UPDATE: The Trump Administration immediately appealed Judge AliKhan’s order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. On July 21, 2025, the Court of Appeals entered an administrative stay, thus temporarily blocking Slaughter’s reinstatement to the FTC. In a one page order, the Court of Appeals explained that the purpose of the stay is to “give the court sufficient opportunity
Read More D.C. District Court Finds President Trump’s Firing of FTC Commissioner IllegalSupreme Court
Senior Counsel Robert Langer and Partner Benjamin Diessel Published an Article in ABA Antitrust Law Section’s Antitrust Magazine
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Senior Counsel Robert Langer and Partner Benjamin Diessel co-authored an article titled, “Off the Wagon: Rejecting Efforts to Write the Agreement Requirement Out of Section 1 in Liquor Regulation Preemption Cases” in ABA Antitrust Law Section’s Antitrust Magazine. The article discusses the complex intersection of state pricing regulation, the Sherman Antitrust Act and the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause. It explains at length why the…
Read More Senior Counsel Robert Langer and Partner Benjamin Diessel Published an Article in ABA Antitrust Law Section’s Antitrust MagazineNorth Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners v. FTC — What Hath the Supreme Court Wrought?
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The federalism debate has continued to serve as a point of controversy and division in American politics and jurisprudence.1 The balance of power between the states and the federal government has shifted over time reflecting the realities of this debate. Historically, the states were thought to possess the exclusive power to regulate ‘‘their purely internal affairs” through the exercise of their police powers.2…
Read More North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners v. FTC — What Hath the Supreme Court Wrought?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 Patents