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

AT&T Suit May Herald a New Antitrust Era-Or Trumpian Pique.  The Trump administration’s decision to oppose the $85 billion AT&T-Time Warner merger may be clouded by suspicions of political influence.  But considered on its merits, it could mark a significant departure in antitrust policy, one that might block or modify a broader set of mergers found to harm consumers.  The move disconcerted both Wall Street and the telecom and media industries, none of which expected it. Consumer groups are applauding, saying it’s a good step by the Justice Department to protect people from higher cable bills and ensure that web-based alternatives to TV aren’t stifled.

DOJ bucks China, urges SCOTUS to hear case against vitamin cartel.  On Tuesday, as President Donald Trump returned to Washington from his long trip to Asia, lawyers at the U.S. Justice Department defied China’s Ministry of Commerce in a brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review the dismissal of an antitrust class action against a cartel of Chinese vitamin manufacturers.  The brief, filed by the U.S. Solicitor General and the Justice Department’s antitrust chief, argues that the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals paid too much deference to the Chinese ministry’s characterization of Chinese antitrust law.  The U.S. government recommended the Supreme Court hear the case, Animal Science Products v. Hebei Welcome Pharmaceutical, to clarify how much weight U.S. courts should give to foreign sovereigns’ descriptions of their laws.

Delta Says US Approves Joint Venture With Korean Air.  Delta Air Lines says U.S. regulators have given the green light to a joint venture with Korean Air, and the carriers are waiting for approval from the South Korean government.  Delta said Friday that the U.S. Department of Transportation approved the arrangement. It still needs approval from South Korea’s transport ministry.  With antitrust immunity, the airlines can share costs and revenues from flights.

EU fines five car airbag, seatbelt suppliers over cartel.  EU antitrust regulators fined five car safety equipment makers a total of 34 million euros ($40.0 million) on Wednesday for taking part in cartels to fix prices for seatbelts, airbags and steering wheels to Japanese carmakers.  The Commission, which oversees competition policy in the European Union, said it had identified that four separate cartels in which suppliers to Toyota, Suzuki and Honda coordinated over prices and markets and exchanged sensitive information between 2004 and 2010.

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

With AT&T and Time Warner, Battle Lines Form for an Epic Antitrust Case.  If the government goes to court to block the merger of AT&T and Time Warner, as seems increasingly likely, it may well be the antitrust case of the decade, even without the claims of presidential meddling that have already engulfed the deal in partisan controversy.  A lawsuit by the Justice Department, along with its earlier, widely reported demands that AT&T sell either DirecTV or Turner Broadcasting to gain approval for the deal, would mark a radical departure from decades of antitrust enforcement policy, both in defining what is an unlawful anticompetitive merger and in fashioning a remedy to cure the problems.

Qualcomm-NXP ruling may be in 2018: EU competition commissioner.  A ruling on Qualcomm Inc.’s proposed $38 billion acquisition of NXP Semiconductors NV may come in 2018, European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager said on Wednesday.  People familiar with the matter told Reuters in October that Qualcomm has offered to buy NXP without some of its patents in a bid to win EU antitrust regulatory approval.

Missouri Opens Antitrust Investigation Into Google.  Missouri’s attorney general has opened an investigation into whether Google’s business practices violate its consumer protection and antitrust laws amid growing concern over the influence of powerful technology companies.  Josh Hawley, Missouri’s attorney general, said on Monday that his office had issued a subpoena to Google to seek information into the collection and use of users’ private information, the use of other content providers’ information on its sites and potential bias in search engine results.

Japanese regulators raid Airbnb over suspected antitrust practices.  Japanese fair trade regulators raided last month the offices of Airbnb Inc over suspected violations of antitrust laws, the home rental site said on Friday, denying any wrongdoing.  The Japan Fair Trade Commission carried out an on-site inspection of Airbnb and the company is cooperating with the regulators’ investigation, Airbnb Japan said.

