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

Apple’s Takeover of Shazam Is Cleared by European Regulators.  European authorities on Thursday cleared Apple’s acquisition of the popular song-recognition app Shazam, after months of study into whether the deal would give the iPhone maker an unfair advantage over rival streaming music services like Spotify. Apple said in December that it had agreed to buy Shazam, prompting European regulators to scrutinize the proposed takeover as part of a broader effort to examine the value of data when evaluating mergers. In the case of Apple’s deal for Shazam, regulators questioned whether the app held important information on Apple competitors. The focus on data transfer is a departure from typical antitrust enforcement, which tends to zero in on how a deal may affect customers in terms of a product’s cost.

Italian consumer group files complaint over Starbucks prices.  Italian consumer group Codacons has filed a complaint with the national competition watchdog accusing Starbucks of overcharging customers at its first cafeteria in the country. The world’s biggest coffee chain is making its first foray into the home of espresso coffee by opening an upmarket roastery in a central Milan square. Customers walking into the converted post office now housing the lavishly decorated cafe will pay 1.80 euros ($2.09) for an espresso, almost twice the normal market price.

Proposal Would Settle Chesapeake Lawsuit for $6.95 Million.  A proposed $6.95 million settlement has been filed to end a class-action lawsuit alleging Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy co-founders Aubrey McClendon and Tom Ward conspired to rig bids on leases for land to explore for oil and natural gas in northwestern Oklahoma and southwestern Kansas. The proposal filed late Wednesday in federal court calls for thousands of people in Oklahoma and Kansas to share in the settlement proceeds, and said it comes after two mediation sessions conducted earlier this year by a retired federal judge in Oklahoma City.

Germany seeks to curb internet giants’ dominance.  Germany, seeking to rein in internet giants like Google and Facebook, plans to bolster the powers of its competition watchdog to prevent such companies from becoming monopolies even before they achieve scale. The initiative, announced on Tuesday, could include blocking big players from taking over smaller rivals and follows up on a pledge by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition to curb big U.S. internet companies which, in the eyes of many German lawmakers, have become too powerful.

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

Big banks win dismissal in U.S. of bond rigging lawsuit.  A U.S. judge has dismissed an antitrust lawsuit by investors that accused nine big banks of rigging the roughly $9 trillion government agency bond market from 2005 to 2015. In a decision made public on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos in Manhattan said the investors failed to show they were injured by conducting any specific transactions in U.S. dollar-denominated supranational, sub-sovereign and agency bonds that were tainted by the alleged collusion. Investors led by the Iron Workers Pension Plan of Western Pennsylvania and the Sheet Metal Workers Pension Plan of Northern California said the banks used chatrooms and other means to share pricing data and coordinate trading to boost profit, infecting “each and every” transaction.

German Antitrust Watchdog Plans Action on Facebook This Year.  Germany’s antitrust watchdog expects to take first steps this year in its probe against Facebook after finding that the social media giant abused its market dominance to gather data on people without their knowledge or consent. The probe is being closely watched in Europe amid mounting concerns over leaks of data on tens of millions of Facebook users, as well as the extensive use of targeted ads by foreign powers seeking to influence elections in the United States. The Federal Cartel Office objects in particular to how Facebook acquires data on people from third-party apps – including its own WhatsApp and Instagram services – and its online tracking of people who aren’t even members.

UK to consider proposals to curb Big Four auditors – industry official.  Britain’s competition watchdog is expected to formally consider proposals from top accountants to curb the market share of the “Big Four” auditors, a senior industry official said on Wednesday. Michael Izza, chief executive of the ICAEW, a professional accounting body, said he and other industry officials met with Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) staff to present ideas to increase auditor choice for companies.

EU clears $3.9 billion P&G deal for German Merck’s consumer health business unit.  EU antitrust regulators have approved Procter & Gamble’s 3.4 billion euro ($3.9 billion) acquisition of Merck KGaA’s consumer health unit, saying that they had no competition concerns. The takeover would add vitamin brands such as Seven Seas to a P&G portfolio that includes Pampers diapers and Gillette razors while boosting its presence in Latin America and Asian markets. The sector has undergone a wave of consolidation in recent years as companies bulk up product ranges and businesses in other markets, but the European Commission said that a preliminary review of the deal found no serious issues.

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

Apple to gain unconditional EU approval for Shazam buy: sources.  Apple is set to win unconditional EU antitrust approval for its planned acquisition of British music discovery app Shazam, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The deal, announced in December last year, would help the iPhone maker better compete with Spotify, the industry leader in music streaming services. Shazam identifies songs when a smartphone is pointed at an audio source.

Linde-Praxair try to save $83 billion merger after antitrust blow.  Industrial gases giants Linde and Praxair are in talks to try to salvage their $83 billion merger after U.S. competition regulators demanded they sell assets that generate more than $4.3 billion in sales. Linde said on Wednesday the divestments were expected to reach a level that would allow either party to abandon the deal, although the German company added that talks continued with both Praxair and regulators. Analysts said they still expected the deal to go ahead, though they cautioned the asset sales could make the deal less attractive and/or make synergy targets harder to achieve.

