Competition

  • October 28, 2024

    9th Circ. Nixes Arbitration In Live Nation Ticket Sale Suit

    The Ninth Circuit affirmed Monday that Live Nation and Ticketmaster can't force consumer litigation over allegedly exorbitant ticket prices into arbitration, ruling in a published opinion that the underlying arbitration agreement linking to "borderline unintelligible" arbitral rules is unenforceable.

  • October 28, 2024

    Hermes Wants Antitrust Suit Over Birkins Tossed For Good

    Hermes again urged a California federal judge on Friday to toss a proposed class action accusing the French luxury design house of tying its exclusive Birkin and Kelly bags to the purchase of other items, saying the plaintiffs did not come close to proving antitrust law violations in a complaint now twice amended.

  • October 28, 2024

    Rebar Giant Pushed 'Hands-Off Calif.' Deal, Antitrust Jury Told

    Commercial Metals Co.'s ex-CEO conceded during a federal antitrust jury trial Monday that the Texas rebar giant pushed micromill-maker Danieli Corp. into a "hands-off California" exclusivity provision barring Danieli from developing most Golden State rival mills days after discovering Pacific Steel Group was planning to build a mill in Southern California with Danieli.

  • October 28, 2024

    X Says Watchdog's Discovery Can't Target Musk In Libel Suit

    X Corp. fired back Monday at a left-leaning watchdog's attempt to secure information concerning how the social media platform polices its content, telling a Texas federal judge that the organization is merely trying to get a "scoop" by obtaining Elon Musk's personal messages.

  • October 28, 2024

    Realtor.com Owner, CoStar Debate CFAA's Limits In Theft Suit

    An attorney for Costar urged a California federal judge Monday to reconsider a tentative ruling that would allow Realtor.com's parent company to amend a Computer Fraud and Abuse Act claim alleging its rival unlawfully accessed its computers, saying the company should be limited to arguing it suffered "technological harms."

  • October 28, 2024

    FTC, DOJ Tell 9th Circ. Google Wrong On Play Store Fixes

    Federal antitrust enforcers told the Ninth Circuit there should be consequences after a jury found Google monopolized the Android app distribution market, as Google pushes to keep a court order paused in the antitrust case being brought by Epic Games.

  • October 28, 2024

    Law Prof Calls Out Atty Fees, Workarounds In NAR Deal

    A University at Buffalo Law School professor on Monday urged a federal judge to reject the National Association of Realtors' $1 billion settlement in an antitrust class action, arguing the deal only serves to enrich lawyers in the case while allowing an anticompetitive system to continue.

  • October 28, 2024

    Pfizer Urges Court Not To Ax Delay Defense In Vax IP Fight

    Pfizer and BioNTech have urged a Delaware federal judge to reject GlaxoSmithKline's attempt to toss claims that the COVID-19 vaccine technology patents GSK is accusing them of infringing are unenforceable because of an unreasonable delay in obtaining them.

  • October 28, 2024

    FuboTV Fights To Keep Broadcast Bundling Under Scrutiny

    Sports streaming service FuboTV is pushing to keep its antitrust claims against the content distribution used by Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery in court, telling a New York federal judge such arrangements "freeze out" smaller distributors.

  • October 28, 2024

    7 Months, 11 Dissents: GOP Minority Flexes Muscles At FTC

    The Federal Trade Commission's two relatively new Republican members are starting to show how they'll use their minority position to full advantage. Sometimes they've fully signed on to the Democratic majority, other times they've dissented emphatically. And the GOP members showed something new this month when approving a dramatic overhaul to the agency's merger filing rules: forcing their colleagues to compromise.

  • October 28, 2024

    Hotel Guests Ask 3rd Circ. To Look At Algorithm Price-Fix Suit

    Three Atlantic City guests are taking their beef with hotel-casinos to the Third Circuit after a New Jersey federal court threw out their lawsuit that accused hotel owners in the town of using an algorithm to inflate the price of rooms.

  • October 28, 2024

    MVP: Joseph Saveri Law Firm's Joseph Saveri

    Joseph Saveri of Joseph Saveri Law Firm has tackled some of the year's biggest antitrust class action cases — winning settlements for Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters, competitive cheer teams and Jackson Hewitt employees — earning him a spot among the 2024 Law360 Competition MVPs.

