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

Qualcomm offers EU concessions over $38 billion NXP takeover bid.  U.S. smartphone chipmaker Qualcomm has offered concessions in an attempt to allay EU antitrust concerns over its $38-billion bid for NXP Semiconductors, the largest ever in the semiconductor industry.  Qualcomm, which supplies chips to Android smartphone makers and Apple, submitted its proposal on Oct. 5, a filing on the European Commission site showed on Monday, without providing details.  The EU competition enforcer, which suspended the deadline for its decision on Aug. 17 for a second time while waiting for information data from Qualcomm, said it would set a new deadline once the company has complied with its request.

Shire sues Allergan in U.S. over dry eye drug.  Allergan Plc has been sued by Shire Plc for allegedly scheming to block doctors from prescribing its new treatment for dry eye disease.  In a complaint filed with the federal court in Newark, New Jersey, Shire accused Allergan of violating antitrust laws to preserve its roughly 90 percent share in Medicare prescription drug plans for its older and “clinically inferior” dry eye drug Restasis, and block prescriptions of Shire’s rival drug Xiidra.  “Quite simply, Allergan has and will continue to use bundled discounts, exclusive dealing, coercion and interference to unlawfully ‘block’ Shire from competing with it, and to maintain its monopoly in the Part D market at all costs,” Shire said, referring to the Medicare drug plans.

Talent Management Group: Dismiss Ex-Football Star’s Lawsuit.  A federal antitrust lawsuit linking a talent management company to alleged improper use of ex-Ohio State athletes’ photos should be tossed out because there’s no evidence the company did anything wrong, according to a court filing.  IMG Worldwide, Inc. and related entities are also backing Ohio State’s request to have the lawsuit dismissed, saying the university is immune from such legal action, an IMG attorney said in the filing Monday.  The lawsuit “does not specifically allege that IMG did anything in connection with any alleged wrongdoing, or is about to do anything wrongful that should be prevented,” said Joseph Castrodale, a Cleveland lawyer representing IMG.

EU conducts inspections over limits to bank account access.  The European Commission said on Friday it had conducted inspections in some EU states into banks’ alleged anti-competitive practices in limiting rival financial firms from gaining legitimate online access to their customers’ data.  The Commission said in a statement it had “concerns” that the companies involved “may have engaged in anti-competitive practices in breach of EU antitrust rules.”  It did not name any company.  It said that banks could have prevented non-bank competitors from gaining online access to account information of their customers to provide financial services, in spite of having obtained prior authorization from the customers.

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

U.S. files antitrust lawsuit against Parker-Hannifin takeover.  The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday filed an antitrust lawsuit challenging Parker-Hannifin Corp.’s purchase of Clarcor Inc., which closed in February.  The lawsuit, brought in U.S. district court in Delaware, was filed out of concern that the $4.3 billion transaction would mean higher prices, worse service or less innovation in the market for aviation fuel filtration systems and products.  The department asked the court to order Parker-Hannifin to sell part of its aviation filtration business on grounds that it and Clarcor had been the only two U.S. manufacturers of the filtration products.

Google Proposes Remedy in Response to EU Antitrust Crackdown.  Google has proposed a remedy for its search results that European regulators have said favor its own shopping listings: holding an auction for those advertiser-paid spots.  But critics say the proposal still favors the deep-pocketed tech giant, and Europe’s top antitrust regulator is taking a wait-and-see attitude.  Google said Thursday it will still present users with photos and prices when they search for products online and offer a link directly to where they can be purchased.

US Senate confirms Delrahim to head Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.  The U.S. Senate voted on Wednesday to confirm Makan Delrahim to head the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, which will decide the fate of deals like AT&T Inc.’s proposed purchase of Time Warner Inc. and the merger of Bayer AG and Monsanto Co.  The Senate voted 73 to 21 to confirm Delrahim.

Abbott wins U.S. antitrust approval to buy Alere with conditions.  Abbott Laboratories has won U.S. antitrust approval to buy Alere Inc. on condition that it sell two point-of-care medical testing businesses, the Federal Trade Commission said on Thursday.  Canada also announced on Thursday that it had approved the proposed transaction on similar terms.

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

Google challenges record EU antitrust fine in court.  Google appealed on Monday against a record 2.4-billion-euro ($2.9 billion) EU antitrust fine, with its chances of success boosted by Intel’s partial victory last week against another EU sanction.  The world’s most popular Internet search engine, a unit of the U.S. firm Alphabet, launched its appeal two months after it was fined by the European Commission for abusing its dominance in Europe by giving prominent placement in searches to its comparison shopping service and demoting rival offerings.  The Luxembourg-based General Court, Europe’s second-highest, is expected to take several years before ruling on the appeal.

Murdoch Bid for Sky Control Hits New Bump as U.K. Official Hints at Inquiry.  Britain’s culture minister said on Tuesday that she was inclined to ask the country’s competition regulator to carry out a detailed review of a bid by Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox to take full control of the British satellite television giant Sky.  In an address to Parliament, the minister, Karen Bradley, said she was “minded” to refer the $15 billion deal to the Competition and Markets Authority for a more intensive inquiry into concerns about whether Fox would uphold broadcast standards in Britain and whether owning all of Sky would give it too much control of the British media.

