Antitrust Today

Pharmacists Fill Prescription For Amended Challenge To Pfizer-Wyeth Deal

A group of California pharmacies seeking to block Pfizer’s proposed buyout of Wyeth has already filled the prescription for an amended complaint in response to last week’s dismissal of their suit alleging the deal would be unhealthy for competition and jobs. U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney in San Francisco had given the pharmacies until Nov. 6 to cure their complaint, which she dismissed for failing to show...

FTC Protects Animal Health Care Markets In Approving Pfizer-Wyeth Deal

European Commission Asks If New Ballot Can Depose Microsoft Internet Explorer

Anyone who doubts that ballot design can change the course of the world needs to revisit the infamous Butterfly Ballot’s pivotal role in George Bush’s unusual path to the U.S. presidency. Perhaps realizing the decisive effects ballot design can have, the European Commission is seeking comments on a proposed Microsoft Web Browser Ballot that could weaken Microsoft Internet Explorer’s global domination. The...

Pressure Builds For Legislative Repeal Of Supreme Court Decisions That Raised Pleading Standards

The United States Supreme Court in the last two years has given defendants in federal civil cases two key victories.  Now, a powerful Senator has joined with plaintiffs’ groups in introducing a bill to repeal those decisions. The two decisions – 2007’s Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, and this year’s Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. 1937 – concern the level of detail that a plaintiff must...

It’s First Down For The NFL In The Supreme Court

Sports leagues and other joint ventures may score an antitrust victory in the Supreme Court this term that makes the Baseball Antitrust Exemption look strictly minor league. The Supreme Court will hear the case of American Needle, Inc. v. National Football League, which concerns the NFL’s practice of licensing NFL and team logos and other intellectual property exclusively through the NFL’s wholly-owned...

European Union On Verge Of Swinging Class Action Hammer

While the antitrust class action is historically an American enforcement tool, the European Union is on the verge of pressing this powerful hammer into the hands of its member states. Under a draft EU Directive, state bodies and nonprofit organizations appointed by national governments would be able to bring class actions in national courts against companies that fix prices or abuse their dominant market share. ...

Constantine Cannon Legal Victory Helps Client Achieve Outstanding Quarterly Profits

Discover Financial Services more than tripled its profits in the third fiscal quarter 2009, due in part to the antitrust settlement that Constantine Cannon and co-counsel secured last year. According to Discover’s quarterly financial statement, the company’s profits included approximately $287 million (after tax) in settlement payments relating to this lawsuit. In October 2008, Discover recovered $2.75 billion...

Canadian Class Actions Take A Step Forward

Canadian competition law litigation took a step forward last week with the decision in Irving Paper Ltd v. Atofina Chemicals Inc. et al., in which the Ontario Superior Court certified a consolidated class of direct and indirect purchasers in a horizontal price-fixing case involving the hydrogen peroxide industry.  The case has important precedential value as it represents the first time in Canada that an antitrust...

Constantine Pens A Timely And “Priceless” Tale Of Battling The Financial Giants

Constantine Cannon’s founding partner, Lloyd Constantine, has written a book that answers the timely question of how do you rescue an industry from the greed and anticompetitive conduct of financial giants?  Constantine’s answer was to lead an historic legal battle against Visa and Mastercard that led to those financial giants paying billions of dollars to America’s merchants. Constantine’s book,...

European Commission Publicizes Intel Emails In New Tack

Don’t put anything in an email that you wouldn’t want on the front page of the newspaper.  Or in a decision of the European Commission slapping a 1.06 billion Euros fine (approximately $1.5 billion) on your company.

On September 21, 2009, the Commission released a public version of its May 13 decision in which it imposed the record fine on Intel, the world’s largest semiconductor chip manufacturer, for...