The MoginRubin blog offers informative analysis and insightful commentary on timely issues related to competition and antitrust actions, mergers, acquisitions and associated regulatory and legislative activity.
— Written by Jonathan Rubin, Partner and Co-Founder, MoginRubin LLP — Knocking another dent in the shield of Google’s multi-market dominance, U.S. Judge James Donato has ordered the company to open its Android app store, Google Play, to competition for at least three years. The injunction was handed down on Monday (Oct. 7) in the antitrust suit brought by Epic Games, developer of the popular video game Fortnite (Epic v. Google, Case No. 3:20-CV-05671-JD, N.D. Calif.). A San Francisco jury in December 2023 found that Google’s app store ...
Written by Jonathan Rubin, Partner and Co-Founder of MoginRubin LLP -- The government’s antitrust case against Google’s Search business passed another milestone with the government’s proposal of a remedies “framework” to loosen Google’s monopoly grip on the general search services and search text advertising markets. The DOJ’s filing maintained that Google’s conduct resulted in “interlocking and pernicious harms” for which fashioning a remedy “present[ed] unprecedented complexities in a highly evolving set of markets.” “[T]he importance of ...
Written by Jonathan Rubin, Partner and Co-Founder of MoginRubin LLP | Private antitrust plaintiffs are increasingly bringing cases alleging that the use of a common, commercially available pricing algorithm by multiple competitors constitutes price fixing in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. The Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice has filed a Statement of Interest in three such cases, supporting the plaintiffs’ claims.[i] After the third one, I wrote that algorithmic price fixing was emerging as a new DOJ enforcement ...
Written by Jonathan Rubin, Partner and Co-Founder of MoginRubin LLP -- I was not alone in noting the significance of the D.C. district court's decision earlier this month to hold Google liable for monopolization of the general search market and the search text advertising market in United States, et al. v. Google LLC (No. 1:20-CV-3010-APM, D.D.C.). I previously covered how the antitrust enforcement agencies successfully argued that Google's exclusive deals with smartphone manufacturers, browser developers, and wireless carriers amounted to ...
Written by Jonathan Rubin, Partner and Co-Founder of MoginRubin LLP -- This week’s decision in United States v. Google represents a significant victory for the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division and various state attorneys general, which successfully argued that Google has exercised anticompetitive practices to maintain its dominant position in the general search market and in the market for text advertising in search (U.S., et al. v. Google LLC, No. 1:20-CV-3010-APM, D. D.C.). The court determined that Google has monopoly position in ...
Written by Jonathan Rubin, Partner and Co-Founder of MoginRubin LLP -- When federal agencies review bank mergers, the competition issues typically relate to the number and location of physical branches and the extent of any overlap in the areas served. By contrast, the proposed $35 billion Capital One-Discover merger raises different and far more subtle competitive issues. The agencies—the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice—will have to assess not only ...
Written by Jonathan Rubin, Partner and Co-Founder of MoginRubin LLP The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on April 22, 2024, filed an administrative complaint to block Tapestry, Inc.'s acquisition of Capri Holdings Limited, a deal valued at $8.5 billion. The proposed merger would combine three major fashion brands: Coach and Kate Spade from Tapestry, and Michael Kors from Capri. The FTC alleges that the deal would stifle competition in the "accessible luxury" handbag market, a term coined by Tapestry to describe high-quality leather handbags at ...
Written by Jonathan Rubin, Partner and Co-Founder of MoginRubin LLP For the third time in as many months, the U.S. federal antitrust enforcement authorities -- the Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice -- have filed a statement of interest in an antitrust case alleging that the use of a common algorithmic pricing program by multiple competitors constitutes price fixing in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. The government’s statement in Cornish-Adebiyi v. Caesars Entertainment, D. N.J., No. ...
Written by Jonathan Rubin, Partner and Co-Founder of MoginRubin LLP The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has reinstated an antitrust complaint brought by pharma firm, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., against the Swiss pharmaceutical giant, Novartis Pharma AG, and outside fulfillment firm, Vetter Pharma International GmbH. The appeals court held that it was error for the district court to reject Regeneron’s antitrust claims. The district court should have credited the plaintiff’s product market definition and the complaint should not have ...
By Jonathan Rubin, Partner, MoginRubin LLP A San Francisco jury has found that Google monopolized the “Android app distribution” market and “Android in-app billing services” market, and that its Developer Distribution Agreements (“DDAs”) with application developers and its Mobile Application Distribution Agreements and Revenue Sharing Agreements with mobile device manufacturers, were unreasonable restraints of trade in violation of U.S. antitrust laws. The jurors deliberated for just over three hours before returning their verdict on Monday ...
Written by Jonathan Rubin, Partner and Co-Founder of MoginRubin LLP It is an application of artificial intelligence (“AI”) that many businesses, agencies, legislators, lawyers, and antitrust law enforcers around the world are only beginning to confront. It is also among the top concerns of in-house counsel across industries. Competitors are increasingly setting prices through the use of communal, AI-enhanced algorithms that analyze data that are private, public, or a mix of both. Allegations in private and public litigation describe ...
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