Competition

March 05, 2025
Steven Madden Resolves Libel Dispute Over IP Allegations

Parties in Steven Madden Ltd.'s lawsuit accusing Danish "affordable luxury" brand Ganni A/S of falsely claiming that two of its shoe designs infringed Ganni's intellectual property have reached an agreement to resolve the dispute, according to a filing Tuesday in New York federal court.
March 05, 2025
Ga. Baseball Player Shutters NCAA Eligibility Suit

A University of Georgia athlete has ended his efforts in federal court to earn another year of eligibility to play college baseball, dropping his antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA following the ruling in a similar case that was not favorable to the athlete, his attorney said.
March 05, 2025
NASCAR Calls Teams 'Per Se Illegal Cartel' In Countersuit

NASCAR is countersuing two racing teams that have accused the organization of monopolizing premier motorsport racing, alleging Wednesday in North Carolina federal court that the teams conspired to pressure NASCAR into accepting their preferred charter contract terms "in order to maintain their per se illegal cartel."
March 05, 2025
UK Clears $35B Synopsys, Ansys Merger

The Competition and Markets Authority said Wednesday it has cleared Synopsys' planned $35 billion acquisition of fellow U.S. software company Ansys under certain divestiture and monitoring conditions.
March 05, 2025
Longtime DOJ Antitrust Litigator Joins Fried Frank In DC

Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP announced that a Cooley LLP attorney who previously spent more than 15 years in the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division has joined the firm's Washington, D.C., office as a partner.
March 05, 2025
DOJ Fights Bid To Pause Piece Of Amedisys Merger Case

The U.S. Department of Justice is opposing a bid from Amedisys to pause allegations that it shirked its merger filing requirements until after a trial on UnitedHealth's acquisition of the home health and hospice company.
March 05, 2025
Major Supermarkets Keep £675M Salmon Cartel Claim In UK

A London antitrust tribunal declined Wednesday to send a £675 million ($868 million) cartel claim brought by several of the U.K.'s largest supermarkets to Norway, ruling that the claim should be heard in the U.K. because it concerned the price of salmon in the U.K.
March 05, 2025
Fighters' Attys Get $115M In Fees For UFC Settlement Work

A Nevada federal judge has awarded more than $115 million to the attorneys who struck a $375 million settlement with the UFC on behalf of more than 1,100 fighters alleging vast wage suppression, nodding to the considerable effort involved in litigating the decade-long case.
March 05, 2025
UK Drops Probe Into Microsoft's OpenAI Partnership

Britain's antitrust authority said Wednesday that it has dropped its probe into Microsoft's investment into ChatGPT developer OpenAI after finding it does not have the jurisdiction to look into their complex partnership.
March 05, 2025
Royal Mail To Face Trial In £878M Bulk Mail Class Action

The owner of Royal Mail must face an £878.5 million ($1.1 billion) class action brought on behalf of 290,000 retail businesses that accuse the postal service of abusing its dominant position in the bulk mail market, the antitrust tribunal has ruled.
March 04, 2025
Musk Fails To Block OpenAI From Turning Into For-Profit Entity

A California federal judge on Tuesday denied Elon Musk's bid to preliminarily bar OpenAI Inc. from converting into a for-profit entity, saying that a threshold question of whether Musk's over $44 million in donations created a charitable trust was a "toss-up."
March 04, 2025
Shipping Council Urges DC Circ. To Nix Maritime Rule

An ocean carrier trade association is urging the D.C. Circuit to wipe out new regulations defining unreasonable refusals to deal in the maritime industry, telling the appeals court that the "vague" rule has thrown the carriers into confusion.
March 04, 2025
Agencies Have 'Ultimate' Authority Over Firings, OPM Says

The Office of Personnel Management on Tuesday issued a revised version of its January memo directing agency heads to identify all probationary employees, adding a disclaimer that OPM "is not directing agencies to take any specific performance-based actions" and that agencies "have ultimate decision-making authority."
March 04, 2025
Meijer Says 1st Circ. Must Resolve Takeda Arbitration Order

