Fierce Competition Podcast | Private Equity Under the Antitrust Microscope
The Latest on Antitrust Compliance
In Gibson v. Cendyn Group, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit became the first federal court of appeals to evaluate an antitrust claim based on algorithmic pricing. The plaintiffs-appellants brought suit under...more
On August 15, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit raised the bar for bringing antitrust claims against companies that provide or use pricing algorithms. The decision begins to clarify an area of antitrust...more
In what Epic Games’ CEO describes as a “[t]otal victory in the Epic v. Google appeal”, on July 31, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a 2023 jury verdict (along with the contours entry of the...more
Key Takeaways - A recent statement of interest from the U.S. Department of Justice focuses on “fact checking” efforts as potential antitrust violations due to the potential to suppress competition within the “marketplace of...more
Recent antitrust litigation in the cannabis and vape sectors signals intensified scrutiny of pricing practices, distribution restraints, and exclusionary conduct. Two recent cases, Redbud Roots, Inc. v. Shenzhen Smoore...more
The real estate industry is again in the antitrust spotlight, with recent lawsuits targeting the market dominance and listing policies of major players like Zillow, Inc. (Zillow) and the National Association of Realtors...more
The Supreme Court has been asked to review the Fourth Circuit’s Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC v. NTE Carolinas II opinion endorsing the controversial “monopoly broth” theory, which permits the aggregation of independently lawful...more
On January 15, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Minnesota, and Illinois filed a lawsuit against Deere & Company (Deere). The complaint, which Michigan, Wisconsin, and Arizona have since joined, accuses Deere of creating...more
A suit brought by state attorneys general accusing Google of overseeing a broad scheme of anticompetitive conduct in digital display advertising markets will continue following a Jan. 28, 2025, ruling from the Eastern...more
Recently, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s decision finding a delegation clause in an arbitration agreement to be both procedurally and substantively unconscionable and, moreover, that...more
Case pits newcomer against colossus said to control as much as 80-90% of the market. Particle Health Inc., a young healthcare data platform provider, has filed an antitrust complaint against Epic Systems Corp., the dominant...more
Six Simple Steps to Avoid Sanctions for Failure to Preserve Electronic Evidence - I’m not a lawyer, and far be it for me to give legal advice, but I’ve lived and worked around lawyers for all of my professional legal career,...more
On August 1, 2024, following five years of litigation, Tevra’s antitrust suit against Bayer Healthcare LLC came to an end. Tevra, a manufacturer of generic version topical flea and tick medications, alleged that Bayer engaged...more
Following a nine-week bench trial starting in September 2023 and closing arguments in May 2024, District of Columbia district court judge Amit Mehta ruled on August 5, 2024, that Google illegally maintained its monopoly in...more
United States Attorney General Merrick Garland, giving remarks about the lawsuit, highlighted public criticism over Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s “exorbitant fees and technological failures” and stated that this lawsuit is “what...more
On May 8, 2024, Chief Judge Miranda Du of the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada granted defendants’ motion to dismiss with prejudice the complaint in Gibson v. Cendyn Group, LLC, Docket No. 2:23-cv-00140-MMD-DJA,...more
For the third time in as many months, the U.S. federal antitrust enforcement authorities -- the Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice -- have filed a statement of interest in an...more
“The wild west” is by far the most frequent characterization used to describe college sports since NCAA v Alston, 141 S. Ct. 2141, paved the way for college athletes to be compensated for use of their Name, Image, and...more
On December 13, a West Virginia federal judge placed a temporary hold on an NCAA rule (NCAA Division I Bylaw 14.5.5.1) requiring certain student-athletes who transferred schools to wait a year before competing in games. This...more
The third quarter of 2023 was eventful for both domestic and international cartel enforcers. In the United States, the Department of Justice (DOJ) continues to revamp policies to sharpen its enforcement efforts. On...more
On September 26, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and 17 state attorneys general filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington against Amazon.com, Inc. under Section 5 of the FTC...more
In August, we wrote about whether antitrust liability might be in the PGA Tour’s future through a reported DOJ Antitrust Division investigation about the PGA Tour’s actions relating to LIV Golf and about PGA Tour bylaws...more
A group of 42 AGs settled with Indivior Inc. to resolve allegations that the pharmaceutical company violated the Sherman Act and state antitrust laws by engaging in anticompetitive activities to impede competition from...more
A bipartisan coalition of eight AGs and the U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust suit against Google LLC alleging anticompetitive, monopolistic conduct regarding digital advertising technologies in violation of the...more
A healthcare staffing firm in Nevada just pled guilty to conspiring with a competitor to fix wages for school nurses and agreeing not to solicit each other’s workers – the nation’s first-ever successful criminal prosecution...more