The California Supreme Court refused to grant review, upholding a $21 million verdict against SF Weekly as a result of predatory pricing. Bay Guardian Co. Inc. had alleged that SF Weekly used profits from out-of-region papers to sell ad space below cost. The Defendants had appealed to the 1st Appellate District arguing that […]
Author Archives: Steve Semeraro
California Supreme Court refuses to grant review in predatory pricing Suit
January 17, 2011 – 12:12 am
State Law Damages Claims Preempted in RR Fee Fixing Class Action
January 7, 2011 – 2:18 pm
Update December 2010: The U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari on the preemption issue. Update January 2009: The court dismissed the indirect purchasers’ state law claims, holding that they were preempted by the Staggers Rail Act. Under Federal antitrust law, indirect purchasers may seek injunctive relief but not damages. Many state antitrust laws, by contrast, permit indirect […]
Programmable Controller Monopolization Case to Move Toward Discovery
December 18, 2010 – 10:26 am
District of Massachusetts Senior Judge Edward F. Harrington rejected a motion to dismiss Savant’s monopolization allegations against Crestron and pledging to reconsider the arguments after discovery in a motion for summary judgment. According to the plaintiff Savant, Crestron, the largest supplier of programmable controllers for residential and commercial automation in the U.S., supplies about 2,500 […]
Attack on MPEG Patent Pool Dismissed
December 14, 2010 – 1:39 pm
Update December 2010: The court again dismissed the complaint, holding that Nero’s amended complaint still failed to allege sufficient facts to back up its allegations. Nero asserted that it would appeal the decision. Central District of CA Judge Mariana Pfaelzer dismissed Nero AG’s monopolization case against the MPEG video compression technology patent for failing to […]
Robinson-Patman Act Case Based on Discriminatory Shipping Policies to Move Forward
November 11, 2010 – 5:43 pm
Western District of Washing Judge Richard Jones dismissed the Sherman Act claims, but permitted a Robinson-Patman Act claim to go forward. The plaintiff, Gorlick Distribution Centers alleged that defendant Allied Exhaust Systems agreed with supplier Car Sound Exhaust Systems to refuse to ship to Gorlick in the Pacific Northwest because of its price cutting activities. […]
No Competition Found in the Food Services Giant’s Antitrust Suit
November 11, 2010 – 2:18 pm
Update October 2010: The Supreme Court has denied certiorari, allowing the 3rd Circuit’s decision to stand. In Feesers Inc. v. Michael Foods Inc. et al., Third Circuit ruled that Feesers Inc. and Sodexo Inc. were not competing purchasers under the federal law and therefore Feesers could not show that it suffered competitive injury under […]
Standard Setting Abuse Case to Move Forward
November 11, 2010 – 12:50 pm
Eastern District of Texas Judge Leonard Davis refused to dismiss Encore Wire Corp’s claim that competitor Southwire Inc. violated California state antitrust laws by lobbying for an industry standard without disclosing that it owned a patent that would be infringed by wire conforming to the standard. Southwire sought dismissal on the ground that the statute […]
Exclusive of Generic Drugs Monopolization Case Goes Forward
October 30, 2010 – 2:37 pm
Update October 2010:The court denied GSK’s request that it reconsider its decision to allow indirect purchaser claims to move forward. Update September 2010: Tracking his decisions in the direct purchaser case, Judge Stengel dismissed claims relating to one of GSK’s patents, but otherwise permit at least one state law claim to proceed for each […]
Several Antitrust Claims Dismissed In An Antitrust Multi-District Suit Against Plush Web Toy Supplier
October 25, 2010 – 2:21 pm
Update October 2010: Judge Richard Seeborg has taken over the case and rejected Ganz’s motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s amended complaint. The court held that the amended complaint includes specific allegations of anticompetitive effects, such as the alternate suppliers who the plaintiffs had stopped buying from as a result of the defendant’s tying practices, which […]
Monopolization Case Against United Airlines Dismissed
October 19, 2010 – 4:12 pm
DC FDC Judge Richard Leon has granted summary judgment in favor of United Airlines in a case alleging that the airline monopolized the market in non-stop flights from San Francisco to the Washington Dulles area. In a putative class action, the plaintiff alleged that United’s rules prohibiting resale of tickets restrained competition from the secondary […]