Grocery store chain Meijer on Tuesday urged a Massachusetts federal judge to allow it to immediately appeal his ruling granting Takeda Pharmaceutical's bid to arbitrate the grocer's antitrust claims over a constipation drug, arguing that the case presents several issues that the First Circuit needs to address.
March 04, 2025
Baseball Player Strikes Out On Bid For NCAA Early Waiver

A Tennessee federal judge will not grant a Division I baseball player another year of eligibility, ruling on Monday that the student-athlete failed to show how the NCAA's rules violate antitrust laws while acknowledging that the organization's actions are "questionable at best and self-interested at worst."
March 04, 2025
DC Opposes RealPage Bid For Sanctions In Antitrust Case

The District of Columbia and its attorneys at Cohen Milstein are opposing a bid for sanctions from RealPage in the district's rental pricing case, contending they have support for allegations about the company not wanting to work with landlords that reject its price recommendations.
March 04, 2025
Health Providers Fight To Keep MultiPlan Pricing MDL Alive

Healthcare providers targeting MultiPlan and several major insurers with horizontal price-fixing claims argued Monday an Illinois federal judge should let their multidistrict litigation proceed because the defendants simply constructed a "strawman" to convince him to toss it.
March 04, 2025
ACC, Clemson And FSU End Legal Fight Over Revenues, Fees

Florida State University and Clemson University will stay in the Atlantic Coast Conference under a new athletic revenue distribution model that would resolve the multistate court battles over media rights and exit fees, the parties said Tuesday in announcing a settlement of their disputes.
March 04, 2025
Alcon, Lens.com Settle 7-Year Trademark Fight In NY

Alcon and Lens.com informed a New York federal judge Tuesday that they've agreed to resolve their long-running trademark dispute over claims that Lens.com was reselling some of Alcon's products without authorization.
March 04, 2025
PBMs Ask 8th Circ. To Pause FTC's Insulin Pricing Case

Caremark Rx, Express Scripts and OptumRx have asked the Eighth Circuit to pause the Federal Trade Commission's in-house case accusing the pharmacy benefit managers of artificially inflating insulin prices as they push their constitutional claims against the agency.
March 04, 2025
FCC Dismisses Bid To Revisit Local Unbundling Rules

The Federal Communications Commission has dismissed a petition to restore local telecom unbundling rules, reiterating the agency's 2020 reasons for lifting a number of restrictions on local incumbents and restating that those limitations are no longer necessary.
March 04, 2025
Tobacco Co. Settles Suit Over Use Of 'Juicy' Trademark

A tobacco accessories company has told an Arizona federal court that it has settled its suit against a Washington company that it alleged had infringed on its "Juicy" products trademark.
March 04, 2025
Athletes 'Overwhelmingly' Support NCAA NIL Deal, Attys Say

The response by the class of college athletes to the NCAA's settlement providing name, image and likeness compensation and revenue sharing has been "overwhelmingly positive,'' the attorneys for the athletes told a California federal judge as part of their bid for final approval of the $2.78 billion settlement next month.
March 04, 2025
Conn. Hospital Network Seeks Sanctions From Antitrust Class

Hartford HealthCare Corp. moved to sanction a proposed class of antitrust plaintiffs for asking a Connecticut judge to formally recognize a document exchange schedule privately agreed to by both sides, arguing that it should get attorney fees and costs for opposing the request.
March 04, 2025
FERC Enforcement Case Is Constitutionally Valid, DOJ Says

The Trump administration has told a North Carolina federal judge that a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission market manipulation case against an energy-efficiency aggregator complies with a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision curbing the enforcement authority of federal agencies.

