On Monday, swimsuit maker TYR Sport Inc. filed an antitrust lawsuit against Warnaco Swimwear Inc., parent company of Speedo in the United States District Court for the Central District of California (and against USA Swimming; the United States national team director, Mark Schubert; and Erik Vendt, a swimmer and former “pitchman” for TYR).  The New York Times reports:

In documents filed in United States District Court for the Central District of California, TYR describes a climate in which elite athletes have been led to believe they cannot excel on the world stage unless they wear Speedo’s newest high-tech suit, which was designed with the help of NASA and was unveiled in February.

Among the allegations by TYR are that Speedo, USA Swimming and Schubert systematically “combined to engage in a campaign of falsely disparaging the products of Speedo’s competitors, including TYR, for the purpose of inducing competitive swimmers to refrain from doing business with Speedo’s competitors.”

The Los Angeles Times reports:

In documents filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, TYR alleges that Speedo, USA Swimming and Schubert “combined to engage in a campaign of falsely disparaging the products of Speedo’s competitors, including TYR, for the purpose of inducing competitive swimmers to refrain from doing business with Speedo’s competitors” and that it was done in an “especially insidious and deceptive manner.”

A quick Google search did not produce the complaint; but if anyone has it and can forward it, we will post it.  It would interesting to see it as the news reports lack details that would allow for a true analysis of the strength and weaknesses of the case.

Blawg Review #159 is now available at the Whistleblower Blog.

Congratulations to Stacey Anne Mahoney who joined Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher from Constantine Cannon.  Ms. Mahoney is the current Chair of the Antitrust Section of the New York State Bar Association.  According to the press release:

Mahoney focuses her practice on antitrust litigation and counseling. She regularly represents clients before the Federal Trade Commission and Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice and counsels clients on competitor collaborations, distribution practices and pricing policies. Her antitrust experience covers a wide variety of industries, including retail electronics sales, standard setting, glass manufacturing, automobile sales and repair, lightning protection and ready-to-eat cereals.

Blawg Review #158 is now available at The Mommy Blawg.

Congratulations to Marc G. Schildkraut who returned to Howrey from Heller Ehrman.  According to the press release:

Howrey LLP announced today that Marc G. Schildkraut has rejoined its global Antitrust Practice in Washington, D.C.  Schildkraut had been with Howrey from 1993 to 2005, prior to which he spent 17 years at the Federal Trade Commission in various roles, including Assistant Director for the Bureau of Competition.  Until recently, he led the Antitrust and Trade Regulation practice at Heller Ehrman.

Blawg Review #157 is now available at the Thoughts From A Management Lawyer blog.

On Wednesday, a former Bristol-Myers Squibb vice-president was indicted by the United States Department of Justice one count for making a false statement to the FTC.  The New York Times reports:

Andrew G. Bodnar, a doctor, had made a false statement to the Federal Trade Commission in describing a 2006 agreement between Bristol-Myers and Apotex, a Canadian maker of generic drugs. Dr. Bodnar had led negotiations to stop Apotex from selling its own version of Plavix, a blood thinner that is Bristol-Myers’s top-selling drug.

Dr. Bodnar would not comment on Wednesday, but his lawyer, Elkan Abramowitz, said he would plead not guilty. “All I can say is that we will vigorously contest these charges; we think they are baseless,” Mr. Abramowitz said.

…

The indictment stems from a federal investigation that led, in part, to the ouster of the previous Bristol-Myers chief executive, Peter R. Dolan, in September 2006.

Earlier that year, Apotex was threatening to sell its own generic version of Plavix before expiration of a patent that gave Bristol-Myers and its partner, Sanofi-Aventis, exclusive rights to the brand-name drug until 2011. The threat by Apotex, which had filed a lawsuit challenging the validity of that patent, was viewed as a serious problem for Bristol-Myers. In 2005, Plavix generated about $3.5 billion in United States sales.

Mr. Dolan dispatched Dr. Bodnar to Toronto to negotiate a settlement. During those meetings, in May 2006, the indictment charges, Dr. Bodnar made secret assurances to Apotex that Bristol-Myers would not issue its own generic version of the drug to compete with Apotex.

At the time, Bristol was bound by a federal consent order requiring it to submit such agreements to the Federal Trade Commission for clearance. The F.T.C. would have been looking for any deals that restrained competition and led to higher prices.

According to the indictment, Bristol-Myers never disclosed that part of the Apotex agreement to the F.T.C. And the indictment contends that after the investigation had begun, Dr. Bodnar certified to the F.T.C. that there had been no such secret deal.

The Department of Justice press release is available here.

Congratulations to H. Stephen Harris, Jr. has joined Jones Day from Alston & Bird.  According to the press release:

He has been widely recognized as a leading U.S. and international antitrust litigator, has considerable experience in Asia competition law and regimes, and currently serves as the International Officer of the ABA Section of Antitrust Law. With that background he will help coordinate the interface of the Firm’s global competition law practice with the Firm’s Asia competition law practices.

Mr. Harris comes to Jones Day from the Atlanta Office of Alston & Bird, where he chaired that firm’s antitrust practice. He has handled numerous complex civil and criminal antitrust cases, including class actions and multidistrict litigation, in federal courts throughout the United States.

