Antitrust Group

Payments News Update -- April 24, 2019

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: The Government's Set a Steep Learning Curve for Crypto Compliance PaymentSource PayThink – April 22, 2019 The market and regulatory forces that fueled a substantial uptick in merger and acquisition activity in the blockchain industry in the U.S. in 2018 are expected to continue through 2019. Cryptocurrency prices remain significantly below their high-water...

The Antitrust Week In Review

Here are some of the developments in antitrust news this past week that we found interesting and are following.. Apple and Qualcomm Settle All Disputes Worldwide.  For the past two years, Apple and Qualcomm have dueled on three continents over the division of billions of dollars of smartphone profits and even how much consumers pay for their phones. On Tuesday, just as a trial had begun in a federal courtroom in...

TCH Just Made the Case for a Federal Reserve Real-Time Payments Alternative

For many years, The Clearing House (“TCH”) has occupied an unusual space in the payments industry.  Owned by 26 of the largest banks in the United States, TCH is uniquely capable of deploying a set of payment rails that could be transformative.  Few can match what TCH brings to the table.  TCH operates a wire transfer platform (CHIPS), an ACH network (EPN), a check imaging system and, most consequentially, a...

Plaintiffs Targeting Biologic-Biosimilars Settlements with Pay-for-Delay Antitrust Claims

Antitrust principles that can invalidate certain pay-for-delay settlements will be expanding into the new frontier of biologic and biosimilar drugs if plaintiffs in several new suits are successful. Recently-filed antitrust lawsuits against AbbVie, manufacturer of a leading biologic drug, Humira, and numerous biosimilar manufacturers are alleging that settlements between the AbbVie and various biosimilar...

PSD2 and the Future of Payment Services in Europe

Open Banking is a major topic of discussion in the United States as a potential solution to the lack of competition in the marketplace.  The European payments services directive (“PSD2”) is the most comprehensive Open Banking initiative we are aware of, and its progress is a good barometer of whether such regulations can successfully introduce new competition in payments.  Our London office prepared the...

Payments News Update -- April 17, 2019

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Appeals Court Revives £14B Mastercard Class Action Law360 – April 16, 2019 An appeals court in London on Tuesday revived a £14 billion ($18.3 billion) proposed class action lawsuit accusing Mastercard of flouting European Union competition law by charging consumers high credit card fees, in a test of the U.K.’s fledgling class action regime.  The Court of...

The Antitrust Week In Review

Here are some of the developments in antitrust news this past week that we found interesting and are following. Apple and Qualcomm’s Global Fight Heads to Court in San Diego.  Nasty legal battles are nothing new in the tech industry. But Apple’s conflict with the wireless chip maker Qualcomm, headed for a crucial court showdown this coming week, has a special intensity. The two companies, once partners of a...