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Competition
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June 02, 2025
Monthly Merger Review Snapshot
The Federal Trade Commission finally dropped its long-pending challenge of Microsoft's purchase of video game developer Activision Blizzard, as enforcers pushed monopolization cases seeking to break up Google, Meta and Live Nation, while also pursuing several traditional merger cases. Here, Law360 looks at the major merger review developments from May.
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June 02, 2025
SAP Seeks High Court Review Of Revived Tying Claims
German software giant SAP on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to look at a Ninth Circuit decision that resuscitated tying claims brought by U.S. rival Teradata, saying the issue of antitrust liability badly needs the court's attention in matters relating to modern, technologically integrated products.
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June 02, 2025
Nursing Exec Says DOJ Misapplied Justices' Fraud Ruling
A Nevada nursing home executive convicted of wage-fixing and wire fraud has told a Nevada federal judge that a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a fraud case doesn't preclude his motion for a new trial, contrary to what the U.S. Department of Justice has argued.
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June 02, 2025
DOJ Deal OKs $1.5B Keysight-Spirent Network Testing Merger
The U.S. Department of Justice cut its first merger clearance deal of the Trump administration, and nearly its first settlement since a Biden-era hardline stance against most agreements, with a consent decree Monday allowing Keysight Technologies Inc. to proceed with its planned $1.5 billion acquisition of Spirent Communications PLC.
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June 02, 2025
Justices' Rail Order Irrelevant To Merger Row, DC Circ. Told
Chicago suburbs challenging federal approval of Canadian Pacific's merger with Kansas City Southern urged the D.C. Circuit on Monday to pay no heed to the U.S. Supreme Court decision restricting government environmental reviews, arguing their own case challenges "other" deficiencies in addition to a failed consideration of broader climate impacts.
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June 02, 2025
Judge Denies UTC Bid To Block Liquidia's Lung Drug
A North Carolina federal judge has refused to temporarily block Liquidia Technologies Inc. from selling its own version of United Therapeutics Corp.'s blockbuster lung disease treatment Tyvaso.
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June 02, 2025
Justices Want Gov't View On Duke Energy Monopoly Suit
The U.S. Supreme Court asked the Solicitor General on Monday to provide the government's view on a ruling that revived antitrust claims accusing Duke Energy of squeezing a rival out of the power market in North Carolina.
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June 02, 2025
Womble Bond Atty Asks 4th Circ. To Undo Contempt Order
A series of federal court errors led to a Womble Bond Dickinson partner being wrongly held in contempt over a $28 million trademark dispute between a Dutch technology company and its former U.S. partner, the lawyer told the Fourth Circuit in a brief Friday, urging the appeals panel to reverse the order.
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June 02, 2025
Class Action Seeks Compensation For High School Athletes
The yearslong battle for college athletes to earn compensation for their labor and likeness rights has trickled down to the high school ranks, with a new proposed class action targeting a slew of monetary restrictions imposed by California's high school sports governing body.
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June 02, 2025
Defamation Litigation Roundup: Cheetos, NASCAR, OpenAI
In this month's review of ongoing defamation fights, Law360 looks back on developments in a man's case against Frito-Lay Inc. over what he called the company's defamatory statements disputing his role in the invention of a flavor of Cheetos.
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June 02, 2025
EU Hits Two Delivery Firms With €330M Fine For Market Cartel
The European Commission said Monday that it had slapped two food delivery companies with a total of €329 million ($375.8 million) in fines for operating a cartel for four years in a settlement.
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May 30, 2025
'Not Sure It Fits': Google Judge Challenges DOJ AI Boost Idea
Generative artificial intelligence may be the future of online search, but a D.C. federal judge cast doubt Friday on the Justice Department's bid to force Google to share and syndicate its search results with companies like OpenAI as he mulls what remedies to impose against Google's search monopoly.
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May 30, 2025
ITC Ends Ericsson, Motorola Patent Fight After Settlement
The U.S. International Trade Commission has agreed to drop an investigation into allegations that Motorola infringed patents owned by Swedish telecom giant Ericsson with its mobile phones after the companies settled their dispute.
