The Nielsen Company and other Nielsen entities achieved a victory when Justice O. Peter Sherwood of the New York State Supreme Court granted Nielsen's motion to dismiss in full from the bench at oral argument on the motion. New Delhi TV, an Indian broadcasting company, alleged that TAM, an Indian TV ratings company partially owned by a Nielsen India entity, neither of whom were named as a party in the case, misused the "Nielsen Process," which resulted in corrupt and inaccurate TV ratings in India that harmed NDTV. As Nielsen argued and Justice Sherwood agreed, the core of Plaintiff's complaint against Nielsen was that it failed to regulate TAM's implementation of the "Nielsen Process."

Litigation partner Aidan Synnott was quoted in an article that examines the antitrust case in which Chinese Vitamin C manufacturers allegedly engaged in government-sponsored price-fixing. Aidan offers insight into how U.S. courts apply antitrust rules to a managed economy. The article, "Vitamin C Antitrust Case Puts US-China Ties on Trial," appeared on Law360 on February 20.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Paul, Weiss client The Nielsen Company in a monopolization case brought by Sunbeam Television, the Fox television affiliate in Miami. Sunbeam claimed that Nielsen excluded rivals from the local television ratings market through a variety of exclusionary acts, which allowed it to introduce an inferior service (the Local People Meter technology) and charge excessive prices. The Eleventh Circuit held that Sunbeam failed to identify any rival willing and able to enter the market and so lacked standing to assert an antitrust claim.

Paul, Weiss client Sumitomo Corporation of America announced that a price-fixing lawsuit brought against the company in United States federal court was dismissed with prejudice by plaintiffs shortly after discovery in the case began. No payments or other consideration of any kind were exchanged among the parties.

Paul, Weiss client MasterCard Inc., along with Visa Inc. and several banks, reached a $7.25 billion settlement with merchants in antitrust lawsuits brought by the merchants over the fees they pay when consumers use debit and credit cards. As The Wall Street Journal reported, the settlement puts to rest a long legal battle. The settlement was announced after financial markets closed, and both MasterCard and Visa stock prices rose following the news.

Paul, Weiss obtained a victory for MasterCard International Incorporated last week when the New Mexico Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed the dismissal of a complaint brought by a putative class of consumers. Plaintiffs asserted that MasterCard violated the New Mexico Antitrust Act by allegedly "tying" the provision of merchant debit card services to credit card services, and claimed that the alleged "tie" resulted in overcharges on all goods purchased at New Mexico merchants that accept MasterCard.

Paul, Weiss obtained a victory on behalf of Sumitomo Corporation of America (SCOA) in the District of New Jersey. Judge Dickinson R. Debevoise granted SCOA's motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that SCOA conspired to fix the price of magnesium oxide (MgO) in the United States in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act.

Paul, Weiss client Hewitt Associates, Inc., one of the world's leading HR consulting and outsourcing companies, has merged with a subsidiary of Aon Corporation, integrating Hewitt with its existing consulting and outsourcing operation, Aon Consulting, and operating the segment globally under the newly created Aon Hewitt brand. In connection with the $4.5 billion acquisition, which included a DOJ investigation, we persuaded the Department to close the investigation without issuing a Second Request and coordinated the European Union and Canadian investigations.

Paul, Weiss won a major victory for its client DVD FLLC in achieving the dismissal, with prejudice, of a complaint by EcoDisc AG alleging violations of the antitrust laws and false advertising. EcoDisc alleged that DVD FLLC violated the Sherman Act, the Lanham Act, and various state laws by announcing to its licensees that EcoDisc's brand of "thin DVDs" do not comply with the standard DVD specifications and that manufacture of such discs could be a breach of the license agreement. The court ruled that EcoDisc failed to meet its pleading burden, and that further amendment would be futile.