Week of October 26, 2026 Top Takeaways Loyalty Programs Face Scrutiny Beyond Discounts: The Syngenta court denied summary judgment, analyzing the challenged program as exclusive dealing rather than applying a price-cost test because the evidence extended beyond rebates to product-access conditions, purchasing thresholds, and retaliation. The ruling highlights why compliance reviews must examine how loyalty programs are enforced—not just the discounts they offer. Merger Challe

Week of October 19, 2026 Top Takeaways Keurig’s Contract Restrictions Remain a Trial Risk: The court allowed key exclusive-dealing and tying claims involving supplier, distributor, and roaster agreements to proceed while rejecting product-design, patent-litigation, and other theories. The ruling highlights the importance of assessing foreclosure across a company’s contracting network—not merely reviewing each agreement in isolation. Merger Remedies Can Require More Than Asset

Week of October 12, 2026 Top Takeaways Reseller Restrictions Draw Horizontal Boycott Claims: Furdek alleges that Apple conditioned discounted supply on Amazon excluding nearly all third-party Apple resellers. The complaint targets coordination between competing retail channels—not simply a supplier’s unilateral selection of authorized dealers. Local Purchasing Options Drive Merger Risk: Pennsylvania’s Colas challenge alleges the deal would combine two of three asphalt-emulsio

Week of October 5, 2026 Top Takeaways Pricing Recommendations Face Scrutiny When Backed by Franchise Pressure: The McDonald’s complaint alleges that pooled franchisee data, monitoring, and pressure tied to renewals and expansion turn pricing recommendations into coordinated menu pricing. The case highlights why pricing tools should be reviewed alongside the commercial consequences of declining their recommendations. Price-Discrimination Relief Reaches Day-to-Day Pricing Pract

Week of September 28, 2026 Top Takeaways Google’s Private Cases Turn on Proof of Injury: Key publisher and AdX class claims survived summary judgment in the ad-tech litigation, while search users’ claims failed in Arcell for lack of evidence connecting Google’s conduct to their alleged harm. Pricing Benchmarks Embedded in Customer Quotes Draw Antitrust Claims: The construction-equipment rental court allowed both price-fixing and separate information-exchange claims to proceed

Week of September 21, 2026 Top Takeaways AI Coordination Claims Target the Pace of Innovation: Buist alleges that leading AI developers used shared safety standards and monitoring mechanisms to coordinate limits on capability advancement. The complaint treats delayed improvements as reduced product quality and higher quality-adjusted subscription prices—putting competition over innovation, not just pricing, at issue. Benchmarking Platforms Face Exposure Alongside Their Users:

Week of September 14, 2026 Top Takeaways Access Restrictions Draw Challenges in Tech and Healthcare: LinkedIn faces claims that it restricted third-party integrations and required subscription upgrades to retain existing functionality, while Anthem faces claims that reimbursement penalties pressure independent physicians into its network. Both suits target access conditions allegedly limiting independent alternatives and customer choice. Software Partners Face Exposure in Alg

Week of September 7, 2026 Top Takeaways City-Backed Grocery Discounts Face Predatory-Pricing Claims: Supermarket plaintiffs challenged New York City’s planned grocery program, alleging that mandated discounts supported by public subsidies would exclude private competitors. The suit puts public-private operating arrangements—not just traditional corporate pricing strategies—under antitrust scrutiny. Capacity Decisions Can Strengthen Price-Fixing Allegations: In Artuso, repeate

Week of August 31, 2026 Top Takeaways Google Avoids Ad-Tech Breakup: The court accepted “most” of the proposed behavioral remedies but rejected proposed structural remedies—including divestiture of AdX and potential divestiture of DFP—marking a significant development in the government’s landmark ad-tech monopolization case. What those behavioral remedies are remains to be seen. Shale Oil Conspiracy Claims Survive: A federal court allowed core claims that major U.S. shale pro

Week of August 24, 2026 Top Takeaways Direct Evidence Strengthens Overarching-Conspiracy Theories: The Generic Pharmaceuticals MDL illustrates how guilty pleas, deferred prosecution agreements, employee testimony, internal communications, and evidence of “fair share” understandings can collectively support an inference of an industrywide conspiracy at summary judgment. Manufacturer-Assisted Dealer Cartels Remain a Section 1 Risk: Gold v. Rippa Machinery demonstrates that vert

