antitrust Class Action
Adding to its woes, investors claim losses because Live Nation did not disclose anticompetitive conduct. Live Nation and its subsidiary, Ticketmaster (“Live Nation”) have successfully…
Press Release re ATM Operators’ Class Action Against Visa, Mastercard
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE D.C. Appeals Court Affirms ATM Operators’ Class Certification in Antitrust Case Against Visa and Mastercard Decision moves forward class actions brought…
Illumina and GRAIL Violated European Merger Law
European Commission fines companies for merging without approval. Illumina, GRAIL consummate merger immediately after EC investigation began. Commission to decide whether the companies must…
Microsoft’s Activision Gaming Deal is Back On
Judge deals blow to FTC. U.S. Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley has revived Microsoft’s $68.7 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition. The FTC wanted to put…
Broadcom’s VMware Deal Gets Green Light in EU
But examination of the deal continues in the US and UK. The European Union competition regulators today conditionally approved Broadcom‘s purchase of cloud…
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Assessment of Big BioPharma Merger Under Way in US, EU, and UK
Would the combined company use improper tactics to foreclose competition? Review of the $43 billion biopharmaceutical merger of drug giant Pfizer Inc. and biopharmaceutical company…
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FTC: Amgen-Horizon Deal Would Cement Monopoly for Treatment of Two Diseases
Commission pauses major biopharma transaction involving drugs priced in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. As part of the Federal Trade Commission’s promised campaign to…
MLB’s Antitrust Immunity is Safe, But Senators Want to Throw it Out
In Antitrust Law, MLB is in a League of Its Own In the 1992 movie “A League of Their Own,” Jimmy Dugan was the cranky…
Bill to Grant Limited Antitrust Immunity to Small News Pubs Advances in Senate
The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee has voted to advance a bill that would give smaller news organizations limited antitrust immunity to negotiate content licensing deals…
Partner Jonathan Rubin quoted in Law360’s coverage of PGA-LIV “tie up”proposal
The proposed “tie up” of the PGA Tour Inc. and LIV Golf Inc.’s operations may face scrutiny by the Department of Justice. The two organizations…
Partner Jonathan Rubin Discusses EU’s Approval of Microsoft’s Acquisition of Activision Blizzard
Partner Jonathan Rubin lends expert commentary on the European Union’s recent approval of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, worth roughly $75 Billion. In an article…
DOJ Investigating Google Maps, Plans Third Antitrust Lawsuit Against the Company, Reports Say
According to multiple news reports, the Department of Justice has revived its antitrust investigation against Alphabet Inc. and Google LLC over their Google Maps service…
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Judge Approves $75 Million Settlement of Generic Drug Antitrust Class Action
U.S. Judge Cynthia M. Rufe of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has approved a settlement in an antitrust class action brought by direct pharmaceutical purchasers…
Pricing Inflate-Gate: DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket Holders Score Class Certification
Judge: Case “vividly points to the need for class treatment.” Football fans have secured class certification of their lawsuit claiming that they were charged inflated…
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“I Knew You Were Trouble.” Taylor Swift Ticket Fiasco Cranks Up Ticketmaster Criticism
Live Nation-Ticketmaster Dominance: “This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” Photo by Hanny Naibaho on Unsplash [Editor’s Note: Quoted phrases are titles of Taylor…
German Economist Sues OPEC as Illegal Cartel
Berlin-based professor of law and economics, Armin Steinbach, filed a lawsuit against OPEC in early November, accusing the organization of being an illegal cartel that…
EssilorLuxottica Fined $81.2 Million in France for Anti-Competitive Practices
If you are an eyewear customer there is a very good chance you’re also at least an indirect customer of this company. Eyewear giant EssilorLuxottica…
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EU Commission Investigating Teva for Allegedly Interfering with Medication Research
Pharmaceutical company Teva is under investigation by the European Commission over their competition practices, which the commission says interferes with medication research. Teva held a…
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CISPE.cloud Files Licensing Complaint Against Microsoft
In November of 2022, Cloud Infrastructure Service Providers in Europe (CISPE) announced it was filing a formal complaint against Microsoft with the European Commission’s Directorate-General…
Antitrust Fines Against Apple and Amazon Scrapped in Italy
At the start of October, an Italian administrative court ruled that Apple and Amazon no longer have to pay a $225 million fine levied by…
