NBA action is FAN-TASTIC! Unless, of course, the action is one brought by the Department of Justice in a different kind of court. But that may be exactly where the NBA finds itself: the DOJ is reportedly investigating the professional basketball association for alleged antitrust violations. The NBA’s alleged anticompetitive conduct targeted Big3, a competitive basketball league founded […]

Read more

Author: Steven Cernak The Department of Justice’s challenge of certain Google actions raises interesting antitrust questions. But during the first week of the trial, the biggest issue seemed to be one aspect of Google’s antitrust compliance program. Some commentators were shocked to discover that Google’s lawyers advised the employees to avoid certain hot-button antitrust terms […]

Read more

Author: Molly Donovan and Steven Cernak The Federal Trade Commission has sued to block IQVIA’s proposed acquisition of Propel Media—a deal the FTC says would combine two of the top three providers of programmatic advertising that target U.S. healthcare providers on a one-to-one basis. The FTC says IQVIA and Propel both operate demand-side platforms or […]

Read more

Author:  Molly Donovan Gordon was recognized as dominant in the 5th grade class. He had the greatest share of friends and ran the fastest. He was the smartest and won the most academic awards at the end of each school year. He was always chosen as the lead in every school play. But one day, Gordon’s […]

Read more

Author: Steven Cernak The twists and turns of the various antitrust challenges to the proposed Illumina/Grail merger have provided antitrust practitioners numerous lessons the last two years. This week, the FTC commissioners unanimously voted to overturn their administrative law judge’s initial decision and order Illumina to divest the controlling stake in Grail that it had […]

Read more

Author: Jarod Bona Congress and the federal courts have—over time—created several exemptions or immunities to antitrust liability. The US Supreme Court in National Society of Professional Engineers v. United States explained that “The Sherman Act reflects a legislative judgment that ultimately competition will produce not only lower prices, but also better goods and services.” 435 […]

Read more

Author: Molly Donovan You might recall that Max and Margie are next-door neighbors on Lemon Lane. In a strange turn of events, after Max was found liable for an illegal hub-and-spoke conspiracy against Margie, she let bygones be bygones and hired Max to procure materials for her lemonade stand and to develop new flavors of soft drinks for kids. […]

Read more

Yes, sometimes “tying” violates the antitrust laws. Whether you arrive at the tying-arrangement issue from the perspective of the person tying, the person buying the tied products, or the person competing with the person tying, you should know when the antitrust laws forbid the practice. Even kids may want to know whether tying violates the antitrust […]

Read more

Author: Molly Donovan We recently released episode 2 of our “If I Were You” podcast. You can listen to this episode about minimum advertised prices here. Featuring Bona Law partner Steve Cernak. Or read our blog version now: This Episode Is About: Minimum Advertised Pricing (MAP) Programs Why:  We get MAP questions from clients and prospective clients a lot. The Five Bullets: In-house […]

Read more

Authors: Luke Hasskamp and Molly Donovan We often write about sports and antitrust and have previously written about professional golf, and, specifically, the legal implications of a competitor golf league trying to break onto the scene: The PGA Tour faces off with the Premier Golf League: An Antitrust Problem? Is Antitrust Litigation the Next Stop in the PGA Tour’s Battle […]

Read more

Author: Jarod Bona I believe that Bitcoin is the enemy of tyranny and the greatest invention of the 21st century. Its detractors tend to either not understand Bitcoin or believe that the people are best when they are controlled and manipulated. Maybe that was a little hyperbolic? I don’t care. The truth is that I am still learning. I am […]

Read more