  • October 28, 2024

    Attys Seek $48M Fees For Hooking $152M In Tuna Fixing Deals

    Lawyers for a class of consumers that sued three of the largest tuna producers accusing them of conspiring to fix tinned fish prices asked a California federal court to approve nearly $50 million in legal costs after a settlement this summer ended nearly nine years of multidistrict litigation.

  • October 28, 2024

    Hospital Wants NC County's 'Monopoly' Suit Tossed

    Owners of an Asheville, North Carolina, hospital accused of understaffing its emergency room and driving up wait times say the county suing them for unjust enrichment is actually trying to get paid twice for healthcare its emergency responders have already provided.

  • October 25, 2024

    Entergy Struggles To Challenge FERC Decision At DC Circ.

    The D.C. Circuit is set to decide whether or not utility giant Entergy will be allowed to challenge the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's rejection of a plan that would change capacity market rules, after finding that it would give Entergy too much market power.

  • October 25, 2024

    Apple-Google Pact Plaintiff Stuck With 9th Circ. Appeal

    A Ninth Circuit panel has refused to let a training school send its case accusing Google of paying Apple to refrain from developing its own search engine back to district court in light of a recent D.C. federal judge's decision that Google monopolizes the search market.

  • October 25, 2024

    Off The Bench: Toss-Up For Ohtani Ball, UFC Fighters' Payday

    In this week's Off The Bench, the three claimants to a historic baseball now know how much is at stake for the winner, a long fight against wage suppression for mixed martial arts fighters is a step closer to ending, and WNBA players want a bigger piece of a growing revenue pie.

  • October 25, 2024

    'Starting Point' Algorithm Enough To Fix Prices, DOJ Says

    The Justice Department is using the first algorithmic price-fixing case to reach an appeals court to argue that just because an algorithm only set "starting points" doesn't make its use legal, in a Ninth Circuit amicus brief backing efforts to revive a room rate lawsuit against Las Vegas casino hotels.

  • October 25, 2024

    UK Antitrust Arm Opens Formal Probe Of $35B Software Deal

    United Kingdom antitrust authorities triggered a formal investigation Friday into Synopsys Inc.'s $35 billion acquisition of Ansys Inc., satisfied that the transaction has enough ties to the country to merit greater scrutiny.

  • October 25, 2024

    FCC Didn't Play Favorites For Soros In Audacy Deal, GOP Told

    The Federal Communications Commission's approval of radio station chain Audacy's recent ownership change mirrored the way it handled similar media deals in past years, the FCC's chief told critics alleging it fast-tracked the Audacy plan to benefit Democratic donor George Soros.

  • October 25, 2024

    MVP: Hueston Hennigan's John C. Hueston

    John C. Hueston of Hueston Hennigan LLP led his firm to victory against Google twice last year, once on behalf of dating service company Match and then was invited onto the Epic Games trial team, where he helped convince a jury that the tech behemoth had used its app store to stifle competition, earning him a spot among the 2024 Law360 Competition MVPs.

  • October 25, 2024

    NCAA Creating Cloudy Future As It Clings To Control

    Experts speaking at a symposium from Temple University's Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia drove home the point that the NCAA's multibillion-dollar court settlement providing damages and revenue to past and future college athletes falls far short of settling the remaining challenges to its control of college sports.

  • October 24, 2024

    Bell Says Vendor Shouldn't Get $127M In Trade Secret Suit

    Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. told a Texas jury that a third-party vendor took the aerospace company's tech and "slapped their name on it," saying during closing arguments Thursday that jurors should reject California-based digital avionics equipment supplier Rogerson Aircraft Corp.'s ask of $127 million.

  • October 24, 2024

    Colo. Says Grocers' Execs Get Paid, No Matter The Fallout

    Colorado told a state judge Thursday that consumers bear the risk in a proposed $24.6 billion merger between Kroger Co. and Albertsons, arguing grocery executives will still get their multimillion-dollar payouts even if prices go up or stores close.

  • October 24, 2024

    FTC Official Doubts Election Will Deter Antitrust 'New Era'

    The Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Competition director defended the agency's new guidelines and its track record during a wide-ranging discussion at the 34th annual Golden State Institute on Thursday, and he expressed confidence that whichever presidential candidate wins, a new administration won't deter this "new era" of FTC antitrust enforcement actions.

