Straight Talks: New players, new rules - IP disruption in the automobile industry
On March 7, 2025, the FTC filed a complaint in federal court seeking to block GTCR BC Holdings, LLC, a Chicago private equity firm, from acquiring Surmodics, Inc. The FTC alleges that Surmodics is the leading provider of a...more
In the FTC’s first merger challenge of the new administration, the FTC voted 4-0 last week to challenge the proposed acquisition of Surmodics by private equity firm GTCR BC Holdings (“GTCR”). As the Trump administration’s...more
A Massachusetts federal court recently granted summary judgment in favor of a motorcycle manufacturer and dismissed claims by a dealer who argued the manufacturer’s internet sales policy breached the dealer agreement between...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
On 21 February 2025, the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) unanimously dismissed Stellantis's claim for €770 million in damages against Autoliv, a leading global manufacturer of automotive occupant safety systems ("OSS"),...more
We ring in 2025 with a new edition of Plugged In. In this edition, Bob Weiss contemplates the critical challenges facing Volkswagen. From missteps in strategy to fierce competition in China and unprecedented restructuring...more
Foley & Lardner announced the 2024 installment of its Auto Trends series—A Year in Review: Updates, Trends and the Road Ahead. This series delves deep into the transformative forces shaping the automotive world by providing...more
At the close of 2022, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed the “Digital Fair Repair Act” (S4101A/A7006-B) (to be codified at N.Y. GBL §399-nn) (the “Act”). The law makes New York the first state in the country to pass a...more
In a reversal that came as no surprise to many observers, on Tuesday, August 11, 2020, a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the decision by the U.S. District Court for the Northern...more
While dissenting from the Supreme Court’s 1992 decision in Eastman Kodak Co. v. Image Technical Services, Inc., Justice Scalia warned that the opinion “threatens to release a torrent of litigation and a flood of commercial...more
Not long ago, an automotive “innovation” meant a new way of engineering a powertrain or emissions system, which would then be patented by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) or supplier. A “gentlemen’s agreement”...more
On September 6, 2017, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) quashed the 2014 judgment of the General Court (GC) that upheld a fine of €1.06 billion ($1.5 billion) on Intel Corporation Inc. (Intel) for abusing a...more