Southern District of New York Judge Denise L. Cote stayed multidistrict litigation against HarperCollins Publishers LLC and Hachette Book Group Inc. after the two publishers agreed to settle with the 15 states and Puerto Rico that had filed antitrust claims similar to those filed by the United States Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, against Apple […]
Author Archives: Steve Semeraro
EU Court Upholds MasterCard Interchange Fee Ban
May 30, 2012 – 12:17 pm
European Union’s General Court affirmed a 2007 European Commission decision banning MasterCard Inc.’s multilateral interchange fees because the fees inflated the financial institutions’ actual costs and thwarted competition. The court rejected MasterCard’s claims that the fees were objectively necessary to run its payment system, pointing out that it was unlikely that many banks would stop […]
SD Memory Card Suit Dismissed For Being Time-Barred
May 30, 2012 – 11:42 am
In Oliver et al. v. SD-3C LLC et al., Northern District of California Judge Jeffery S. White dismissed a putative consumer class action accusing Panasonic Corp., Toshiba Corp., and SanDisk Corp. of trying to corner the SD memory card market by requiring competitors to enter restrictive patent-licensing agreements that allegedly inflated prices. Defendants filed a […]
Court Revives Trojan Condom Trademark Infringement Claim
May 30, 2012 – 9:35 am
In Church & Dwight Co. Inc. v. Mayer Laboratories Inc., Northern District of California Judge Edward M. Chen granted Mayer Laboratories Inc.’s motion for reconsideration, reviving Mayer’s claim that Trojan condom maker Church & Dwight Co. Inc. had infringed its trademark for the term “microthin.” This case originally began in 2008, when C&D filed an […]
Canada’s Highest Court Decides To Address Indirect Purchaser Class Certification Issue
May 30, 2012 – 8:57 am
In Pro-Sys Consultants Ltd. et al. v. Microsoft Corp. et al., Canada’s highest court granted defendants leave to appeal the decision from a Quebec appeals court that granted class certification to indirect purchasers of dynamic random access memory. This is the third case addressing this issue that is now pending before the Supreme Court of […]
Baseball Fans Launch Antitrust Suit Over Internet and TV Baseball Game Packages
May 16, 2012 – 12:06 pm
In Garber et al. v. Office of the Commissioner of Baseball et al., a group of baseball fans launched a putative class action against Major League Baseball Enterprises Inc., the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, several baseball clubs, and several cable and Internet providers, including Comcast and Directv LLC, claiming their live-game video offerings […]
Resale Price Maintenance Agreements Held To Be Legal In New York
May 16, 2012 – 12:04 pm
In People of the State of New York et al. v. Tempur-Pedic International Inc., New York state appeals court upheld a dismissal of the state’s suit against Tempur-Pedic International Inc., claiming that Tempur-Pedic’s policy forbidding retailers of its products from setting their prices below the range set out by the company’s guidelines, constitutes illegal resale […]
First Circuit Revives U-Haul Price-Fixing Suit
May 16, 2012 – 12:02 pm
In Liu et al. v. Amerco et al., First Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the dismissal of a putative class action brought against U-Haul International, Inc., alleging that it invited its rival, Avis Budget Group, Inc., to collude on truck rental prices. In her suit, plaintiff claimed that U-Haul’s unfair and deceptive practices caused her […]
Kansas Supreme Court Saves Fashion Accessories Price-Fixing Suit
May 16, 2012 – 11:59 am
In O’Brien et al. v. Leegin Creative Leather Products Inc., Kansas Supreme Court overturned a state district court decision to grant Brighton Collectibles, a unit of Leegin Creative Leather Products Inc., summary judgment in the state antitrust consumer class action suit. In their suit, the plaintiffs allege that Brighton’s policy, requiring all of its retailers […]
Antitrust Claim Based on Nike/Apple Joint Venture Dismissed
May 1, 2012 – 4:54 pm
In Cherdak v. Vock et al., Eastern District of Virginia Judge Liam O’Grady dismissed antitrust claims filed by an inventor against Apple, Nike, and PhatRat. The plaintiff alleged that a fitness monitoring system sold by Apple and Nike infringed his patents. Apple and Nike licensed patent rights from PhatRat, a company that, the plaintiff alleged, […]