The Antitrust Week In Review

Here are some of the developments in antitrust news this past week that we found interesting and are following.

FTC objects to Qualcomm submission of Apple documents in antitrust case.  The U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Thursday objected to a move by mobile chip supplier Qualcomm Inc. to introduce internal Apple Inc. documents in its fight to stop the enforcement of a May antitrust ruling. On Tuesday, Qualcomm submitted them to U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in opposition to a sweeping ruling that would alter its business model as it pursues an appeal. In the slides from internal Apple presentations, the iPhone maker outlined goals to “Create Leverage by Building Pressure” and “Hurt Qualcomm Financially.”

Antitrust lawsuit opposing Sprint/T-Mobile merger picks up 4 more states.  Four states — Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Nevada — have joined nine states and the District of Columbia in the legal fight to block T-Mobile US Inc.’s proposed $26.5 billion merger with Sprint Corp. Both sides tentatively agreed to an Oct. 7 trial date at an initial status hearing Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The trial is expected to last two to three weeks. Judge Victor Marrero did not agree to the date yet, acknowledging that the U.S. Department of Justice is still negotiating with the Nos. 3 and 4 wireless carriers.

U.S. settles antitrust charges with Fox, CBS, Scripps, Cox, Tegna.  The U.S. Justice Department said on Monday it had settled antitrust charges with CBS Corp., Cox Enterprises Inc., E.W. Scripps Co., Fox Corp. and Tegna Inc., which were accused of sharing competitively sensitive information. “All five companies are alleged to have engaged in unlawful information sharing among their owned broadcast television stations,” the department said in a statement.

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