Antitrust Battle Next For Cigna After Shareholders Approve Express Scripts Deal.  Cigna and Express Scripts shareholders Friday approved the insurer’s acquisition of the pharmacy benefit manager, leaving the deal in the hands of antitrust regulators as the merger’s next key hurdle. Once billionaire investor Carl Icahn backed off his effort to derail the deal, shareholder approval became a formality given key proxy advisors gave the merger their blessing. But it’s less clear whether the merger will win approval of federal regulators with an influential Republican member of Congress calling for the U.S. Justice Department’s antitrust division to conduct a “rigorous review” of both the Cigna-Express Scripts merger and CVS Health’s proposed purchase of Aetna, the nation’s third largest health insurer.

Japan Pushing to End Smartphone Bundling, Cut Wireless Fees: Source.  Japan is aiming to force wireless carriers to cut their monthly fees and stop bundling the cost of smartphones with wireless services, a senior telecoms ministry source said on Tuesday, in a move that is likely to hit Apple Inc. Japan’s top wireless carriers, NTT Docomo Inc, KDDI Corp and SoftBank Group Corp, typically provide phones without upfront charges as part of fixed-term contracts that can cost as much as 10,000 yen ($90.51) a month. Customers effectively pay for handsets in installments. The government, which sees these contracts as muddying the cost of handsets and mobile fees and creating barriers for entry, wants carriers to charge separately for phones, the senior telecoms ministry source told Reuters.

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

Beer drinkers lose U.S. appeal over Anheuser-SABMiller merger.  A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected an antitrust challenge by 23 beer drinkers to Anheuser-Busch InBev SA’s (ABI.BR) $107 billion purchase in 2016 of SABMiller Plc, which they claimed would thwart competition and raise prices in the U.S. beer market. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Portland, Oregon said SABMiller’s agreement with antitrust regulators to divest its U.S. beer business, by selling its stake in the MillerCoors joint venture to Molson Coors Brewing Co (TAP.N), would prevent increased concentration in the industry. It also rejected as speculative the argument that the merger violated the federal Clayton Act because it gave Molson Coors an incentive to adopt Anheuser’s distribution practices, to combat its rival’s newly increased size.

Appeals Court Rejects Magazine Anti-Trust Lawsuit.  A federal appeals court has rejected an antitrust lawsuit brought against publishers by what was once one of the country’s largest wholesale magazine distributors. In an opinion published Monday, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan agreed with a lower-court judge in rejecting Anderson News LLC’s claims, first brought in 2009. The Knoxville, Tennessee company argued that publishers controlling 80 percent of the nation’s magazines conspired to drive it out of business by rejecting its demand that publishers pay 7-cent surcharges on each magazine distributed. The company said the surcharge was necessary to remain profitable.

Sprint, T-Mobile in early stages of regulatory review, no decisions yet: source.  U.S. antitrust enforcers are in the early stages of reviewing T-Mobile US Inc’s to buy Sprint Corp for $26 billion, and have reached no conclusions on how many wireless carriers the country needs, a source familiar with the situation said. Sprint shares were up 8.7 percent at $6.11 and T-Mobile rose 6.7 percent to $65.65 in late-afternoon trading, after the New York Post reported that U.S. regulators believed that just three national providers were needed, removing an obstacle to the deal. The two companies compete against AT&T and Verizon to provide U.S. wireless service.

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

U.S. court allows release of bench transcripts in AT&T merger fight.  An appeals court that is hearing the U.S. Justice Department’s fight with AT&T over its merger with Time Warner agreed on Friday to allow the release of transcripts of bench conferences that the public was unable to listen in on during the trial in a lower court. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said in an order on Friday that the government would be allowed to release transcripts of the conversations that generally occurred between Judge Richard Leon, who tried the case, and one or more lawyers from the Justice Department, AT&T and Time Warner. Judge Leon ruled in June that the Justice Department was wrong to ask that a $85.4 billion merger of AT&T, which owns DirecTV, and Time Warner be blocked.

DOJ Opens Review of Hollywood Antitrust Regulations.  Signaling that the antitrust regulations that have governed movie distribution for the last seven decades may be ripe for revision, the Department of Justice on Thursday opened a review of the famed Paramount Decrees. The 1948 landmark Supreme Court decision of United States v. Paramount, known as “the Paramount Decrees,” effectively ended the old Hollywood system, outlawing such practices as “block booking,” in which studios required theaters to book a bundle of their films. It was part of antitrust efforts to prohibit the major studios from also controlling the country’s movie theaters.

Credit Suisse charged with rigging foreign exchange rates.  Credit Suisse has been charged by European Union antitrust regulators with rigging foreign exchange rates, the Swiss bank said on Tuesday, a sign that the five-year long EU investigation may reach a conclusion in the coming months. Credit Suisse said in its quarterly report it received notification from the European Commission on July 26 alleging that it “engaged in anticompetitive practices in connection with its foreign exchange trading business”. EU enforcers typically lay out charges of illegal activities conducted by companies before imposing fines which can reach 10 percent of their global turnover.

Linde says regulators likely to demand more divestitures in Praxair deal.  German industrial gases group Linde said it and U.S. rival Praxair may need to sell more assets than anticipated to secure antitrust approval for their planned $87 billion tie-up, which could scupper the deal. The planned combination in an all-shares merger, agreed in principle in December 2016, would create a global leader in gas distribution ahead of France’s Air Liquide.