Commercial Roundup has some catching up to do this week. See the jumbo installment below.
Commercial Roundup – April 16, 2024
Commercial Roundup – January 10, 2024
Welcome to the first Commercial Roundup in 2024–and Happy New Year.
“You can’t equate a benefit to some consumers to a pro-competitive effect.”
U.S. Circuit Judge Jennifer Sung made the comment December 6 during oral argument in the Federal Trade Commission’s ongoing effort to block Microsoft’s $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard, the biggest U.S. maker of video games. (Hat tip to Josh Sisco at Politico Pro.) The FTC claimed that the merger threatened to substantially reduce competition
Alaska-Hawaiian Merger Might Crash into the 2023 Draft Merger Guidelines
The $1.9 billion deal Alaska Airlines signed with Hawaiian Airlines on December 3 would enable the competitors to collaborate on the 12 routes they both fly between the Aloha State and cities on the U.S. West Coast–a small part of their overall networks. Does that mean the Antitrust Division will challenge the deal?
Probably.
I
Commercial Roundup – November 15, 2023
Welcome to the November 15, 2023 edition of Commercial Roundup. It will catch you up on the latest appellate decisions by federal appellate courts and the highest courts in Delaware, New York, and Texas on antitrust, arbitration, class actions, intellectual property, securities, and other important issues in complex business and commercial disputes.
- Expert witness
What $26.3 Billion Bought Google, and the Cost of Secrecy
Last Friday, October 27, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta overruled an objection by Google’s trial counsel to a question about how much the online search and ad giant pays Apple and other browser providers for making Google’s search engine the default. The lawyer claimed that making the dollar amount public would hurt Google’s negotiating position
Commercial Roundup – August 23, 2023
This late-summer edition of Commercial Roundup features a notable ruling on personal jurisdiction, a pair of False Claims Act decisions, a couple of opinions tossing class certification orders, a 2-1 split in a securities fraud case (the dissent has the better end of it), a rare victory for plaintiffs in an action for unlawful maintenance
Big Boost in Antitrust Funding Won’t Happen in 2023
As I mentioned last month in Antitrust Enforcers Must Have More Funding, the Antitrust Division in the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission need a boost of $340 million from current funding just to return them (in constant dollars) to 1979
Commercial Roundup – July 26, 2023
Welcome to the Commercial Roundup for July 26, 2023. With the U.S Supreme Court and the highest courts of New York and Texas on hiatus, the Supreme Court of Delaware and nine of the 13 U.S. Courts of Appeals supplied the commercial decisions that Roundup has cut into little pieces for you to sample.
- Antitrust
Paying More in the “But-For World” as Injury to “Property”
Last month, the American Antitrust Institute and three economists moved to file amicus briefs in favor of an economic model that quantifies what Google describes as “happiness”. AAI and the economists seek to support opinion evidence in antitrust litigation against Google, In re Google Play Store Antitrust Litig., No. 3:21-md-02981-JD (N.D. Cal.), pending before