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EC Investigates Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard Acquisition
The European Commission is putting the Microsoft and Activision Blizzard merger on hold as they investigate whether the deal will reduce competition among PC gaming…
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Leaked: EU to Charge Meta/Facebook Over Secret Agreement with Google
While the European Commission announced back in March that they would investigate Facebook, sources have leaked that it is ready to announce formal charges, according…
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France Fines Apple $1.2 Billion for ‘Running a Cartel’
French competition authority, Autorité de la Concurrence, fined Apple a record $1.2 billion after their investigation found that Apple and its wholesale partners, Ingram Micro…
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Pfizer Completes $5.4 Billion Acquisition of Sickle Cell Disease Drug Innovator
Pfizer Inc. has acquired Global Blood Therapeutics, Inc. (GBT), a biopharmaceutical company whose leading product inhibits harmful medical conditions that lead to the relatively…
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Amazon’s iRobot Acquisition Faces Shareholder and Consumer Resistance as FTC Investigates
iRobot Corp. shareholders approved Amazon.com, Inc.’s $1.7 billion purchase of the Roomba maker on Oct. 17, while a pre-trial conference in a suit brought by…
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FTC, States Sue Pesticide Makers Over Exclusionary Schemes to Block Generics
Syngenta and Corteva used “loyalty programs” to cut off competition and inflate prices paid by farmers and consumers, suit says. The Federal Trade Commission and…
Adobe / Figma Merger Raises Antitrust Concerns
Would the deal usher in a new era of collaborative creativity or just a more powerful monopoly? Tech industry observers disagree on the potential impact…
Courts Reject Two DOJ Merger Challenges as Another is On Trial
A brief setback for Biden’s war on anticompetitive deals? The number of mergers globally in 2021, according to PwC, was the biggest on record with…
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FTC Chair Touts Vigorous Antitrust Enforcement Despite Anemic Funding
Trump appointees say things were better during his term. Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina M. Khan testified this week that despite being strapped for resources…
Google Alert: Antitrust Suits Coming Soon
Google awaits service in three countries over digital ad conduct. One of the first victims of the rapid tectonic shift in how the world consumes…
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Amazon Abusing Dominance to Maintain Dominance, California AG Files Anticompetition Suit
Amazon dodges price competition with other e-commerce sites by forcing merchants into agreements that penalize them if their prices beat Amazon’s. That’s the crux of…
FTC Sues to Block Meta from Acquiring Leading VR Developer
FTC Accuses Meta of Trying to Further Dominate Virtual Reality Ecosystem via Acquisition. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed suit against Meta Platforms, Inc. (fka…
Google Must Defend Inform Advertising Antitrust Case After All
Eleventh Circuit disagrees that the complaint was an inadequate “shotgun pleading” against Google, YouTube and Alphabet. Handing Google LLC a reversal of fortune, the Eleventh…
Oracle Violating Numerous Privacy Laws, Class Action Says
Plaintiffs say Oracle collects and sells private data without citizens’ consent. A class action complaint filed in federal court in San Francisco claims Oracle…
Will Big Book Merger Go Through? It Will Soon Be Up to the Judge.
The fate of the $2.2 billion Penguin Random House (PRH) / Simon & Schuster (S&S) merger remains with U.S. District Judge Florence Pan who presided…
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Federal Court Approves $2.67B Settlement of Antitrust Suit Against Blue Cross
U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor of Alabama has approved the settlement of antitrust litigation brought against Blue Cross Blue Shield Association by large employers…
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Credit Card Issuers File Antitrust Suit Against Apple for Exclusionary Conduct in Mobile Tap-and-Pay Market
Apple Operating an Illegal Monopoloy in Tap-and-Pay Market, Suit Says The convenience of the tap-and-pay mobile wallet model is a feature consumers increasingly enjoy for…
Gig Drivers Say Uber and Lyft Duopoly is Violating California Antitrust Laws
Independent Uber and Lyft drivers filed a class action against the rideshare pioneers last month alleging they are violating California antitrust and consumer protection law.…
Dan Mogin, Travis Miller Talk Supply Chains on Emerging Litigation Podcast
Dan Mogin of MoginRubin LLP and Travis Miller, General Counsel at Assent Compliance Inc., appeared on the Emerging Litigation Podcast to discuss a range of…
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What’s So Funny About Peace, Love, and Antitrust?