Expert Analysis

  • How Employers, Attorneys Can Respond To Noncompete Ban

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    As the Federal Trade Commission's recently issued noncompete ban faces ongoing legal challenges, now is a good time for employers to consider whether they want to take a wait-and-see approach before halting use of noncompetes and for practitioners to gain insight into other tools available to protect their clients' business interests, says Jennifer Platzkere Snyder at Dilworth Paxson.

  • Perspectives

    Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys

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    As National Trauma Awareness Month ends, pro bono attorneys should nevertheless continue to acknowledge the mental and physical effects of trauma, allowing them to better represent clients, and protect themselves from compassion fatigue and burnout, say Katherine Cronin at Stinson and Katharine Manning at Blackbird.

  • Series

    Playing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My deep and passionate involvement in playing, writing and producing music equipped me with skills — like creativity, improvisation and problem-solving — that contribute to the success of my legal career, says attorney Kenneth Greene.

  • How Attys Can Avoid Pitfalls When Withdrawing From A Case

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    The Trump campaign's recent scuffle over its bid to replace its counsel in a pregnancy retaliation suit offers a chance to remind attorneys that many troubles inherent in withdrawing from a case can be mitigated or entirely avoided by communicating with clients openly and frequently, says Christopher Konneker at Orsinger Nelson.

  • The Effects Of New 10-Year Limitation On Key Sanctions Laws

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    Recently enacted emergency appropriations legislation, doubling the statute of limitations for civil and criminal economic sanctions violations, has significant implications for internal records retention, corporate transaction due diligence and government investigations, say attorneys at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Opinion

    DOJ Messaging App Warnings Undermine Trust In Counsel

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    The U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division's increasingly ominous warnings to defense and in-house counsel about the consequences of not preserving ephemeral messaging and messages sent using collaboration tools could erode confidence and cooperation, says Mark Rosman at Proskauer.

  • Using A Children's Book Approach In Firm Marketing Content

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    From “The Giving Tree” to “Where the Wild Things Are,” most children’s books are easy to remember because they use simple words and numbers to tell stories with a human impact — a formula law firms should emulate in their marketing content to stay front of mind for potential clients, says Seema Desai Maglio at The Found Word.

  • FTC Noncompete Rule Risks A Wave Of State AG Actions

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    The Federal Trade Commission's final rule language banning noncompetes may contribute to a waterfall enforcement effect in which state attorneys general deploy their broad authority to treat noncompetes as separate and independent violations, say Ryan Strasser and Carson Cox at Troutman Pepper.

  • Patent Lessons From 4 Federal Circuit Reversals In April

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    Four Federal Circuit decisions in April that reversed or vacated underlying rulings provide a number of takeaways, including that obviousness analysis requires a flexible approach, that an invalidity issue of an expired patent can be moot, and more, say Denise De Mory and Li Guo at Bunsow De Mory.

  • A Comparison Of FDIC, OCC Proposed Merger Approaches

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    Max Bonici and Connor Webb at Venable take a closer look at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's respective bank merger proposals and highlight certain common themes and important differences, in light of regulators continually rethinking their approaches to bank mergers.

  • Series

    Being An EMT Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    While some of my experiences as an emergency medical technician have been unusually painful and searing, the skills I’ve learned — such as triage, empathy and preparedness — are just as useful in my work as a restructuring lawyer, says Marshall Huebner at Davis Polk.

  • Behind Court Challenges To The FTC's Final Noncompete Rule

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent final rule banning noncompetes may not go into effect any time soon amid a couple of Texas federal court challenges seeking to bar the rule's implementation, which will likely see appeals all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, says Michael Elkins at MLE Law.

  • Tips For Keeping Trade Secrets In The Vault

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    Key practices aimed at maintaining confidentiality can help companies establish trade secret status as the Federal Trade Commission's ban on noncompetes makes it prudent to explore other security measures, says John Baranello at Moses & Singer.

  • Contract Disputes Recap: Saying What Needs To Be Said

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    Edward Arnold and Bret Marfut at Seyfarth Shaw examine three recent decisions that delve into the meaning and effect of contractual releases, and demonstrate the importance of ensuring that releases, as written, do what the parties intend.

  • Tiny Tweaks To Bank Merger Forms May Have Big Impact

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    The impact of proposed changes to the Federal Reserve Board's and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s bank merger review forms would be significant, resulting in hundreds of additional burden hours for bank merger applicants and signaling a further shift by the prudential bank regulators toward more rigorous scrutiny of mergers, say attorneys at Debevoise.

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