By David Scupp

The North American Soccer League (“NASL”) lost an important preliminary match in court last week when the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York denied the league’s motion for a preliminary injunction that would have ordered the United States Soccer Federation (“USSF”) to designate the NASL as a “Division II” professional soccer league.

NASL has appealed the ruling to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which may rule on the league’s right to preliminary relief by early December.

For years USSF—a non-profit, membership organization—has served as the de facto governing body for soccer in the United States, claiming that it derives its authority from the international governing body FIFA.

USSF adopts, amends, and applies its Professional League Standards (“PLS”), a set of requirements for professional soccer leagues seeking Division I, II, or III designation in the United States.  The PLS include requirements related to the number of teams in a league, the geographic dispersion of teams, and certain financial obligations.  Division I status is the highest and most desirable status, and has been conferred only on Major League Soccer (“MLS”). click here for more »

By Margaux Poueymirou

Big Data may be revolutionizing companies’ processing of information, but legal disputes over such data management still have to navigate through the shoals of settled antirust principles.

At least that’s the message of last week’s decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit vacating a preliminary injunction that required two companies, CDK Global, LLC (“CDK”) and Reynolds and Reynolds Co. (“Reynolds”), who collectively dominate the market for automobile dealership-management systems, to allow a third-party data-scraper, Authenticom, to access customers’ information.  The court held that the injunction ran afoul of antitrust law’s general disfavor of imposing a duty to deal as a remedy.

This case arose when CDK changed from an open to a closed dealer-management system and entered into a series of agreements with its closed-system competitor Reynolds to facilitate this transition.  Dealer-management systems enable automotive dealerships to track efficiently vital business matters such as accounting, payroll, inventory, sales, parts, service, finance, and insurance.  Open systems enable third parties to access dealer-originated data embedded in the system, while closed systems forbid such data scraping. click here for more »

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

AT&T Deal Puts Trump’s Antitrust Cop at Center of a Political Storm.  A year ago, Makan Delrahim predicted that AT&T’s $85.4 billion purchase of Time Warner would be approved by regulators.  “I don’t see this as a major antitrust problem,” Mr. Delrahim, then a law professor, said to a Canadian television network.  Now, five weeks into his job as the top antitrust regulator at the Justice Department, Mr. Delrahim has taken a different position.  The department has threatened to block the deal in court unless AT&T sells off major assets.

Eyewear mega deal could hurt U.S. consumers, but still be approved.  The world’s biggest eyeglass frame maker is planning to merge with the largest lens maker in a tie-up U.S. antitrust experts fear will be bad news for consumers, but could still be approved.  France’s Essilor, the prescription lens maker, has asked U.S. regulators to bless its merger with Italy’s Luxottica, the leading frame maker, to create a company that would produce everything from Ray-Bans to Giorgio Armani frames, and be the top U.S. eyeglass retail outlet as well as a leading provider of vision insurance.  No eyeglass company in the United States – the biggest market for both firms – would come close.

Bargaining chip?  China seen closely scrutinizing Qualcomm, Broadcom deal.  A potential mega-merger between chipmaker Broadcom Ltd. and U.S. rival Qualcomm Inc is likely to face stern scrutiny in China, antitrust lawyers say, amid a strategic push by Beijing into semiconductors.  Broadcom has made an unsolicited $103 billion bid for Qualcomm, aimed at creating a $200-billion-plus behemoth that could reshape the industry at the heart of mobile phone hardware.  But Chinese regulatory approval could be a hold-up.  Beijing and Washington have sparred over technology deals, including in chips, with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States knocking back a number of takeovers involving Chinese firms this year.

EU resumes Bayer-Monsanto deal review; new deadline March 5.  The European Commission has resumed its antitrust review of Bayer’s planned takeover of U.S. seed maker Monsanto after the companies were given time to provide more information.  The new deadline for the Commission to decide over the deal is now March 5, the antitrust regulator said on Monday.  Bayer reiterated it was aiming to wrap up the deal in early 2018.