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Ninth Circuit Holds Labor Dispute No Excuse For Anticompetitive Profit-Sharing Agreement Among California Supermarkets

Posted  09/7/10
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has held that a profit-sharing agreement among the grocery store defendants in California v. Safeway, Ralph’s, Von’s, Albertson’s and Food4Less violated the Sherman Act, despite the supermarkets’ defense that the agreement was intended to respond to a labor dispute, not to eliminate competition. The Court of Appeals reversed the district court ruling, and held...

Ship Owners’ Insurance Clubs Come Under EU Microscope

Posted  09/1/10
The European Commission has opened a probe to investigate whether marine-insurance agreements among ship owners in the International Group of P&I Clubs (“IG”) restrict competition by blocking rivals from the market. The IG is comprised of 13 worldwide “protection and indemnity” clubs of ship owners, which together provide insurance to approximately 93 percent of ocean ships. The Commission is concerned...

Feds Debut Kinder, Gentler Horizontal Merger Guidelines

Posted  08/27/10
On August 19, 2010 – after 18 years, including a year-long revision process – the DOJ and FTC finally released a new – and kinder, gentler – version of the Horizontal Merger Guidelines. The Guidelines, originally adopted in 1968 and previously revised in 1992, “outline the principal analytical techniques, practices and the enforcement policy of the [DOJ and FTC] with respect to mergers . . . involving...

NOT DEAD YET: Third Circuit Almost, But Not Quite, Kills Massive Suit Against Insurers

Posted  08/23/10
The Third Circuit has affirmed the dismissal of most of the claims in a massive antitrust class action against most of America’s biggest insurance companies. Due to their failure to meet heightened pleading requirements, the plaintiffs in In re: Employee Benefit Insurance Brokerage Antitrust Litigation will not be able to pursue their claims of per se violations of Section 1 of the Sherman Act.  The plaintiffs...

Gambling Company Rolls Dice On Lawsuit And Comes Up Snake-Eyes

Posted  08/16/10
Thanks to a Nevada federal judge that dismissed its antitrust suit, casino payment company Sightline Payments, LLC, might be experiencing some fear and loathing in Las Vegas. In March, Sightline sued its larger competitor, Global Cash Access Holdings, Inc., under Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act, and under Section 7 of the Clayton Act.  Both companies offer services to provide cash access at casinos. ...

Magazine Wholesaler’s Collusion Case Felled By Twombly

Posted  08/13/10
Judge Paul Crotty of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed with prejudice an antitrust suit brought by bankrupt magazine wholesaler Anderson News LLC against a host of single-issue magazine publishers. Crotty ruled that Anderson's allegations of a broad industry-wide conspiracy did not meet the plausibility standards set forth in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007),...

Opposition Mounts Against Measure To Limit Interstate Wine And Beer Sales

Posted  08/11/10
A bill introduced in the House this spring to allow states greater authority to regulate the interstate shipment of alcohol is facing growing opposition. In the latest declaration against the bill, the California Assembly last week unanimously passed Senate Joint Resolution 34, urging Congress to defeat H.R. 5034, the Comprehensive Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness (CARE) Act of 2010. The CARE Act is a short...

Europe Investigating IBM For Anticompetitive Behavior In Computer Mainframe Market

Posted  08/9/10
Big Blue is under scrutiny again by antitrust authorities – this time in the European Union. On July 26, 2010, the European Commission opened two formal investigations of International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) to probe allegations of IBM’s anticompetitive behavior in the mainframe computer market.  These investigations come on the heels of the investigation launched in October 2009 by the U.S. Department...

FTC Considers New Antitrust Exemptions To Rejuvenate Old Media

Posted  08/2/10
New antitrust immunity for old media is one of the options discussed by the FTC staff in its recently released Discussion Draft on proposals to support “reinventing” journalism.  The Draft is part of a project begun in May 2009 to consider the challenges faced by journalism in the digital age. After reciting well-known statistics about the broad decline of print media (revenue declines, staffing cuts, the...

Oneworld Airline Alliance Granted Antitrust Immunity By U.S. And E.U.

Posted  07/29/10
More than a decade after British Airlines and American Airlines first sought antitrust immunity for their global alliance, the U.S. Department of Transportation last week granted their request. The immunity allows the members of the so-called Oneworld Alliance – including British Airlines, American Airlines, and Iberia of Spain – to coordinate on prices, capacity, and service.  The U.S. approval follows on the...
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