By David Golden

The Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Monday that it would not challenge recent revisions to the Patent Policy of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standards Association (“IEEE-SA”)—giving the green light to new Wi-Fi standards that computers, smartphones and tablets will follow in connecting to the Internet.

The Antitrust Division’s decision removes one of the last barriers to the implementation of the revised Patent Policy, which governs the licensing of patents essential to IEEE standards, such as the ubiquitous Wi-Fi networking protocols.  The changes could lead to cheaper devices for consumers.

We blogged about the IEEE-SA’s preliminary adoption of the changes earlier this year, following a Federal Circuit decision that required trial courts to consider a standard-setting organization’s patent-licensing policy when calculating patent royalty rates and damages.  The IEEE-SA submitted its revised policy to the government under the Antitrust Division’s Business Review  program.

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By Seth D. Greenstein

A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has reversed a jury’s verdict that a horse breeding association illegally conspired with some of its members to exclude genetically cloned horses from its elite quarter horse breeding registry, holding the plaintiffs’ circumstantial evidence was insufficient to rebut an inference of independent conduct.

The court in Abraham & Veneklasen Joint Venture v. American Quarter Horse Association also discussed, but declined to decide, whether the American Quarter Horse Association (the “AQHA”) constitutes a single entity incapable of conspiracy, or whether the independent entities comprising the association were capable of engaging in concerted action.

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By Allison F. Sheedy

Sysco Corp. announced a divestiture plan this week that it claims should address concerns of the Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) about the food behemoth’s proposed acquisition of US Foods, which would combine the two largest food distributors in the United States.

Sysco, the nation’s largest food distributor, said on Monday that it is prepared to sell 11 US Foods distribution centers in the West and Midwest to smaller competitor Performance Foods Group, should the FTC approve its pending deal, which would give Sysco more than 25% of the national market, before divestitures, in the business of buying food and other supplies and selling them to restaurants, hospitals and other institutions. The company has been in discussions with the FTC for over a year with no resolution in sight. What does this proposed divestiture mean for the deal?

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By Daniel Vitelli and Axel Bernabe

A Massachusetts state court on Thursday derailed the settlement of a challenge to the proposed merger of Partners Health System with rivals South Shore Health and Educational Corp. (South Shore Hospital) and Hallmark Health Corp. (Lawrence Memorial Hospital and Melrose-Wakefield Hospital) by taking the unusual step of rejecting a proposed consent judgment negotiated by the state’s top antitrust enforcer.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Janet L. Sanders was swayed by arguments of opponents of the merger that the acquisitions would enhance Partners’ market power and enable it to increase health care costs.

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Here are some of the developments in antitrust news this past week that we found interesting and are following.

China Vitamin C Price-Fixing Verdict Scrutinized by Court.  Federal courts often find the extent to which U.S. antitrust laws have a global reach to be one of the thorniest issues to deal with.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is wrestling with this issue as it reviews a $147.8 million jury verdict against two Chinese vitamin C makers.

Albertsons and Safeway agree to divest 168 stores to win antitrust approval for merger.   Two top supermarket chains are having a special sale – 168 stores – in order to win FTC approval of their $9.2 billion merger.

FTC Puts Conditions on Sun Pharmaceutical’s Proposed Acquisition of Ranbaxy.  Pharmaceutical companies Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. have agreed to divest Ranbaxy’s interests in generic minocycline tablets  in order to settle FTC charges that Sun’s $4 billion proposed acquisition of Ranbaxy would be anticompetitive.  Completion of the deal would create the world’s fifth-largest  (and India’s largest) drug maker.