Update on Patent “Aggregation” Suit Against Fortress
Intel and Apple’s challenge to Fortress’s allegedly anticompetitive practice of patent “aggregation,” which we discussed previously on this blog, suffered another setback earlier this month. The...
View ArticleStaples Announces Plans to Purchase Office Depot: Will Its Third Attempt Be...
Staples’ parent company recently announced plans for an attempt to buy all outstanding stock of Office Depot’s parent company (ODP) for $2.1 billion, stating that it will pursue an all-cash tender...
View ArticleTwo District Courts Address Challenges to EpiPen Manufacturer Rebates
Recent decisions in two different antitrust cases (found here and here) involving price increases and marketing practices for the EpiPen address a relationship solidly embedded in the current...
View ArticleFifth Circuit Impax Decision Validates FTC’s Post-Actavis Approach to Reverse...
On April 13, 2021, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued its long-anticipated decision in Impax v. FTC, marking the first time an appellate court has weighed in on the merits of a so-called...
View ArticleFourth Circuit Affirms Local Government Antitrust Immunity for Atrium Health
The Fourth Circuit ruled last month that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority, which does business as Atrium Health, is immune from antitrust damages as a “special function governmental unit”...
View ArticleFourth Circuit Door War Leaves Groundbreaking Divestiture Order Intact
The Supreme Court is the only avenue left for JELD-WEN Inc. after the Fourth Circuit denied the door manufacturer’s motion for rehearing en banc of a panel’s decision in Steves & Sons, Inc. v....
View ArticleFirm Attorneys Author “Trends in Class Certification” Chapter in GCR’s US...
The past decade has witnessed significant development in class action certification standards in the antitrust context, and the past year has been no exception. Questions of predominance continue to be...
View ArticleAnother Update on the Patent “Aggregation” Suit Against Fortress
There have been several developments since we last wrote about Intel and Apple’s suit against Fortress and several of its so-called “patent assertion entities” (collectively, “Fortress”) based on the...
View ArticleDistrict Court Rejects Intel’s Claims, but Leaves Door Open to Patent...
Last month, we wrote a post on the patent “aggregation” suit Intel had filed against various entities affiliated with the investment firm Fortress. The post was timely; the next day, Judge Chen...
View ArticleDOJ’s First Wins In Criminal Antitrust Prosecutions Of Wage-Fixing and...
Two weeks ago, the District of Colorado denied defendants’ motion to dismiss in a criminal case targeting agreements between competitors not to solicit (or “poach”) each other’s employees. United...
View ArticleSuit by Diners to Proceed Against Food Delivery Platforms
More than two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, and driven in part by the suspension of indoor dining, the practices of restaurant platforms and food delivery services are facing increased scrutiny. A...
View ArticleJustice Breyer’s Antitrust Legacy
Under the Biden Administration, the FTC and DOJ have voiced a commitment to an expansive enforcement of antitrust law. The recent confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to assume Justice Breyer’s...
View ArticleAcquittals in the First Two Wage-Fixing and No-Poach Criminal Trials
Last month, the first two trials arising from the DOJ’s recent push to criminally prosecute wage-fixing and employee non-solicitation agreements both ended in acquittals on the antitrust charges....
View ArticleGlaxoSmithKline Faces Antitrust Suit Over Alleged Inhaler “Hop”
Missouri resident Elliot Conrad Dale recently filed an antitrust lawsuit against GlaxoSmithKline (“GSK”), claiming GSK employed a “device hopping” scheme to ensure uninterrupted patent and regulatory...
View ArticleTenth Circuit Upholds Pharmaceutical Company’s Exclusive Rebate Agreements in...
The Tenth Circuit recently became the first federal court of appeals to address an antitrust challenge to a relationship central to modern pharmaceutical drug markets: the price negotiations between...
View ArticleIllinois District Court Rules that Sherman Act Suit Against Top Universities...
Recently Judge Matthew F. Kennelly of the Northern District of Illinois denied the motions to dismiss filed by 17 top private universities in a class action lawsuit accusing the universities of...
View ArticleAn Unexpected Dispute Delays the DOJ’s First No-Poach Conviction and Other...
The DOJ’s efforts to prosecute alleged wage-fixing and employee non-solicitation agreements have continued to develop over the last few months. (Check here for our previous coverage of this...
View ArticleThe DOJ Finally Secures Its First No-Poach and Wage-Fixing Conviction
Last month, the DOJ finally secured its first criminal conviction for a labor-market antitrust offense. (Check here for our previous coverage of this prosecution trend.) VDA OC LLC (“VDA”), a...
View ArticleThe DOJ Defeats Another Motion to Dismiss a No-Poach Criminal Indictment and...
Two of the Department of Justice’s labor-market criminal antitrust prosecutions have seen interesting recent developments. (See our previous coverage of this prosecution trend, reported on: Feb. 9th;...
View ArticleJustice Department Withdraws Guidance on Information-Sharing
A few weeks ago, the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division announced the withdrawal of three long-standing policy statements related to antitrust enforcement in healthcare markets — Department of...
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