Comedian John Oliver (no relation to MoginRubin antitrust attorney Jennifer Oliver, or so she claims) spent nearly a half hour of his show Last Week…
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Amazon Shareholder Files Biometric Privacy and Antitrust Suit
Amazon shareholder Francis Gimbel, Jr. has sued Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s Board of Directors, and other company leaders in federal court in Washington for allegedly storing…
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In the Wings? Increased Scrutiny on U.S. Investment in Chinese Technology and More Support for U.S. Manufacturing
On June 14, The Wall Street Journal first reported on a draft legislative measure that would require U.S. companies and investors to disclose and comply…
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NYT’s Lead Economics Writer: Biden Needs Pro-Antitrust Economics Judges
At the end of April 2022, announcing President Joseph Biden’s latest round of federal judicial nominations, the White House hailed the nominees not only as…
Broadcom Announces Acquisition of Cloud and Virtualization Company
Global semiconductor giant Broadcom Inc. intends to purchase VMware, Inc., a leading enterprise software company. The boards of both companies agreed to the terms, whereby…
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EC Adopts Vertical Deal Guidelines for Supply Chains
The European Commission has adopted new Vertical Block Exemption Regulations (‘VBER’) accompanied by new Vertical Guidelines, which will allow, subject to conditions, agreements between companies…
App Developer’s Antitrust Case Against Apple Looking Durable
Court Says Licensing Agreement Does Not Bar App Maker Litigation A federal judge has rejected Apple Inc.’s interpretation of its app licensing agreement in the…
DOJ: Wage-Fixing Antitrust Civil Case Should Survive Acquittals in Criminal Case
A federal court jury in Denver returned not guilty verdicts in the government’s criminal case against DaVita Inc. and its former CEO, in which the…
Fight Over 2010 Live Nation / Ticketmaster Merger Not Over Yet
Company served with a new lawsuit amid fresh calls to unwind. When concert promoting giant Live Nation Entertainment, Inc., and ticketing giant Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc.,…
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In Price Restriction Litigation, Amazon Wins One, Loses One
Amazon.com Inc. started the month of March with two suits on opposite coasts challenging the rules it imposes on the platform’s merchants which prohibit them…
Florida Consumer Privacy Bills ‘Indefinitely Postponed’
Florida senators and representatives ended their 2022 legislative session on March 11 by withdrawing consideration of consumer data privacy legislation. Any discussion of stronger protections…
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Hearing No Further Objections from the FTC, Amazon Buys MGM
Recommitted to fighting anticompetitive consolidation, the government could still challenge the deal. The Federal Trade Commission’s silence last week on Amazon’s acquisition of MGM –…
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UK, EC Investigate Google / Facebook ‘Jedi Blue’ Agreement
The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the European Commission have launched investigations into whether Alphabet/Google and Meta/Facebook illegally conspired to hold their dominant…
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House Judiciary Committee Says Amazon Obstructed and Lied to Congress, Seeks Investigation
The House Judiciary Committee has informed Attorney General Merrick Garland of “potentially criminal conduct” on the part of Amazon and its top executives. Detailed in…
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Will We See More Criminal Charges Against Monopolies?
