The Antitrust Week In Review

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

Amazon Offers to Scrap E-book Clauses to Settle EU Antitrust Probe.  Amazon has offered to alter its e-book contracts with publishers in a bid to end an EU antitrust probe and stave off a possible fine, the European Commission said on Tuesday.  Amazon, the biggest e-book distributor in Europe, proposed to drop some clauses in its contracts so publishers will not be forced to give it terms as good as those for rivals, the Commission said.  Such clauses relate to business models, release dates, catalogs of e-books, features of e-books, promotions, agency prices, agency commissions and wholesale prices.

Judge Blocks Aetna’s $37 Billion Deal for Humana.  A federal judge ruled that a $37 billion merger between the health insurance giants Aetna and Humana should not be allowed to go through on antitrust grounds, siding with the U.S. Justice Department, which had been seeking to block the deal.  The deal is one of two mega-mergers proposed by the nation’s largest health insurers; both were challenged by the Obama administration. Another federal judge is expected to rule soon on the case involving Anthem and Cigna, the larger of the two deals, at $48 billion.

FTC Settles Pay-for-Delay Lawsuit, Files Two Related Complaints.  The U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced that it has settled allegations that Endo Pharmaceuticals violated antitrust law when it agreed to pay rivals Watson Laboratories and Impax to delay introducing generic versions of two painkillers.  The FTC filed charges against Watson, and Allergan Plc , accusing it of breaking the law by reaching an agreement with Endo to block a generic competitor for the local anesthetic Lidoderm.

As Regulators Waver, Apple Takes on Qualcomm in Courts.  Apple’s new legal assault on Qualcomm in the United States and China reflects its conclusion that regulators are unlikely to put an end to what it considers the chip maker’s unfair business practices, according to analysts.  Apple has long objected to Qualcomm’s practice of charging for the “modem” chips that help phones use wireless networks data plans and its demands for a license fee based on the total price of the phones.  Qualcomm was the original inventor of a number of key wireless technologies.