Corporate & Securities Law

Antitrust News & Notes

By David Fischer

•  The 9th Circuit recently upheld the district court’s opinion in Allied Orthopedic Appliances Inc. et al. v. Tyco Health Care Group LP.  The plaintiffs had alleged that “they overpaid for the sensors because Tyco used two kinds of marketing agreements to foreclose competition from generic sensor manufacturers … [and] that by introducing OxiMax, a patented pulse oximetry system that is incompatible with generic sensors, Tyco unlawfully maintained its monopoly over the sensor market …”
• The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in American Needle v. National Football League next week.  And this is generating some news coverage.  The New York Times has an article about the potential consequences of the decision upon sports leagues as well as a short profile of the American Needle company.
• DOJ “more than $1 billion in criminal antitrust penalties in the last fiscal year, and around $229 million in the first quarter of this one ….”
• Credit card interchange fees remain in the news as the New York Times has a lengthy article about allegations that VISA uses them to maintain market power and the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed arguing that capping interchange fees would result in consumers paying more.
• DOJ urged the FCC to free up more spectrum and had some thoughts about its auctions; the entire DOJ comment is here.

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Full post as published by Antitrust Review on January 07, 2010 (boomark / email).