DOJ Official’s Remarks Seen as ‘Signal’ Government Will Use Criminal Charges to Fight Illegal Monopolies Remarks made by the DOJ’s Richard Powers at a March…
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Amazon-MGM: Deal Approved in Europe, Now It’s Up to the FTC
Finding “no competition concerns,” antitrust regulators at the European Commission yesterday (March 15) approved Amazon’s $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM and its collection of some…
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DOJ Sues to Block UnitedHealth / Change Healthcare Deal
Data continues to play key role in fight against anticompetitive mergers. Citing its potential to abuse the health insurance claims data it would amass, and…
Employees May Seek Damages for Violations of the Illinois BIPA
The Illinois Supreme Court held earlier this month (Feb. 3) in McDonald v. Symphony Bronzeville Park (2022 IL 126511) that the exclusivity provisions of the state’s…
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FTC, Rhode Island AG Move to Block New England Healthcare Merger
The Federal Trade Commission and the Rhode Island Attorney General are using both administrative measures and litigation to stop the proposed merger of Lifespan Corp.…
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Google’s YouTube Draws Antitrust Fines in Russia
You know things are bad when the Russian government says you’re abusing your power, acting surreptitiously, and restricting adjacent markets. But that’s the message Moscow…
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Cellular Store Charges T-Mobile With Unfair Business Practices Following Merger with Sprint
A cellular franchise owner has sued T-Mobile in U.S. District Court in Connecticut for “fraudulent, predatory, and anti-competitive conduct.” Saying it was one of the…
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Nvidia and SoftBank’s Arm Call Off Vertical Merger
Facing challenges from antitrust enforcers on three continents, U.S. microchip giant Nvidia Corp. has called off its acquisition of British computer processing designer Arm Ltd.,…
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FTC Sues to Torpedo Lockheed’s $4.4 Billion Aerojet Acquisition
Marking the first time in decades that it has sued to block a defense industry merger, the Federal Trade Commission on Jan. 25, 2022 filed…
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Elite University Cartel Conspired to Limit Financial Aid, Students Charge in Class Action
“Privileging the wealthy and disadvantaging the financially needy are ‘inextricably linked.’” Student recipients of need-based financial aid brought a class action against 16 elite…
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Customers File Antitrust Class Action Against LinkedIn
Plaintiffs Also Allege LinkedIn Colludes with Facebook Plaintiffs from Georgia, Texas, and Arizona have filed suit against LinkedIn, accusing the company of actions that breach…
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Aerospace Execs Indicted for Conspiracy to Limit Worker Pay and Job Prospects
A federal grand jury in Connecticut returned an indictment last month charging a former manager of leading aerospace engineering company Pratt & Whitney, Inc., and…
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Online Ad Platform Pays $2M to Settle FTC Children’s Privacy Lawsuit
California-based online advertising platform OpenX Technologies, Inc. will pay $2 million to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that it collected personal information from children under…
EC Fines Banks Over Currency Trading Cartel
The European Commission has fined UBS, Barclays, RBS, HSBC and Credit Suisse €344 million ($390 million) for participating in a Foreign Exchange spot-trading cartel. UBS,…
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Amazon Misleading Consumers About Sponsored Products, Labor Group Says
Group tells FTC Amazon is abusing consumer trust. “Amazon doesn’t distinguish well enough between paid ads and organic search results, something that could trick consumers”…
Democrats Seek Investigation of $43M Discovery, WarnerMedia Merger
Thirty-three U.S. representatives and senators, all Democrats, have asked the Department of Justice to investigate the proposed merger of two media giants, Discovery Inc. and…
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FTC Opposes $40B Chip Deal
The FTC has sued to block California-based chip supplier Nvidia Corp.’s $40 billion acquisition of chip design provider Arm Ltd., which is based in the…
Facing FTC Probe, Outdoor Equipment Companies Cancel Merger
The FTC says that the mere threat of an investigation has caused two merging parties to think again. Two popular outdoors equipment retailers — Great…
DOJ Sues to Block Sugar Deal
The Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice says United States Sugar Corp.’s proposed purchase of Imperial Sugar Company harm competition for refined sugar across…
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Employees’ Biometric Privacy Claims Blocked by Collective Bargaining Agreement
The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has held that Section 301 of the Labor Management and Relations Act (LMRA) preempted a cause of action under the Illinois Biometric…
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Illinois Appeals Court Says Biometric Privacy Law Has Two Statutes of Limitations
It was enacted without a statute of limitations for bringing claims, but now the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) has two. An Illinois Court…
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House Judiciary Committee Asks: Did Bezos Mislead Us?
