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

AT&T Would Use Time Warner as a ‘Weapon,’ Justice Dept. Says.  The much-watched antitrust trial between the Justice Department and AT&T began on Thursday, with opening statements that presented starkly different visions for how the company’s blockbuster merger with Time Warner would fit into a media industry upturned by the internet.  Before a packed courtroom with some of the industry’s leading figures, the two sides zeroed in on the case’s central question:  Whether the deal would force consumers to pay more to watch their favorite shows on Time Warner cable channels like CNN and TNT.

U.S. judge dismisses FTC antitrust lawsuit against Shire unit.  A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission accusing a unit of Shire Plc of violating antitrust laws by abusing government processes to fend off generic competition to its antibiotic Vancocin HCl.  U.S. District Judge Richard Andrews in Wilmington, Delaware on Tuesday ruled the FTC had not met a prerequisite for bringing a lawsuit seeking an injunction in the first place by showing that Shire ViroPharma Inc. was about to violate a law.  It was unclear if the FTC would seek to revise its lawsuit, which Judge Andrews said he would allow.

U.S. says it is still reviewing Bayer’s planned Monsanto acquisition.  The U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday it was pressing on with its review of German conglomerate Bayer’s plan to buy Monsanto and noted the two regions’ very different markets in terms of genetically modified seeds.  “While genetically modified seeds are largely prohibited in Europe, they are widely used throughout the United States.  The Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice continues to examine the effects of the proposed transaction on American farmers and consumers,” the department said in a brief statement on its website that noted that it is continuing its review.

Endo, others to pay $270.8 mln to resolve Lidoderm U.S. antitrust cases.  Endo International Plc and two other companies have agreed to pay $270.8 million to resolve class action lawsuits alleging Endo paid a generic drug manufacturer to delay launching a cheaper version of its Lidoderm painkiller patch.  The accords were disclosed in papers filed in federal court in San Francisco on Tuesday and resolve claims centered on a deal Endo reached in 2012 to settle a patent infringement case it filed against generic drugmaker Watson Pharmaceuticals.  The case is among several in recent years targeting “pay-for-delay” settlements, in which brand-name drugmakers resolve patent lawsuits by paying generic manufacturers to keep their products off the market for a longer period.

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

A Media Giant in the Balance: AT&T Antitrust Trial Kicks Off.  AT&T squares off against the federal government today in a trial that could shape how you get — and how much you pay for — streaming TV and movies.  AT&T says it needs to gobble up Time Warner if it’s to have a chance against the likes of Amazon, Netflix and Google in the rapidly evolving world of video entertainment.  The Justice Department’s antitrust lawyers say that if AT&T and Time Warner are allowed to combine, consumers will end up paying more to watch their favorite shows, whether on a TV screen, smartphone or tablet.

EU antitrust regulators to decide on Apple, Shazam deal by April 23.  EU antitrust authorities will decide by April 23 whether to clear iPhone maker Apple’s buy of British music discovery app Shazam, the European Commission said on Thursday.  Apple sought EU approval for the deal on Wednesday, according to a filing on the EU competition agency’s website.  The move had been expected after seven European countries including France, Italy and Spain asked the Commission to take charge of the case.

Bayer faces U.S. antitrust hurdles for Monsanto merger: Bloomberg.  Bayer AG’s plan to win antitrust approval to buy U.S. seeds supplier Monsanto Co. has not satisfied U.S. officials, who are worried the $62.5 billion merger could hurt competition, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.  The U.S. Department of Justice wants Bayer to divest more assets to satisfy its conditions, and does not think the German chemicals company’s current proposal is sufficient, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.  Monsanto spokeswoman Sara Miller declined to comment.  A Bayer spokesman said the company would not comment on rumors, but added it remains in talks with regulators to help close the deal in the second quarter of the year.

Impax broke U.S. antitrust law by delaying generic drug, jury told.  Impax Laboratories Inc. went to trial over allegations by major retailers and consumers that the company agreed to delay launching a generic version of acne medication Solodyn in exchange for millions of dollars from the manufacturer.  The trial in Boston federal court is one of a handful to have taken place since the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013 said so-called “pay-for-delay” settlements resolving pharmaceutical patent lawsuits can violate antitrust laws.  The settlements occur when a brand-name drugmaker pays a generic rival to delay releasing a cheaper version of its product in exchange for resolving court challenges to patents covering the treatment.  A lawyer for Impax, in his opening statement, denied there was any such arrangement to delay Solodyn’s entry to the market.

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

U.S. Justice Department, AT&T spar over merger in final pre-trial documents.  The U.S. Justice Department and AT&T Inc. on Friday presented starkly different futures for online video if the wireless and pay-TV giant is allowed to buy Time Warner Inc., as they laid out their cases for a blockbuster antitrust trial.  The judge’s decision is crucial to the future of both companies and will likely determine how aggressive Republican-controlled antitrust regulators will be in coming years.  U.S. President Donald Trump opposes the deal, and critics want to know if Trump’s antipathy for Time Warner’s CNN news network influenced regulators.

Broadcom’s Other Regulatory Hurdle: How It Treats Customers.  Broadcom’s $117 billion bid for the rival computer chip maker Qualcomm is being investigated by a federal government committee concerned about giving foreign countries power over American technology vital to national security.  But some people in the technology industry believe Broadcom’s chief executive, Hock Tan, already wields too much power of a different kind, as illustrated by a harshly worded two-page document in a San Francisco court file.  The document comes from Western Digital, the largest supplier of computer disk drives, which complained Broadcom had stopped shipping essential chips called preamplifiers to Western Digital.  The reason?  Broadcom, the document said, was retaliating because Western Digital had considered another supplier’s products.