Expert Analysis

What To Expect In Higher Ed Enforcement Under Trump

Colleges and universities should prepare for shifting priorities, as President-elect Donald Trump is likely to focus less on antitrust cases and more on foreign relations policy, while congressional oversight of higher education continues to increase, say attorneys at Steptoe.
Series

NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q4

In 2024's final quarter, the New York State Department of Financial Services published guidance on mitigating the rising cybersecurity risks of artificial intelligence and remote technology workers with North Korean ties, and the state attorney general launched an antitrust investigation into Capital One's proposed Discover merger, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.
Series

Exercising On My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

While I originally came to the Peloton bike for exercise, one cycling instructor’s teachings have come to serve as a road map for practicing law thoughtfully and mindfully, which has opened opportunities for growth and change in my career, says Andrea Kirshenbaum at Littler.
3 Factors Affecting Retail M&A Deals In 2025

Retailers considering mergers and acquisitions this year face an evolving antitrust environment, including a new administration under President-elect Donald Trump, revised merger guidelines and a precedent set last year by a canceled $8.5 billion handbag merger, say attorneys at DLA Piper.
FTC Picks Augur Pro-Business Bent For Much Of Economy

President-elect Donald Trump's choice of two top Federal Trade Commission officials suggests a business-friendly climate for a significant portion of the U.S. economy, with noteworthy exceptions of continued scrutiny of healthcare and Big Tech companies, excluding artificial intelligence, say attorneys at BCLP.
Top 10 Legal Issues This Year For Transportation Industry GCs

General counsel must carefully consider numerous legal and policy challenges facing the automotive and transportation industry in the year to come, especially while navigating new technologies, regulations and global markets, says Francesco Liberatore at Squire Patton.
Exploring Venue Strategy For Trump-Era Regulatory Litigation

Litigation will likely play a prominent role in shaping policy outcomes during the second Trump administration, and stakeholders have several tools at their disposal to steer regulatory litigation toward more favorable venues, say attorneys at Covington.
What 2024's Noncompete Turmoil Means For Banks In 2025

A look back at the most significant legal challenges to the enforceability of various restrictive covenants like noncompete and nonsolicitation agreements in 2024 can help financial institutions address the use of these critical tools this year, say attorneys at Maynard Nexsen.
Searching For Insight On Requested Google Chrome Remedy

The potential for Google to divest its Chrome browser — a remedy requested by the Justice Department following a D.C. federal court’s finding the company is a monopolist — has drawn both criticism and endorsement, but legal precedent likely supports the former, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.
Opinion

3 New Year's Resolutions For Antitrust Agencies To Consider

James Fredricks at Skadden rings in 2025 with his wish list for the federal antitrust agencies, starting with a provision for a presumptive safe harbor for information sharing.
FTC Focus: A Changing Of The Guard

While rigorous antitrust enforcement is unlikely to slow down at the Federal Trade Commission, the focus will undoubtedly change, including when it comes to Big Tech, as Andrew Ferguson prepares to take the reins from Chair Lina Khan, say attorneys at Proskauer.
Series

Playing Esports Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Competing in a global esports tournament at Wimbledon last year not only fulfilled my childhood dream, but also sharpened skills that are essential to my day job, including strategic thinking, confidence and networking, says AJ Schuyler at Jackson Lewis.
An Associate's Guide To Career Development In 2025

As the new year begins, associates at all levels should consider establishing career metrics, fostering key relationships and employing other specific strategies to help move through the complexities of the legal profession with confidence and emerge as trailblazers, say EJ Stern and Amanda George at Fractional Law Firm.
5 Antitrust Issues For In-House Counsel In 2025

Attorneys at Squire Patton evaluate the top areas where U.S. antitrust policy is likely to change in the next 12 months, including major challenges to the Federal Trade Commission's authority that could reshape enforcement.
Reviewing 2024's Crucial Patent Law Developments

As 2024 draws to a close, significant rulings and policies aimed at modernizing long-standing legal practices or addressing emerging challenges have reached patent law, says Michael Ellenberger at Rothwell Figg.