Congress has its hands full with witnesses these days. This week, in the case of Big Tech, congressmen have circled back to testimony given by…
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Data Security Rules Tightening for Consumer Genetic Testing Companies
Gov. Signs S.B. 41, the Genetic Information Privacy Act California genetic testing companies collecting biometric, genetic, health, or medical information directly from consumers must soon…
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FTC Withdraws Vertical Merger Guidelines as “Unsupported by Law and Reality”
The Federal Trade Commission has withdrawn its 2020 Vertical Merger Guidelines and accompanying commentary to “prevent industry and judicial reliance on unsound economic theories” that…
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Executive Reminder: Do Not Forget Your HSR Reporting Requirements
The Hart-Scott-Rodino Act requires companies and individuals to report large transactions so the government has time (30 days, or more these days) to investigate any…
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Global Antitrust: South Korea Fines Dolby for Abusing Essential Patent Holder Status
The South Korean Fair Trade Commission has fined Dolby Laboratories for forcing set-top box maker Kaon Media to agree to pay what Dolby claimed were…
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Global Antitrust: German Court Explains Why Booking.com’s “Narrow Price Parity Clauses” Was Illegal
Germany’s Federal Court of Justice has explained its determination that the so-called “narrow price parity clauses” used by Booking.com until February 2016 violated competition law.…
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Global Antitrust: Germany’s Condor Airline Says Lufthansa Wants to Eliminate Transatlantic Competition
German-based leisure airline company, Condor Flugdienst, says competitor Eurowings Discover, Deutsche Lufthansa’s leisure unit, seeks to use “code sharing” agreements with its sister companies as…
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Global Antitrust: China Promises (and Demonstrates) Crackdown on Anticompetitive Behavior in Tech Sector
China’s State Administration for Market Regulation continues its antitrust campaign against the tech industry. CNN reported on Aug. 17 that the agency’s proposed new rules…
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Global Antitrust: EC Flags Illumina for Proceeding With Purchase of Cancer Test Company Despite Investigation
The European Commission is investigating whether Illumina’s decision to complete its acquisition of cancer test manufacturer Grail — despite the Commission’s ongoing investigation into any anticompetitive effects of the deal — breaches the “standstill obligation” under Article 7…
MoginRubin LLP Has Secured Class Certification on Behalf of Independent ATM Operators, Non-Bank Affiliated ATM Operators, and the National ATM Council
“Today’s ruling marks a significant step toward loosening the grip of Visa and Mastercard on the market for ATM network services and promises to benefit…
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GOP v. MLB: Republicans Cry Foul Over All-Star Game Move
Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee want to end Major League Baseball’s antitrust immunity following the league’s decision to relocate the All-Star Game and…
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FTC Sues to Block Illumina/Grail Deal
The Federal Trade Commission has filed an administrative complaint and authorized a federal court lawsuit to block Illumina’s $7.1 billion proposed acquisition of Grail —…
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Hospital Merger Activity and Challenges: Two Conclude, One Merger Abandoned
Deal activity in the trillion-dollar U.S. patient-care industry has been hardy, despite projections that the pandemic might have slowed things down. That means the federal…
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Foreign-Language Trainers Admit to Defrauding NSA
Two providers of foreign-language training services, Comprehensive Language Center Inc. (CLCI) and Berlitz Languages Inc., admitted that they took part in a conspiracy to defraud…
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Antitrust Reform Effort Gets Some Shade
Editor’s Note: This is a follow-up to our blog post, Will the Antitrust Laws Get an Update? The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says the effort…
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“Big Poultry” Producer Pleads Guilty to Price Fixing
Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. of Colorado has pleaded guilty and will pay $107 million in criminal fines for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices…
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DOJ Joins Group in Effort to Better Police Emerging Tech
The Department of Justice is joining the Computational Antitrust project, hosted by the Stanford University CodeX Center and created by Professor Thibault Schrepel. “The project…