Impax to pay $35 mln to settle part of Solodyn antitrust litigation.  Impax Laboratories Inc. has agreed to pay $35 million to resolve part of litigation over claims it entered into an anticompetitive deal in a patent case to delay releasing a generic version of the acne medication Solodyn.  The settlement was disclosed in papers filed in federal court in Boston on Saturday.  It resolved part of the antitrust litigation Impax faces over Solodyn related to sales of the drug to direct purchasers such as retailers and wholesalers.

BASF seeks EU antitrust approval to buy Bayer assets.  Germany’s BASF has asked for European Commission approval to buy assets from drugmaker Bayer, the company which needs to shed businesses to get clearance for its $63.5 billion merger with Monsanto, a filing showed.  The Commission, which gave no further details on the deal being examined, set a preliminary deadline of April 16 to decide on the matter.  The Commission, which acts as competition watchdog in the European Union, added its assessment of the BASF request did not automatically mean it was satisfied with the commitments made by Bayer.

U.S. Supreme Court Liberals Skeptical of American Express Merchant Fees.  Liberal U.S. Supreme Court justices sharply questioned American Express over its policy of forbidding merchants from encouraging customers to use rival credit cards with lower fees, a practice that some states and the Trump administration have concluded violates federal antitrust law.  The high court heard about an hour of arguments in an appeal by the states, led by Ohio, of a 2016 ruling by a lower court in New York that cleared American Express of unlawfully stifling competition through its so-called anti-steering provisions in contracts with merchants.  While liberal Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer signaled hostility toward the company’s policy, conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch indicated support for American Express. It was less clear how the other conservative justices would vote.

Google’s shopping rivals call for action from EU antitrust watchdog.  Google competitors have called for further action by European Union antitrust regulators to ensure the Alphabet-owned firm treats rivals offering shopping services equally.  Last year, Google said it would allow competitors to bid for ads at the top of a search page, giving them the chance to compete on equal terms, after the European Commission fined it a record 2.4 billion euros ($2.9 billion).  “Google’s remedy proposal is, on its face, non-compliant with the prohibition decision,” a group of 19 rivals said in a letter to European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.

U.P.S. Seeks More Than $2 Billion in Damages Over TNT Bid.  United Parcel Service has sued European antitrust regulators for a decision they made five years ago that blocked its takeover of the Dutch delivery company TNT Express, according to a record of court proceedings.  U.P.S. had pursued the TNT merger in the hope of gaining a larger presence in Europe and in emerging markets, but European officials rejected it because of concerns that the transaction would decrease competition and increase prices.  The General Court of the European Union annulled the decision by European Commission regulators last year, in part because the commission had used different economic models at different times to evaluate the deal.

Deutsche Bank to pay $240 million to end Libor rigging lawsuit in U.S.  Deutsche Bank AG has agreed to pay $240 million to settle private U.S. antitrust litigation accusing it of conspiring with other banks to manipulate the Libor benchmark interest rate.  The preliminary settlement with the German bank was disclosed in filings on Tuesday with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, and requires a judge’s approval.  Deutsche Bank is the third bank to resolve claims by so-called “over-the-counter” investors that transacted directly with banks on a panel to determine Libor.

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

AT&T Loses Bid to Obtain White House Call Logs.  A federal judge blocked AT&T’s move to obtain communication logs between the Justice Department and the White House on Tuesday, hampering the phone giant’s argument that politics played a role in the government’s decision to halt a merger with Time Warner.  Judge Richard J. Leon of United States District Court in Washington, who is overseeing a trial over the deal, said AT&T did not sufficiently show in pretrial discussions that it was treated differently from other companies.  “Defendants have fallen far short of establishing that this enforcement action was selective,” Judge Leon said.  The decision puts a crimp in AT&T’s defense for its $85 billion proposed merger with Time Warner.

Trump Antitrust Cop Splits With EU Over Probes of Big Tech.  U.S. President Donald Trump’s top antitrust watchdog split with EU regulators over their enforcement of big U.S. technology firms, saying their approach risked deterring innovative startups.  Google, Apple Inc., Qualcomm Inc. and Facebook Inc. have all suffered run-ins with the European Union’s powerful antitrust arm, part of a wider crackdown in Europe against dominant technology firms that has cost some of them billions of euros.  Makan Delrahim, picked last year by Trump to head the Justice Department’s antitrust division, cited enforcement of digital markets as one of the differences between how the U.S. and the EU conduct antitrust policy. EU law says dominant firms have a special responsibility not to hinder competition, an approach Delrahim criticized.

Battle Lines Drawn as SolarCity’s Antitrust Case Faces Supreme Court Review.  In 2015, SolarCity, now Tesla, filed an antitrust lawsuit against Salt River Project, claiming the Arizona utility’s $50-per-month demand charges for solar net-metered customers constituted an unlawful use of its monopoly powers to stifle competition.  The case garnered national attention for its unusual approach to fighting the rise of demand charges, fixed charges and other costs for solar-equipped customers via antitrust law, and its potential implications for ratemaking policy across the country.  But before that case can go forward, the U.S. Supreme Court has to decide a separate legal issue — whether SRP is or is not immune from antitrust law as a publicly owned utility.

U.S. sues to stop Norway’s Wilhelmsen from buying rival Drew Marine.  The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said on Friday it would challenge in court the Norwegian company Wilhelmsen Maritime Services’ plan to buy smaller U.S. rival Drew Marine Group.  The FTC said the $400 million proposed deal would reduce competition in the market for marine water treatment chemicals, used in a ship’s boiler water and engine cooling water systems.  If Wilhelmsen closed the deal with New Jersey’s Drew Marine, the FTC said the company would have 60 percent of the market for marine water treatment chemicals, while its closest competitor would have 5 percent.