Southern District of New York Judge P. Kevin Castel dismissed a class action complaint against the sellers of Prilosec for failure to allege a plausible relevant product market. American Sales Co. Inc.’s proposed class action alleges AstraZeneca AB and The Procter & Gamble Co. initiated sham patent suits in order to perpetuate an unlawful monopoly […]
Author Archives: Steve Semeraro
FCC Orders AT&T to Surrender Subscriber Numbers in San Antonio Market
July 20, 2011 – 2:27 pm
The Federal Communications Commission granted Time Warner Cable Inc.’s petition to order AT&T Inc. to reveal subscriber numbers in certain San Antonio communities in order to allow Time Warner Cable to demonstrate it is subject to effective competition in the market. The FCC Media Bureau overruled AT&T’s confidentiality objections in ruling that Time Warner needed […]
Pay-for-Delay Generic Drug Deals Decline in Europe While Numbers Rise in US
July 20, 2011 – 2:25 pm
In the EU, the number of so-called pay-for-delay settlements between brand-name drugmakers and generics companies has dropped to 3 percent of the industry’s patent settlements last year, as opposed to 10 percent in 2009. The Commission is concerned that such deals designed to delay the release of a generic drug in return for a payment […]
European Commission Proceeds in Price-Fixing Case Against Electrical Cable Makers
July 20, 2011 – 2:24 pm
The European Commission accused 12 cable makers of colluding to fix the prices of the underground and submarine power cables used in electricity grids. The commission did not name the companies it targeted, but Italy’s Prysmian, France’s Nexans, Denmark’s NKT Holding A/S, Switzerland’s ABB Ltd. and subsidiaries of General Cable Corp. of the U.S. confirmed […]
Gallery’s Antitrust and Trade Disparagement Claims Dismissed
July 20, 2011 – 2:23 pm
Southern District of New York Judge Barbara S. Jones dismissed a lawsuit accusing Marlborough Gallery Inc. of an attempt to monopolize and unfairly eliminate competition for the ceramic works of artist Chu Teh-Chun. In the lawsuit, SARL Galerie Enrico Navarra alleged that Marlborough sought to discredit the gallery and the reproductions of ceramic plates it […]
Antitrust Class Action Against Apple Dismissed
July 20, 2011 – 2:22 pm
Northern District of California Judge James Ware has dismissed with prejudice a putative class action alleging that Apple Inc. violated the antitrust laws by updating its iTunes media player software to thwart programs that would have removed encryption from music files sold through the iTunes Music Store. The suit, filed on behalf of Itunes music […]
En Banc Ninth Circuit Holds that Grocers Agreement To Share Profits in the Event of a Strike Subject to Rule of Reason
July 14, 2011 – 2:33 pm
Update July 2011: An en banc panel of the 9th Circuit reversed, holding that although the supermarket chains’ profit sharing agreement was subject to antitrust review, the panel erred in treating it as inherently anticompetitive. Because the purpose of the agreement was to support the chains in collective bargaining negotiations, and thus lower labor costs, […]
Tractor Price Discrimination Suit Fails
July 7, 2011 – 5:30 pm
The Sixth Circuit has heldthat the plaintiff’s failure to specifically plead facts of price discrimination was fatal to New Albany Tractor Inc.’s complaint against Louisville Tractor Inc. and Metalcraft of Mayville Inc. over mowing equipment. The Court cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s Twombly and Iqbaldecisions for the proposition that a plaintiff could not use the discovery process to obtain the […]
Motions to Dismiss Denied in Prosthetics Gel Liner Patent Case
July 7, 2011 – 5:25 pm
Southern District of Ohio Judge Edmund A. Sargus, Jr., denied motions to dismiss a complaint against prosthetics maker The Ohio Willow Wood Co. Inc. and inventor Bruce Kania, rejecting the defendants’ argument that the suit failed to state a claim under Section 1 of the Sherman Act because it alleges harm caused by patent enforcement. […]