Congratulations to John S. Gibson has joined Winston & Strawn’s Los Angeles office from Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP.  According to the press release:

Gibson’s practice focuses on the representation of Fortune 500 companies in complex civil litigation, including antitrust and unfair competition litigation, post-trial litigation, class actions, commercial purchase disputes, lender-liability defense litigation and real estate litigation in arbitration and state and federal courts throughout the U.S.

…

Gibson, a former summer league teammate of Earvin “Magic” Johnson, is also a youth basketball coach for the Amateur Athletic Union.

BBspot reports:

… Bill Gates faced antitrust investigations in the US and abroad as CEO of Microsoft, and now the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation may be coming under scrutiny for monopolistic charity practices.

Donations are down at charities like the United Way, Red Cross and Catholic Charities of America, and the organizations are finding the outlets for charitable giving have narrowed.

Red Cross Chairman Greg Coburn points to the exclusive deals the Gates Foundation has signed with many African nations as his biggest complaint. “These deals make the Gates Foundation the ’sole charity provider’ and lock out our organizations from giving. That leads to donations drying up for us,” said Coburn.

In countries where they don’t have an exclusive arrangements reports show that the Gates Foundation has been giving away its charity for free. “They just swoop in and give it away for free,” said Coburn. “It’s very hard for us to compete with that.”

…

Another concern for charities was the exclusive contract Bono signed with the Gates Foundation. “If we can’t have access to Bono, how can we be effective in our giving,” said the Pope.

The US Justice Department has refused to look into the Gates Foundation practices, saying that it doesn’t investigate charities, but the European Union has levied a preemptive fine of $300 million before launching their investigation.

Technorati Tags: antitrust, Gates Foundation, satire

Blawg Review #156 is now available at Virtually Blind.

On Friday, the World Poker Tour and five professional poker players (Chris Ferguson, Andrew Bloch, Annie Duke, Phil Gordon, and Howard Lederer) settled the antitrust lawsuit brought by the players. According to the WPT Press Release:

In their lawsuit, the poker players challenged WPT’s standard player’s release and contracts with casinos claiming that they violated federal and state antitrust laws. WPTE denied that its casino contracts, releases or other activities violated antitrust or other laws. In settling their dispute, WPTE and the poker players agreed to implement a new standard form release that will be provided to all players at all WPT tournaments and events going forward.

WPTE continues to deny any liability or wrongdoing, but wants to settle its differences with the players so that the tour can focus on its continued growth rather than litigation. No monetary compensation was exchanged between the parties as a result of the settlement.

Card Player Magazine reports:

[The plaintiffs] contended that the release that all players who compete in WPT events are required to sign violated federal and state antitrust laws. WPTE denied that its casino contracts, releases or other activities violated antitrust or other laws.

The release used from the beginning of the WPT gave WPTE the right to use names and images of the players any way they wanted to — from its video games to commercials to its website — without compensating the players. The suing players didn’t think it was fair and for most of them would violate contracts they held with other companies who had paid for the use of their personalities if they signed the release.

WPTE settle the dispute by agreeing to implement a new standard form release that will be used for all players starting at today’s $25,000 WPT Championship event at the Bellagio.

Previous Antitrust Review coverage of this lawsuit can be found here (complaint), here (answer), and here (summary judgement motion).

Technorati Tags: antitrust, poker, WPT, Chris Ferguson, Andrew Bloch, Annie Duke, Phil Gordon, Howard Lederer

Blawg Review #155 is now available at the California Blog of Appeal.

Blawg Review $154 is now available at HealthBlawg.

Congratulations to Ann Rappleye who has been promoted to Assistant Vice President, Planning at Wyeth.  As a result, Ann DeVos at Wyeth writes that they are looking for a Chief Antitrust Counsel.  The “primary objective” of the job:

will be to serve as chief legal advisor and counselor on a broad range of domestic and international antitrust issues in the pharmaceutical, consumer health and animal health divisions.  This position will report to the Vice President and Deputy General Counsel and will supervise the Corporate Counsel, Antitrust.

The Responsibilities:

Handle antitrust aspects of transactional work relating to mergers and acquisitions and licensing, including antitrust analysis, filing of pre-merger notification reports in the U.S. and outside the U.S., managing relations with federal, state and other antitrust agencies.  Provide counseling to the business units on antitrust issues, including contracting, pricing, and marketing programs.  Manage the Company’s antitrust litigation, including supervision of outside counsel, representation of the Company in the litigation process and counseling of employee participants in litigation.  Provide antitrust compliance counseling and training to both U.S. and ex-U.S. employees.  Interact with Senior Management on significant antitrust matters.

The qualifications:

JD with topnotch academic qualifications;

Member of at least one state bar;

10+ years of antitrust experience in a law firm or in-house environment;

Strong verbal and written communication skills;

Demonstrated exceptional judgment and critical thinking;

Strong interpersonal, collaborative and leadership skills; and,

Pharmaceutical/health care experience beneficial.

You can apply online or contact Ann at devosa(at)wyeth.com. If you take the position, please remember the beer rule.