The Antitrust Week In Review

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

Google CEO to meet EU antitrust chief on Feb. 25 – sources. Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai will meet Europe’s antitrust chief Thursday for the first time since his appointment last August, according to sources.  European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who has accused the world’s biggest Internet search engine of favoring its shopping service over rivals’ when delivering search results, is considering acting against Google.  Possible sanctions could include ordering Google to change its business practices, as well as a fine of up to 10 percent of its global turnover.

Antitrust lawsuit against NCAA moves toward bid for monetary damages. Lawyers for the plaintiffs in an antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA and 11 major conferences are asking a federal judge to grant class-action status to groups of athletes seeking monetary damages based on the difference between the value of a traditional athletic scholarship and one that also covers the full cost of attending college.  The prospective classes could cover tens of thousands of athletes and seek hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.

U.S. appeals court upholds Apple e-book settlement. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has upheld Apple’s $450 million settlement of claims that it harmed consumers by conspiring with five publishers to raise e-book prices.  The appellate court rejected a challenge to the fairness, reasonableness and adequacy of Apple’s class-action antitrust settlement with consumers and 33 state attorneys general.  The alleged conspiracy caused some e-book prices to rise to $12.99 or $14.99 from Amazon’s $9.99 price, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.