Juha Vesala

U.S. ITC ALJ rejects Barnes & Noble allegations of patent misuse as a matter of law* On 31 January 2012 an administrative law judge of the U.S. International Trade Commission (“U.S. ITC”) found that Microsoft’s conduct did not amount to patent misuse as a matter of law (In the Matter of (...)

U.S. District Court dismisses claims of anti-competitive exclusion of positioning technology from standards* On 6 January 2012 the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted motions to dismiss claims that manufacturers of mobile telecommunications products conspired (...)

Antitrust suit against defensive patent purchasing organization dismissed* On 29 December 2010, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed an antitrust suit brought by Siti-Sites.com, Inc. (“Siti”) against Allied Security Trust (“AST”) and allegedly associated entities (...)

European Commission clears Syngenta’s acquisition of Monsanto’s sunflower seed business* On 17 November 2010 the European Commission cleared the acquisition of the sunflower seed business of Monsanto by Syngenta. Among the concerns of an in-depth investigation of the transaction was whether it (...)

U.S. hearing on competition in the digital marketplace* On 16 September 2010 the Subcommittee on the Courts and Competition Policy of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Competition in the Evolving Digital Marketplace. A prepared statement of the U.S. Federal Trade (...)

U.S. Federal Circuit (en banc) finds no patent misuse in Princo* On 30 August 2010 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (en banc, 8-2) found – in contrast to an earlier ruling by a panel of the Court – that an alleged agreement between Philips Corp. and Sony Corp. to suppress a (...)

U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission issue revised Horizontal Merger Guidelines* On 19 August 2010 the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission (“agencies”) issued revised Horizontal Merger Guidelines which outline how the agencies evaluate the likely (...)

FTC settles complaint against Intel* On 4 August 2010 the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) approved a settlement with Intel Corp. on charges that the company violated Section 5 of the FTC Act by engaging in unfair methods of competition and deceptive acts and practices in commerce, (...)

Attorney General of Connecticut investigating agreements on e-books* On 2 August 2010 the Attorney General of Connecticut announced an investigation into agreements between e-book publishers and sellers that may encourage coordinated pricing and prevent discounting of e-books. In particular, (...)

U.S. Supreme Court holds licensing activities of NFL teams were joint conduct subject to § 1 Sherman Act* On 24 May 2010 the U.S. Supreme Court held that teams of the National Football League (“NFL”) engaged in concerted action subject to Section 1 Sherman Act when licensing their intellectual (...)

U.S. Federal Trade Commission closes its investigation of Google’s acquisition of AdMob* On 21 May 2010 the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced the closure of its investigation of Google’s acquisition of the mobile advertising network company AdMob. According to the FTC, though the (...)

European Commission publishes draft guidelines on horizontal agreements and R&D block exemption regulation* On 4 May 2010 the European Commission published, for public consultation, draft guidelines on horizontal agreements and two related draft block exemption regulations, including one (...)

U.S. District Court dismisses Novell’s claims against Microsoft* On 30 March 2010 the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland granted Microsoft’s motion for summary judgment on Novell’s claims that Microsoft violated U.S. antitrust laws by engaging in anti-competitive conduct in order to (...)

U.S. District Court allows Provigil reverse payment suits to proceed* On 29 March 2010 the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania rejected defendants’ motions to dismiss in suits concerning reverse payment settlements between the brand name manufacturer of the (...)

U.S. Department of Justice does not challenge online subscription news service* On 24 February 2010 the Department of Justice issued a business review letter regarding a proposed Internet media subscription news aggregation service (Global News Service) that would be operated by MyWire, Inc. (...)

U.S. District Court dismisses AndroGel reverse payment antitrust claims* On 22 February 2010 the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (Atlanta Division) granted defendants’ motions to dismiss antitrust claims brought by the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) among others that (...)

U.S. Department of Justice closes investigation into Microsoft-Yahoo! agreement* On 18 February 2010 the U.S. Department of Justice announced the closing of its investigation into the proposed Internet search and search advertising agreement between Microsoft Corporation and Yahoo! Inc. (see (...)

U.S. Department of Justice remains concerned over antitrust issues raised by “Google Books” settlement* On 4 February 2010 the U.S. Department of Justice filed a statement of interest regarding the proposed amended settlement agreement in The Authors Guild Inc. et al. v. Google Inc. with the (...)

U.S. 9th Circuit affirms judgment that incompatibility of products did not constitute monopolization* On 6 January 2010 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit affirmed a U.S. District Court (Central District of California) grant of summary judgment on a monopoly maintenance claim (...)

FTC files complaint against Intel Corp.* On 16 December 2009 the FTC issued an administrative complaint against Intel Corp. (“Intel”) claiming that Intel has violated Section 5 of the FTC Act through practices that harm competition in the relevant central processing unit (“CPU”) and graphics (...)

2nd Circuit finds DDAVP purchasers stated Walker Process and related claims and had antitrust standing* On 16 October 2009 the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held (In re: DDAVP Direct Purchaser Antitrust Litigation) that direct purchasers of desmopressin acetate tablets, sold under (...)

U.S. District Court dismisses T3’s antitrust claims against IBM* On 30 September 2009 the U.S. District Court of S.D.N.Y. granted in International Business Machines Corp. v. Platform Solutions, Inc. and T3 Technologies, Inc. (No. 06 Civ. 13565(LAK)) IBM’s motion for summary judgment on antitrust (...)

U.S. DOJ files amicus brief on reverse payment settlements* On 6 July 2009 the U.S. Department of Justice filed an amicus brief in a reverse payment settlement case on appeal before the 2nd Circuit (In re Ciprofloxacin Hydrochloride Antitrust Litigation). The filing is in response of an (...)