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May 30, 2025
Broadband Rate Regs Hurt Competition, Report Says
Capping broadband rates for low-income families is a bad idea, according to a new study backed by cable trade group ACA Connects, which found that such caps negatively impacts competition.
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May 30, 2025
$5.2M Generic Drug Price-Fixing MDL Deal Gets Final OK
Apotex Corp. will be paying $5.2 million to settle claims from a class of indirect purchasers alleging the drugmaker was working with other pharmaceutical companies to hike up the price of certain generic medications.
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May 30, 2025
'Humongous' Apple Must Face Boosted 186M Antitrust Class
A California federal judge on Friday granted App Store users' request to amend their class definition in a yearslong antitrust fight against Apple, rejecting Apple's argument that the changes unfairly add millions of new members and noting that the 185.9 million-member class stems from the fact Apple is "humongous."
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May 30, 2025
Meta Looks To Nix FTC's Lead Econ Expert After Antitrust Trial
Meta Platforms asked a D.C. federal judge Friday to strike testimony the Federal Trade Commission's lead economics expert gave during a bench trial in the antitrust case over Meta's purchase of Instagram and WhatsApp, saying the "biased witness" — a New York University School of Law professor — "advocated" for the case.
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May 30, 2025
Feds, AGs Scoff At Landlords' Bid To Toss Antitrust Case
Landlords embroiled in an antitrust suit misconstrued the law and agreements at the heart of the case, the federal government and state enforcers said on Thursday as they urged a North Carolina federal court to reject the landlords' bid to dismiss.
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May 30, 2025
Banks, Class Action Admins Ran Kickback Scheme, Suit Says
A group of class action settlement administrators and banks conspired to rip off settlement class members by offering lower bank interest rates in exchange for kickbacks, according to three identical lawsuits filed in three states.
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May 30, 2025
Missouri Judge Rejects Berkshire Unit's Transfer Appeal Cert. Bid
A Missouri federal judge on Friday denied a Berkshire Hathaway unit's motion to certify the company's denied transfer bid for a consolidated antitrust broker fees class action.
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May 30, 2025
Wholesalers Take Rejected 5-Hour Energy Suit To 9th Circ.
Family-owned wholesalers want the Ninth Circuit to take a look at a recent ruling that said while they were able to show the maker of 5-Hour Energy committed price discrimination by offering Costco disproportionate promotions, they weren't able to show that discrimination hurt them.
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May 30, 2025
Google Must Turn Over Docs About Potential Ad Tech Breakup
A Virginia federal court granted a request from government agencies on Friday for internal Google LLC reports analyzing a potential breakup of its ad tech business, as the sides ready for a September trial to determine what remedies to impose on Google for monopolizing key ad tech markets.
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May 30, 2025
Wash. Judge Doubts Valve's Suit Alleging Arbitration Scheme
A Washington state appellate judge pushed back Friday against Valve Corp.'s stance that it could sue an attorney over an alleged scheme to manipulate arbitration pacts between the gaming giant and its customers, suggesting the company opened the door for such conduct by previously forcing gamers to arbitrate antitrust claims individually.
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May 30, 2025
Smithfield Can't Split Trial In Contract Clash With Hog Supplier
Smithfield Foods Inc. can't cleave an upcoming trial into two parts over whether its pricing practices violated a production agreement with a longtime hog supplier in North Carolina, a state judge ruled Friday, finding that it would be disruptive and drag out the proceedings unnecessarily.
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May 30, 2025
Chicago Backs United's Bid To Join American's O'Hare Fight
The city of Chicago has urged an Illinois federal judge to allow United Airlines to intervene in a lawsuit that American Airlines brought to challenge its decision to reassign gate space at O'Hare International Airport, citing the "unique nature" of the city's agreement with American that functions as a single contract between Chicago and all carriers.
Expert Analysis
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Navigating Title IX Compliance In The NIL Era
As universities push to move more name, image and likeness activity in-house, it's unclear how the NCAA and its members will square implementation of the House settlement with Title IX requirements, say attorneys at Buchanan Ingersoll.
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National Bank Act Rulings Facilitate More Preemption Analysis
Two recent National Bank Act preemption decisions from an Illinois federal court and the Ninth Circuit provide the first applications of the U.S. Supreme Court’s May ruling in Cantero v. Bank of America, opening the potential for several circuit courts to address the issue this year, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.
