Antitrust Today

European Commission Settles Two Swiss Franc-Related Derivatives Investigations

A View from Constantine Cannon’s London Office By Ana Rojo Prada and James Ashe-Taylor The European Commission has settled two cartel investigations and sanctioned four major banks in the Swiss Franc-related derivatives market, imposing total fines of approximately 94 million euros, for violations of European Union antitrust rules. Interest rate derivatives (including swaps, futures and options) are...

Brussels Antitrust Seminar Demonstrates Shifting European Landscape For Competition Enforcement In Wake Of ECJ MasterCard Judgment

A View from Constantine Cannon’s London Office By Irene Fraile and Richard Pike The recent judgment by the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) in the MasterCard case is sparking a lively debate about how antitrust enforcement of payment system regimes should evolve in the European Union, as evidenced by an antitrust seminar co-sponsored by Constantine Cannon in Brussels on Monday. The ECJ’s MasterCard...

Apple’s Appellate Challenge Of E-Books Monitor Moves To Procedural Battlefield

By Allison F. Sheedy Apple’s battle in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit against a court-appointed external antitrust compliance monitor is winding its way through a procedural thicket as the Second Circuit prepares to consider the merits of Apple’s appeal. Apple is appealing an order by Judge Denise Cote of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York refusing to disqualify...

Google’s Settlement Offer Sparks European Debate

A View from Constantine Cannon’s London Office By James Ashe-Taylor and Ana Rojo Prada

Debate continues over Google’s settlement offer in search and advertising investigation as European Commission indicates that more is needed.

Google and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp have traded blows publicly following comments by the European Commission indicating that it would reopen its antitrust investigation into...

Antitrust Regulators Taking Aim At Drug Companies’ “Forced Switching”

By Rosa M. Morales Signs continue to accumulate that antitrust regulators are on the lookout for innovative anticompetitive tactics by pharmaceutical companies seeking to delay entry of lower-priced generic drugs. This growing interest by federal and state regulators in policing the anticompetitive suppression of generic drugs was the subject of a recent post on this blog by Ankur Kapoor.  Among the antitrust...

Regulators Prescribing Higher Dose Of Pharmaceutical Antitrust Enforcement

By Ankur Kapoor Antitrust enforcers returned to their offices after Labor Day, refreshed and ready to tackle what they view to be anticompetitive practices by pharmaceutical companies to delay entry of lower-priced generic drugs. In addition to recent enforcement efforts by antitrust regulators, two federal courts have issued opinions supporting the theory underlying the enforcers’ new efforts to police...

European Commission Slaps Smart Card Chips Cartel With Fines

A View from Constantine Cannon’s London Office By Irene Fraile The European Commission has imposed fines totaling 138 million euros on smart card chips producers Infineon, Philips and Samsung for breaching European Union antitrust laws that prohibit cartels. According to the Commission, from September 2003 to September 2005, the companies engaged in a cartel to restrain competition relating to the smart...

Credit Default Swap Class Action Clears Motions To Dismiss And Proceeds To Discovery

By David Golden On Thursday, Judge Denise Cote of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York refused to dismiss a class-action antitrust lawsuit involving the $21 trillion credit default swap (“CDS”) market, permitting the case to proceed to discovery. The plaintiffs in In re Credit Default Swaps Antitrust Litigation allege that some of the largest investment banks in the United States –...

MFNs Becoming A Battleground In FCC’s Review Of Comcast/Time Warner Deal

By Allison F. Sheedy The biggest regulatory review of the year—the Federal Communications Commission’s examination of Comcast Corp.’s proposed acquisition of Time Warner, Inc.—has taken an interesting foray into analyzing competitive tactics, with the FCC’s invitation to media companies to confidentially raise concerns about Comcast’s use of most favored nation (“MFN”) provisions in its contracts to...

NCAA’s Loss In O’Bannon Trial May Be Only A Partial Victory For Competition

By Jeffrey Shinder and David Scupp Although competition scored a win on Friday in the student athletes’ antitrust suit led by former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon against the NCAA, it wasn’t a complete blowout. Judge Claudia Wilken of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a 99-page decision that permanently enjoins the NCAA from enforcing its blanket restriction on FBS...