Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner today upheld (with help of course) a ruling against a plaintiff class that accused a pair of firms from the Great White North of scheming with U.S. outfits to raise the price of sulfuric acid, a by-product for the Canadians of smelting non-ferrous metals like nickel and copper.
The
Today the Supreme Court granted review in Federal Trade Comm'n v. Watson Pharmaceuticals, No. 12-416 (U.S.), an antitrust case that presents the question of whether section 1 of the Sherman Act bars Competitor A from paying Competitor B to delay rolling out a generic drug that vies for sales with Competitor A's brand-name drug. Posts
You saw last week our post on our debut before the U.S. Supreme Court, in Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, No. 11-864 (U.S.). The post included a link to the transcript of the argument. Now you can listen to it also.
Blawgletter had the pleasure today of standing before the Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. We urged their honors to send a case we've worked on for more than nine years back to the trial court . . . for trial.
We had not done that before
If you could see Blawgletter right now, you might notice some blushing. For that of which we write betrays a streak we prefer not to show.
The story begins Monday morning, when we heard a U.S. Supreme Court justice mention "Coke on Littleton, 1628" — and instantly knew what he meant. Why the blaze of recognition? It came because we'd lately
The Federal Aviation Act pre-empts state laws that "relate[] to a price, route, or service of an air carrier." The statute thus bars state law price-fixing claims against your American Airlineses, your U.S. Airwayses, your Virgin Americas, and — yes — even your Air Gumbos and your go!s.
But what about our foreign flying friends at
The Third Circuit handles a lot of antitrust cases. It usually gets them right. It did that again last Friday, in ZF Meritor, LLC v. Eaton Corp., No. 11-3301 (3d Cir. Sept. 28, 2012).
The case involved heavy-duty truck transmissions, the kinds that go in semi-trailer rigs and dump and cement trucks. The biggest
Got non-fat dry milk?
You'll just have to trust Blawgletter that the U.S. Department of Agriculture sets minimum prices for milk producers.
Unless you want to read the 10-page SUMMARY of the process in Carlin v. DairyAmerica, Inc., No. 10-16448, slip op. at 8731-41 (9th Cir. Aug. 7, 2012).
Go ahead. We'll wait.
The Second Circuit today came out with rulings in two big commercial cases.
The first involved a "collateralized debt obligation", the second a cartel that the plaintiffs alleged fixed prices for "publication paper". Plaintiffs won both times.
The CDO case stemmed from a $60 million purchase in December 2006 by a German bank, Bayerische
K-Dur treats low potassium. We think.
Since 2003, the Federal Trade Commission has fought a losing battle to halt bargains in which a brand-name drug-maker pays a generic competitor to put off entering the market. Pacts like that, the agency urged, result in "reverse payments", which compensate a patent infringer not to do stuff that might infringe the patent. Such arrangements violate antitrust law