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Series
Collecting Rare Books Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My collection of rare books includes several written or owned by prominent lawyers from early U.S. history, and immersing myself in their stories helps me feel a deeper connection to my legal practice and its purpose, says Douglas Brown at Manatt Health.
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Preparing For Stricter Anti-Boycott Enforcement Under Trump
Given the complexity of U.S. anti-boycott regulations and the likelihood of stepped-up enforcement under the new administration, companies should consider adopting risk-based anti-boycott compliance programs that include training employees to recognize and assess potential boycott requests, and to report them expeditiously when necessary, say attorneys at Debevoise.
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Opinion
New DOJ Leaders Should Curb Ill-Conceived Prosecutions
First-of-their-kind cases have seemingly led to a string of overly aggressive prosecutions in recent years, so newly sworn-in leaders of the U.S. Department of Justice should consider creating reporting channels to stop unwise prosecutions before they snowball, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.
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Tips For Pharma-Biotech Overlap Reporting In New HSR Form
While there’s no secret recipe for reporting overlaps to the Federal Trade Commission in the new Hart-Scott-Rodino Act form, there are several layers of considerations for all pharma-biotech companies and counsel to reflect on internally before reporting on any deal, say attorneys at A&O Shearman.
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Complying With Calif. Price-Gouging Law After LA Fires
The recent tragic Los Angeles fires have brought attention to the state's sometimes controversial price-gouging protections, and every California business should keep the law's requirements in mind, despite the debate over whether these statutes help consumers, say attorneys at Cooley.
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Opinion
Judge Should Not Have Been Reprimanded For Alito Essay
Senior U.S. District Judge Michael Ponsor's New York Times essay critiquing Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito for potential ethical violations absolutely cannot be construed as conduct prejudicial to the administration of the business of the courts, says Ashley London at the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University.
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Opinion
Congress Must Consider Accurate Data About Patent Thickets
If Congress revisits a controversial bill this year aimed at limiting the number of patents pharmaceutical manufacturers could assert, it must make sure to act based on accurate reports — such as a recent U.S. Patent and Trademark Office study that found no evidence of patent thicketing, says David Kappos at the Council for Innovation Promotion.
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Lights, Camera, Ethics? TV Lawyers Tend To Set Bad Example
Though fictional movies and television shows portraying lawyers are fun to watch, Hollywood’s inaccurate depictions of legal ethics can desensitize attorneys to ethics violations and lead real-life clients to believe that good lawyers take a scorched-earth approach, says Nancy Rapoport at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
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SEC Motion Response Could Reveal New Crypto Approach
Cumberland DRW recently filed to dismiss the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement action against it for the unlawful purchase and sale of digital asset securities, and the agency's response should unveil whether, and to what extent, the Trump administration will relax the federal government’s stance on digital asset regulation, say attorneys at O'Melveny.
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Steel Cases Test Executive Authority, Judicial Scope
Lawsuits challenging former President Joe Biden’s order blocking the merger of Japan's Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel may shape how future administrations wield presidential authority over foreign investment in the name of national security, says Hdeel Abdelhady at MassPoint Legal.
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Will 4th Time Be A Charm For NY's 21st Century Antitrust Act?
New York's recently introduced 21st Century Antitrust Act would change the landscape of antitrust enforcement in the state and probably result in a sharp increase in claims — but first, the bill needs to gain traction after three aborted attempts, says Tyler Ross at Shinder Cantor.
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Perspectives
Accountant-Owned Law Firms Could Blur Ethical Lines
KPMG’s recent application to open a legal practice in Arizona represents the first overture by an accounting firm to take advantage of the state’s relaxed law firm ownership rules, but enforcing and supervising the practice of law by nonattorneys could prove particularly challenging, says Seth Laver at Goldberg Segalla.
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How FTC Consumer Protection May Fare Under Reg Freeze
Attorneys at Crowell & Moring consider how President Donald Trump's executive order directing agencies to freeze all pending rulemaking activity may frustrate any Federal Trade Commission efforts to change or eliminate rules that made it across the finish line before the inauguration.