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
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
On September 17, 2024, a unanimous panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted an appeal from a group of professional swimmers and the International Swimming League (“ISL”) (together, “Plaintiffs”) in their ongoing...more
A three-judge panel from the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit overturned an executive’s bid-rigging antitrust conviction, holding that the district court erred in applying the per se standard to the executive’s...more
Dionex Softron GmbH v. Agilent Techs., Inc., Appeal No. 21-2372 (Fed. Cir. Jan. 6, 2023) - This week’s Case of the Week, the only precedential patent opinion issued by the Federal Circuit this week, focused primarily on...more
In an important decision on August 19, 2021, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Aya Healthcare Services, Inc. v. AMN Healthcare, Inc. affirmed the grant of summary judgment in favor of AMN, finding that the...more
Joint venture analysis remains an area of confusion in antitrust law. Courts have tended to elevate form over substance, misapply economic principles, and lose focus of the basic purposes of the antitrust laws, i.e.,...more
In a recent decision, Ixchel Pharma, LLC v. Biogen, Inc., the Supreme Court of California opened the door for some restrictive covenants between commercial enterprises, but it left alone California law generally prohibiting...more
A new California law, Preserving Access to Affordable Drugs, AB-824 (the Act), which is aimed at curbing reverse-payment patent settlements, took effect on January 1. The Act codifies a presumption that any transfer of value...more
Premier Health Partners (Premier), a major hospital network in Dayton, Ohio, has won dismissal of an antitrust suit originally filed by a rival hospital. A physician-owned, for-profit hospital filed suit in 2012, alleging...more
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and 11 of its member conferences are on trial in In Re: National Collegiate Athletic Association Grant-in-Aid Cap Antitrust Litigation (4:14-md-2541) to defend against...more
On the eve of trial, and after years of litigation (including an appeal to the Sixth Circuit), all claims by Dayton, Ohio hospital The Medical Center at Elizabeth Place (“MCEP”) against Premier Health Partners (“Premier”)...more
On November 21, 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld a 2014 jury verdict for AstraZeneca (AZ) and Ranbaxy regarding a 2012 payment of $700 million from AstraZeneca for Ranbaxy to abandon its challenge...more
In Perfect Surgical Techniques, Inc. v. Olympus America, Inc., the Federal Circuit vacated and remanded a USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision in an Inter Partes Review proceeding, finding that the PTAB imposed too...more
On November 7, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review an appeal from a Third Circuit decision finding that a settlement between GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Teva) involving the...more
Last week the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a major win for American Express in a landmark decision in United States v. American Express Co. In that case the government filed an antitrust suit against...more
On November 25, 2015, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the $156 million antitrust judgment in MM Steel, L.P. v. JSW Steel (USA) Incorporated; Nucor Corporation, upholding a jury verdict that found one...more
In a class action brought under the Sherman Antitrust Act, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the NCAA eligibility regulations are subject to antitrust scrutiny. Applying the so-called Rule of Reason, the court held...more
On September 30, 2015, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, in part, a district court’s ruling that some of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) compensation rules were unlawful restraints on trade in...more
This morning, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the NCAA is subject to antitrust laws and that its payment rules are too restrictive in attempting to maintain amateurism. However, in what can only be deemed a...more