The Antitrust Week In Review
Here are some of the developments in antitrust news this past week that we found interesting and are following.
Supreme Court Rejects NCAA Appeal of O’Bannon Case. The U.S. Supreme Court will not hear the NCAA’s appeal of the Ed O’Bannon case, leaving in place lower court rulings that found amateurism rules for big-time college sports violated federal antitrust law but prohibited payments to student-athletes. The justices on Monday rejected the appeal in a class-action lawsuit originally filed by O’Bannon, a former UCLA basketball star, and later joined by other athletes. The court also rejected O’Bannon’s separate appeal that called on the justices to reinstate a plan for schools to pay football and basketball players for the uses of their names, images and likenesses.
Amazon Seeks to Settle EU Antitrust E-Book Investigation – Source. Amazon is talking to European Union antitrust regulators about settling a year-long investigation into its e-book deals with publishers without a fine, according to a source. The move comes as Amazon is also under scrutiny over its tax deal with Luxembourg, which may result in the U.S. online retailer paying millions of euros in back taxes. “Amazon is in talks to settle the e-book case but it is too early to say whether it will reach an agreement,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Google Has Until October 31 to Reply to EU’s Android Antitrust Charges. Alphabet’s Google has been given until the end of October, the fourth extension, to rebut EU antitrust charges that it uses its dominant Android mobile operating system to block competitors, according to the European Commission. The Commission in April said the U.S. technology giant’s demand that mobile phone makers pre-install Google Search and the Google Chrome browser on their smartphones to access other Google apps harms consumers and competition.
Banks Must Face U.S. Gold Rigging Lawsuit; UBS is Dismissed. A U.S. judge said gold investors may pursue much of their lawsuit accusing four major banks of conspiring for a decade to fix prices and exploit distortions at the expense of investors in global markets for the precious metal. Antitrust and manipulation claims can move forward against Barclays Plc, Bank of Nova Scotia, HSBC Holdings Plc and Societe Generale, U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan said in a decision made public on Tuesday. Investors allege that the banks conspired from 2004 to 2013 to fix prices.
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