Between suppliers and manufacturers, planning for the termination of a supply agreement during its negotiation may seem counterintuitive, awkward, or perhaps insignificant. Termination discussions often take a back seat in the conference room where the negotiating energy is spent primarily on price, quality, and delivery terms. As one court observed, termination is typically “of little interest or concern to the parties” so long as they
Read More Termination for Convenience Under the Uniform Commercial CodeAntitrust Litigation
The Second Prong of the “Cigarette Rule’ Continues to Serve as a Basis for Finding Unfairness Under Several “Little FTC Acts’
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Reproduced with permission from Antitrust & Trade Regulation Report, 101 ATRR 408, 09/30/2011. Copyright _ 2011 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (800-372-1033) http://www.bna.com.
I. Introduction
The authority of the Federal Trade Commission (‘‘FTC” or ‘‘the Commission”) to prohibit ‘‘unfair or deceptive acts or practices” dates back to the Wheeler-Lea Amendment to the FTC Act in 1938.[1]
Since then, federal and state courts…
Read More The Second Prong of the “Cigarette Rule’ Continues to Serve as a Basis for Finding Unfairness Under Several “Little FTC Acts’Independent Ink: Supreme Court Abandons Market Power Presumption of Patents
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Franchisors that own intellectual property (patents, copyrights, or trademarks)for use as part of the franchise system have long been confronted with an unfortunate and misguided presumption that their intellectual property rights automatically gave them market power — an essential element of many antitrust claims — in the system’s patented, copyrighted, or trademarked products and services. From an antitrust perspective, this presumption, although rebuttable, created a…
Read More Independent Ink: Supreme Court Abandons Market Power Presumption of PatentsClass Action Fairness Act of 2005
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Over the past decade, there has been a growing concern that plaintiffs’ lawyers increasingly filed large, national class actions in certain state court venues perceived to be very favorable to plaintiffs. These locations including Madison County, Illinois; Jefferson County, Texas; and Palm Beach County, Florida have been called everything from “magnet” jurisdictions to “magic” jurisdictions. Despite the fact that these class actions often involved plaintiffs…
Read More Class Action Fairness Act of 2005Ongoing Lessons From Poughkeepsie
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In the same month that the Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice released their Antitrust Guidelines for Collaborations Among Competitors (“Collaboration Guidelines”), the New York State Attorney General won a decisive victory in a case that challenged a collaborative arrangement between two not-for-profit competitor hospitals.
Resources
Reprinted with permission from Matthew Bender’s Antitrust Report, October 2000
Read More Ongoing Lessons From Poughkeepsie