FTC Head Pushes Back on Calls to Expand Antitrust Law.  Acting Federal Trade Commission Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen is emerging as a vocal defender of existing U.S. antitrust laws amid calls for sweeping changes to rein in dominant technology companies such as Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google.  Ohlhausen is delivering speeches this week that reinforce the government’s decades-old antitrust enforcement approach, which focuses strictly on markets and prices.  She is pushing back against public pressure to stop companies from becoming too powerful or to address social problems like wage stagnation.

Exclusive: AT&T weighs divestiture of Latin American TV assets – sources.  AT&T is evaluating a sale of its pay TV operations in Latin America as it seeks to pay down debt following its planned $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner Inc. (TWX.N), people familiar with the matter said on Friday.  AT&T is working with a financial adviser to field interest in the assets, which could be valued at more than $8 billion, the people added, asking not to be named because the matter is private.  Liberty Global PLC, Spanish telecommunications company Telefonica SA and Millicom International Cellular SA,  a wireless player in Latin America, are some of the companies that could express interest in all or parts of AT&T’s Latin American markets, according to the people.

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

EU regulators halt review of Qualcomm-NXP deal for second time.  EU antitrust regulators have halted for a second time their review of U.S. smartphone chipmaker Qualcomm’s $38-billion bid for NXP Semiconductors after the companies failed to provide key details of the deal.  The European Commission paused its investigation on Aug. 17, a filing on its website showed.  It had previously set a Dec. 6 deadline for its decision.  “Once the missing information is supplied by the parties, the clock is re-started and the deadline for the Commission’s decision is then adjusted accordingly,” EU competition regulators said in an email.

EU Top Court Orders Reexamination of Intel Antitrust Fine.  The European Union’s top court on Wednesday sent back a case on a billion euro fine against chip maker Intel Corp. for further legal examination.  Wednesday’s ruling had been eagerly awaited for its implications on the powers of the antitrust office of the EU.  Now the case could be in limbo for months, if not years.

Apple lawsuits against Qualcomm can proceed, U.S. judge rules.  Apple Inc.’s 11 foreign lawsuits against Qualcomm Inc. can proceed while the company’s dispute plays out in the United States, a U.S. federal judge in San Diego ruled.  Qualcomm and Apple are facing off in federal court over Qualcomm’s licensing for modem chips, which provide mobile data connectivity to devices like the iPhone.  Because those chips have become a standard across the mobile phone industry, Qualcomm is required to license them on fair terms.

Trump’s antitrust pick meets with Elizabeth Warren: source.  Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, met on Wednesday with President Donald Trump’s pick to run the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, where she pressed him on political interference in antitrust and lobbying, according to a source familiar with the discussions.  The source did not say if the meeting was sufficient to convince Warren to support Makan Delrahim.  She has reportedly put a “hold” on his confirmation to be assistant attorney general.

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

Landmark Intel judgment critical for other EU antitrust cases.  Europe’s top court will rule on Wednesday whether U.S. chipmaker Intel offered illegal rebates to squeeze out rivals in a judgment that could affect EU antitrust regulators’ cases against Qualcomm and Alphabet’s Google.  The ruling by the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union could also provide more clarity on whether rebates are anti-competitive by nature or whether enforcers need to prove the anti-competitive effect.  The European Commission in a 2009 decision said that Intel tried to thwart rival Advanced Micro Devices by giving rebates to PC makers Dell, Hewlett Packard, NEC and Lenovo for buying most of their computer chips from the company.

Alphabet’s Google acts to comply with EU antitrust order.  Google has submitted details of how it plans to stop favoring its shopping service to comply with a European Union antitrust order, according to EU regulators.  The world’s most popular Internet search engine, a unit of Alphabet Inc., had earlier said it would meet the EU deadline to do so.  Google was hit with a record 2.4 billion euro fine from the EU over the practice in June and was ordered to come up with proposals to end the anti-competitive behavior.

Linde, Praxair Get Second Antitrust Request From FTC.  Linde and Praxair said they were responding to a second request from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission regarding their planned $74 billion merger and were in a pre-notification phase with the European Commission.  The German and U.S. industrial gases groups said in a U.S. regulatory filing they still expected the all-share merger of equals, which is subject to antitrust review in approximately 24 jurisdictions, to close in the second half of 2018.  “This is a typical step in review of a transaction of this size, and was expected,” Linde said of the second request from the FTC.

German carmakers may face ‘very high’ cartel fines: EU’s Vestager.  German carmakers could face “very high” fines if suspicions of collusion prove true in court, European Union Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager told Business Insider.  But she said it was too soon to speculate on “the extent of possible sanctions and the timing of an EU Commission decision”, the online business news site cited her as saying.  European Union and German antitrust regulators are investigating whether VW, Porsche, Audi. BMW and Mercedes-Benz owner Daimler held meetings to discuss suppliers, prices and standards to the disadvantage of foreign carmakers.