Antitrust

Civil Litigation

• Amazon in several matters, including:
  • a putative class action brought on behalf of consumers alleging that Amazon’s “fair pricing” policy, which requires third-party sellers not to use pricing practices that harm customer trust, has raised the prices of products sold by those third-party sellers, violating antitrust law.
  • a hearing in front of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust Commercial and Administrative Law. The hearing addressed potential antitrust concerns related to online platforms and market power.
• Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD), a global medical technology company, in numerous matters over the past decade, including most recently in securing a major appellate victory at the Seventh Circuit affirming the dismissal with prejudice of an antitrust class action against BD. Paul, Weiss previously secured dismissal of the class action which was brought by a putative class of all U.S. hospitals and healthcare providers alleged that BD conspired with distributors of its products to inflate the prices of syringes and IV catheters by excluding competitors from the market.
• Google as lead trial counsel in United States v. Google, the blockbuster case seeking to break up Google’s digital advertising business.
• Intuitive Surgical, Inc. in securing a complete defense victory at trial in a high-stakes antitrust suit brought by Surgical Instrument Service Company, Inc., (SIS) alleging that Intuitive illegally tied the sale and service of its da Vinci surgical robots to the purchase of its EndoWrist Instruments.
• Mastercard in numerous government and private antitrust actions over the past decade, including most recently in:
  • defending the company for twenty years in class and individual actions brought by merchants attacking Mastercard’s business model and practices, including “interchange” fees and certain rules governing merchants’ acceptance of payment cards. The core Mastercard business model and practices have remained intact following settlements with the merchant class and a large number of plaintiff opt-outs.
  • class actions brought on behalf of independent ATM operators and consumer groups challenging Mastercard’s ATM access fee non-discrimination rule.
  • an antitrust class action brought on behalf of U.S. merchants alleging that major payments networks, together with card-issuing banks, conspired to shift fraud costs for certain card transactions from card-issuing banks onto merchants in connection with the roll-out of EMV-chip cards in the U.S.
• Morgan Stanley in securing the dismissal of a class action alleging that several financial institutions that participate in the auction and trading of securities issued by the U.S. Treasury had conspired to reduce competition in the secondary market for Treasury securities, and colluded to block the emergence of new trading platforms through which better prices could ostensibly have been obtained for Treasury securities.
• Uber Technologies in several significant matters, including:
  • an arbitration trial victory in an antitrust action brought on behalf of users of Uber’s ride-hailing app by a customer who challenged the legality of Uber’s business model under the Sherman Act and sought to enjoin surge pricing nationwide. Plaintiff filed a challenge to the arbitration ruling in federal district court and following oral argument, the court upheld the ruling.
  • securing the dismissal of a $750 million unfair competition lawsuit brought by the largest taxi conglomerate in Boston in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The district court previously held that Uber did not compete unfairly in the Boston market when it operated without a license in violation of longstanding taxi rules. The dismissal was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, which held that Uber was not liable for violating the Massachusetts unfair competition statute or the common law for unfair competition.

Merger Clearance

• Apollo Global Management, funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, Inc. and its portfolio companies as antitrust counsel in several transactions, including:
  • in its $6.3 billion acquisition of International Game Technology's gaming and digital business IGT Gaming and Everi Holdings.
  • ABC Technologies, a Canada-based company majority owned by funds managed by affiliates of Apollo, in the antitrust aspects of its takeover bid of TI Fluid Systems PLC, a UK-based multinational automotive fluid company, valued at just over £1 billion ($1.27 billion).
• Endeavor Energy Resources, a Texas-based oil and gas exploration and production company, in the antitrust aspects of its $26 billion merger with Diamondback Energy, a Texas-based independent oil and natural gas company.
• EP Group, in its high-profile £3.5 billion cash offer for International Distribution Services plc (IDS) (Royal Mail Group).
• Farelogix, a technology company that connects travel agencies with airlines, as lead antitrust counsel in connection with the DOJ’s investigation and subsequent lawsuit seeking to block its proposed acquisition by Sabre, a leading global distribution system (GDS), alleging that the merger would eliminate competition for booking services in the online and traditional travel agency markets. Following a two-week bench trial in federal court, the court issued an opinion in favor of Farelogix, ruling that the DOJ did not establish harm to competition on both sides of the two-sided market at issue.
• IBM as antitrust counsel in numerous transactions, including:
  • its $6.4 billion acquisition of HashiCorp, a California-based provider of Infrastructure Lifecycle Management and Security Lifecycle Management for cloud environments.
  • in its pending acquisition of DataStax, a California-based AI and data solution provider.
  • its strategic partnership with Palo Alto Networks, a California-based cybersecurity company.
• KPS Capital Partners and its portfolio companies as antitrust counsel in a variety of transactions, including:
  • KPS Capital Partners and its portfolio company Eviosys, a Switzerland-based supplier of metal packaging, in the €3.615 billion sale of Eviosys to Sonoco Products Company, a South Carolina-based sustainable packaging producer.
  • in its approximately €1.7 billion carve-out acquisition of INEOS Composites, a global manufacturer of unsaturated polyester resins, from INEOS Enterprises.
• Resolute Forest Products Inc., a global forest products company, in its $2.7 billion sale to The Paper Excellence Group through the Group’s wholly owned subsidiary, Domtar Corporation.
• Roark Capital Group in connection with its acquisition of Subway Restaurants, one of the world’s largest quick service restaurant brands.
• Spirit Airlines in a 17-day bench trial in the District of Massachusetts against the DOJ and several states that had brought an action challenging the proposed sale of Spirit to JetBlue. This was the first challenge to an airline merger that was litigated to conclusion in district court. Although the district court entered an order enjoining the merger, the decision is noteworthy as Spirit and JetBlue succeeded in rebutting the government’s prima facie case and persuaded the court that the transaction would result in substantial benefits to American consumers.
• TPG in several transactions, including:
  • in the antitrust aspects of its EUR 3.9 billion acquisition of Aareon, a Germany-based provider of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions for the property industry.
  • in the antitrust aspects of its $2 billion strategic investment in Veeam, a Washington-based data protection and management platform.
  • in the antitrust aspects of its $2.2 billion take-private acquisition of Altus Power, Inc.
• WestRock in the antitrust aspects of its $20 billion combination with Smurfit Kappa, creating Smurfit WestRock, a global leader in sustainable packaging.

Cartel Defense

• A manufacturer of compact construction, agricultural and maintenance equipment in a criminal antitrust and civil False Claims Act (FCA) investigation by the DOJ and the General Services Administration’s Office of Inspector General.
• A multinational chemicals company in connection with an investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division into allegations of collusion in the fragrance industry. Paul, Weiss also represents the company in parallel class action litigation seeking treble damages and other relief.
• A U.S. holding company and its subsidiary in a criminal antitrust investigation and private litigation concerning the cement and ready mix concrete markets in the southeast United States.