Week of August 17, 2026 Top Takeaways Foreclosure Theories Span Healthcare and Platform Markets: The OhioHealth and Compass complaints advance Section 1 and 2 theories targeting contractual anti-steering restraints and platform strategies allegedly designed to restrict rival access and preserve market power. Merger Remedies Face Scrutiny Beyond the Competitive Merits: The court approved the HPE–Juniper settlement despite finding that the remedy may only partially address the

Week of August 10, 2026 Top Takeaways Localized Merger Markets Remain Vulnerable Under Section 7: The CRH matter illustrates continued enforcement against three-to-two combinations in narrowly defined geographic markets, with divestiture relief used to preserve an independent competitive constraint. Labor-Market Pleading Is Driving NCAA Outcomes: Masterson and Larry demonstrate the importance of plausibly defining the relevant labor market and connecting eligibility restricti

Week of August 3, 2026 Top Takeaways Merger Enforcement Continues to Target Media and Healthcare: New challenges to the Paramount–Warner Bros. transaction and an HSR enforcement action against Edwards Lifesciences reflect continued aggressive scrutiny of both substantive merger effects and transaction compliance. Courts Continue to Narrow Viable Monopolization Claims: Decisions involving Google, Treace, yacht brokerage commissions, and Under Armour reinforce that plaintiffs m

Week of July 27, 2026 Top Takeaways Admissions Continue to Shape Generic Drug Litigation: The court's partial summary judgment against Teva in the generic pharmaceuticals MDL underscores the powerful effect of criminal and Rule 36 admissions, allowing plaintiffs to establish Sherman Act liability without a trial on the violation element. Procedural Defenses Remain a Powerful Gatekeeper: Multiple courts dismissed antitrust claims on threshold grounds—including statutes of limi

Week of July 20, 2026 Top Takeaways Courts Continue to Closely Scrutinize Dominant-Firm Conduct: New and pending cases involving emissions-testing kiosks, physician certification, and automotive services underscore continued willingness to examine exclusive dealing, refusals to deal, and exclusionary policies that allegedly deny rivals access to essential inputs or markets. State Merger Challenges Gain Early Momentum: A federal court temporarily blocked Paramount’s proposed a

Week of July 13, 2026 Top Takeaways Merger Enforcement Remains Front and Center: New challenges to the proposed Paramount–Warner Bros. transaction and the DOJ’s HSR enforcement action against Edwards Lifesciences demonstrate continued aggressive scrutiny of both substantive merger effects and compliance with premerger notification requirements. Courts Continue to Demand Plausible Competitive Harm: Dismissals in the Under Armour, Treace, and yacht brokerage cases reinforce tha

Weeks of June 22 and June 29, 2026 Top Takeaways Drug Pricing Cases Remain a Major Enforcement Focus: Courts advanced key generic-drug conspiracy claims and approved another large pharmaceutical settlement, showing that healthcare antitrust litigation remains highly active. Judges Continue to Screen Weak Monopoly Claims: Several courts dismissed monopolization claims where plaintiffs could not show a clear duty to deal, market-wide harm, or sufficient evidence of exclusionary

Weeks of June 22 and June 29, 2026 Top Takeaways Government Enforcement Intensifies in Food and Healthcare Markets: The DOJ’s benchmark-manipulation case against Cal-Maine and Pennsylvania’s negotiated resolution of the Allegheny Health merger underscore continued aggressive enforcement through both structural and behavioral remedies in essential consumer and healthcare markets. Private Follow-On Litigation Continues to Gain Momentum: New lawsuits involving shipping container

Week of June 15, 2026 Top Takeaways Courts Continue to Demand Concrete Competitive Harm: Dismissals in the Apple Books, boat-listing, and septic-system cases reinforce that allegations of harm to a single competitor, without plausible market-wide effects, remain insufficient to sustain antitrust claims. Procedural Issues Are Increasingly Driving Outcomes: Recent decisions turned on arbitration provisions, class certification standards, and pleading deficiencies rather than th

Week of June 8, 2026 Top Takeaways Class Certification Remains a Major Hurdle in Labor Antitrust Cases: The denial of certification in the outpatient medical center wage-suppression litigation underscores courts’ increasing scrutiny of expert models and the difficulty of proving classwide impact and damages across diverse labor markets. Industry Certification Programs Face Continued Antitrust Scrutiny: Although the court dismissed the core antitrust claim in National Auto Too