Clayton Act
Elon Musk Revives Legal Battle with OpenAI, Adds Microsoft
A clash of ideals or a contrived campaign to regain market share? Elon Musk’s tumultuous relationship with OpenAI, the AI research organization he co-founded in…
Pennsylvania Antitrust Suit Fails to Keep Private Equity-Owned Factory Open
A federal judge in Pittsburgh, Pa., has denied the Attorney General of Pennsylvania’s request to stop the private equity group Centre Lane Partners from closing…
Senators Want Large Housing Acquisitions to Be Reported
Several Democratic senators — led by Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) — this month introduced the Housing Acquisitions Review and Transparency (HART) Act…
FTC Sues to Stop $8.5 Billion Luxury Brand Handbag Deal
Bag Maker Says Commission Just Doesn’t Get the Industry The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed an administrative complaint to block Tapestry, Inc.’s acquisition of…
DOJ Antitrust Division Anti-Interlocks Campaign Spurs More Board Resignations
Warner and Spectrum Media Companies Shared Board Members Two directors of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. (WBD) have resigned from the company’s board after the Antitrust…
Court Blocks JetBlue/Spirit Deal
A federal judge in Massachusetts has blocked JetBlue Airways’ $3.8 billion purchase of Spirit Airlines, finding the deal would fly in the face of the…
Antitrust Division Seeks Participation in Rental Software MDL
Case raises questions about competitors using algorithms to set prices. Interested in the matter’s Sherman Act implications, the Department of Justice Antitrust Division is…
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…
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…
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…
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 –…
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…
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.…
With Anticompetitive Concerns Addressed, Intuit / Credit Karma Deal Moves Forward
Intuit Inc., owner of the popular TurboTax DIY tax preparation service, has moved forward with its $8.1 billion acquisition of Credit Karma, Inc., after satisfying…
Partner Jonathan Rubin Quoted by Law360 in “Dual Facebook Antitrust Cases Land Before Different Judges”
MoginRubin co-founder Jonathan Rubin quoted in a Law360 article about the challenges raised by Federal Trade Commission and several state attorneys general for Facebook’s alleged…
DOJ: Visa / Plaid Deal Would be Bad for Online Debit Market and Consumers
Government Sues to Block Deal Intended to Erase Disruptor Referring to Visa Inc. as a monopolist in the online debit services industry, the Department of…
Healthcare: Anticompetitive Tying Class Action Moves Forward Against Sutter Health
Indirect purchasers of health insurance will proceed as a class against Sutter Health for alleged anticompetitive conduct which plaintiffs maintain illegally tied health plans to…
Pharma: Consumer Groups, States Support Reviving Generic Drugs Antitrust Case Against AbbVie
Pro-consumer organizations — Consumer Action and U.S. Public Interest Research Group — and 20 states have filed amici curiae briefs with the Seventh Circuit U.S.…
Pistacchio vs. Apple: iPhone Gamers Claim Anticompetitive Behavior in Subscription Game Market
Apple iPhone gamer John Pistacchio filed a proposed class action against Apple, Inc. on behalf of purchasers of “Apple Arcade,” a subscription mobile gaming service…
TikTok Gets Reprieve from Trump Ban, Nears Deal with Oracle, Walmart
Now that TikTok has more time to keep its U.S. operation alive – thanks to a federal court order enjoining the Trump administration’s effort to…
DOJ Requires Divestiture of Hawaiian Brewer Before Anheuser Can Buy Craft Brew
The Justice Department Antitrust Division will approve a major acquisition in the beer industry, but only if one of the merging company’s divests its holdings…
House Bill Would Allow College Athletes to Capitalize on Their Fame
A group of U.S. House Democrats and Republicans have introduced the “Student Athlete Level Playing Field Act” which would add momentum to the current movement…
Nvidia’s Acquiring UK Chip Designer for $40 Billion
In a move that Reuters said will “reshape the global semiconductor landscape,” Nvidia Corp. is purchasing Arm of the U.K. from SoftBank Group Corp. of…
French and American Luxury Brands Litigate Delayed Merger
Dispute in Delaware, Tussle in Brussels LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton of France used business challenges presented by the novel coronavirus to avoid a multi-billion-dollar…
Apple Fires Back at Epic Games in Fortnite Fight
Responding to Epic Games’ bold suit against Apple (and separately against Google) — alleging anticompetitive operation of the Apple Store — the computer and mobile…
Claim That LinkedIn Has a ‘People Analytics’ Monopoly Fails
hiQ Labs Inc., a new employment tech firm, sued professional network giant LinkedIn for abuse of its market power. Specifically, the startup-alleged LinkedIn blocked its…
Casino Sues Scientific Games, Bally’s for Antitrust Law Violations, Charge 100% Card-Shuffler Monopoly
The Tonkawa Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, a casino operator, alleges in a proposed class action that Scientific Games Corp., Bally Technologies, Inc., and Bally…
New Study in Harvard Business Law Review Confirms Antitrust Dangers of Horizontal Shareholding
A new study illustrates the anticompetitive effects of horizontal shareholding in concentrated markets according to a Harvard Business Law Review article by Einer Elhauge, Professor…
Antitrust Subcommittee and Big Tech CEOs: Creatures From Very Different Planets
A Tale of Two Hearings: Breaking Down the July 2020 Hearing on Tech Marketplace They appeared at the hearing, appropriately enough, digitally. This allowed…
FTC Approves Elanco’s $7.6B Acquisition of Bayer Animal Healthcare, Sets Divestiture Conditions
Pending approval, two of the world’s largest animal healthcare manufacturers will consummate a multibillion dollar acquisition in August 2020, subject to FTC and other, international…
California AG Opposes Healthcare System’s Pandemic-Prompted Proposal to Delay Settlement
In response to Sutter Health’s motion for a continuance, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra requested that a San Francisco state court move forward with a…
U.S. House of Representatives Extends Antitrust Penalty Leniency Program for Cooperating Defendants
On June 25, 2020, the House passed a bill to permanently extend a recently expired provision within the Antitrust Criminal Penalty Enhancement and Reform Act…
Californians Will Vote on Whether to Expand the State’s Consumer Privacy Act
In November, California residents will vote on a proposal to augment the California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which took effect in January 2020. The Secretary…
DOJ Secures Admission of Guilt, Agrees to Deferred Prosecution Agreement for Generic Drug Manufacturer Accused of Price Fixing
The Justice Department has announced a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) and a $24.1 million criminal penalty against Apotex, Inc., a Florida-based generic pharmaceutical manufacturer. Apotex…
FTC Sues to Unwind Altria’s $12.8 Billion Investment in Competitor JUUL
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION PRESS RELEASE APRIL 1, 2020 Today, the Federal Trade Commission filed an administrative complaint (a public version of which will be available…
Jodie Williams Published in Trial Practice : Trying Antitrust – Summer 2018 Edition
In the most recent edition of Trial Practice: Trying Antitrust, an ABA-published periodical, MoginRubin’s Jodie Williams discusses the recent Steves & Sons, Inc. v. Jeld-Wen, Inc.…