In May 2008, the DOJ sued the Consolidated Multiple Listing Service of Columbia, S.C., alleging that the operators of the service violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act by 1) requiring applicants for membership to discuss the nature of their businesses with a committee of incumbent members who had the power to deny membership to […]
Category Archives: High Importance
Liquid Crystal Display Screen Producers Plead Guilty to Price Fixing
April 26, 2009 – 7:52 pm
Update April 2009: An LG executive has agreed to plead guilty, serve a 1 year prison sentence, and pay a $30,000 fine for his role in the LCD cartel. Update March 2009: Hitachi has agreed to pay a $31 million fine and cooperate in the investigation. LG, Sharp, and Chunghwa Picture Tubes all pled guilty […]
FTC Challenges Drug Acquisitions
January 4, 2009 – 3:27 pm
The FTC, along with the state of Minnesota, has sued Ovation Pharmaceuticals, arguing that the drug company acted anticompetitively in aquiring over the course of several months in 2005 and 2006 the only two drugs available in the US to treat a certain congenital heart defects. It acquired Indocin in August 2005, while a potentially competitive drug, […]
Court Dimisses Per Se Challenge to Staples/HP Printer Ink Deal
December 1, 2008 – 6:19 pm
A class action complaint alleged that the Staples/HP deal in which Staples agreed to stop selling its own ink for HP printers and instead to promote the HP band of ink constituted a per se illegal horizontal agreement not to compete. Apparently intending to reach the appellate level quickly, the plaintiffs alleged only a per […]
Court Denies NHL Motion to Dismiss Based on Single Entity Defense
October 14, 2008 – 10:52 am
Madison Square Garden has sued the National Hockey League, arguing that the league anticompetitively restrains competition among the teams in ways that are not necessary to the joint venture. Most relevant to the case is MSG’s claim that the league has anticompetitively forced all of the teams to use a standardized website. The NHL moved […]
DOJ & FTC Squabble Over Section 2 Guidelines
September 10, 2008 – 10:46 am
After a series of joint meetings to help clarify enforcement standards for single firm conduct, the Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, issued a report on its own. Three FTC Commissions almost immediately critisized the report as going to far in insulating single firm conduct from antitrust scrutiny. To read the report, click here.
Fantasy Football Provider Sues NFL Players’ Association
September 10, 2008 – 10:14 am
CBS Interactive, a provider of fantasy football games, has challenged in the District of Minnesota the NFL Players’ Associate demand for licensing fees for the right to use player statistics as part of its game. CBS Interative argues that the players demand constitutes an attempt to monopolize the fantasy football market. This case mirrors a […]