Contacts:
Steven M. Edwards, New York
Richard L. Stone, Los Angeles

When an antitrust issue leads to litigation, the stakes for a company are raised significantly. For some companies, antitrust litigation is a serious threat to avoid at all costs. For others, it is a weapon of last resort to use in resolving a dispute. Either way, its possibility should be considered in every competition-related controversy. If and when litigation becomes necessary, a company must be fully prepared to prosecute or defend aggressively.

At Hogan & Hartson, we organize and deploy our resources effectively and efficiently, giving our clients cost-effective results no matter the size of the litigation. At the outset of every engagement, we gain a thorough understanding of a company’s business objectives with respect to the litigation. We then tailor our litigation strategy to conform to those objectives and staff each matter as needed. We are aggressive and creative, combining excellent writing skills and effective trial techniques with sophistication in dealing with economic theory and complex technologies.

Our breadth and depth allows us to bring a singular level of knowledge to our clients’ matters. We are experienced in handling consumer class actions, government investigations, competitor suits, multidistrict litigations, and “tag-along” suits filed in multiple jurisdictions across the United States, including multiple actions in state and federal courts. Likewise, the firm has broad experience in criminal antitrust investigations in the United States and abroad on behalf of major corporations and their employees. Companies of all sizes in virtually every industry have come to us when challenged by private parties and the government on matters spanning the full range of antitrust issues, from price fixing and tying claims to exclusive dealing and predatory pricing. We have particular experience in handling antitrust actions involving patent infringement and other intellectual property claims.

We pride ourselves on our ability to handle large cases involving complex technical subjects in all types of product markets. Our work with antitrust authorities overseas coupled with our strategic international locations allows us to provide a real advantage to clients challenged by simultaneous antitrust proceedings around the world.

Related Experience

• Claims that our client Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Inc. had conspired with Blockbuster, along with other major studios, to fix prices to independent video retailers were halted through a directed verdict and summary judgment recently upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
• When Reader’s Digest and other major magazine publishers were hit with a price-fixing class action case, we helped it reach a settlement that required no monetary payment by any of the defendants.
• Resolving long-standing claims arising from the United States v. Microsoft antitrust case in the mid-1990s, in 2005 we helped IBM to secure a significant settlement with Microsoft in which the company will pay IBM $850 million.
• When timberland owners brought a major antitrust class action against the world’s largest forest products company, the company turned to us to defend allegations that it unlawfully conspired to depress the prices of pulpwood timbers purchased from landowners. A leading trade journal for the industry called it the most significant piece of forestry products litigation in decades.
• We defended a joint venture of Ford, General Motors, DaimlerChrysler, and ProQuest in an action alleging unlawful conspiracy in restraint of trade and attempted monopolization in the B2B sector. We successfully fended off a preliminary injunction motion in the case and settled it on favorable terms.
• We represented a global media and entertainment company in its successful defense of a copyright infringement claim in the Southern District of New York regarding the music from Snow White and Pinocchio.
• A top pharmaceutical manufacturer relies on our counsel in a class action attacking a joint venture of major pharmaceutical manufacturers.
• In one of the most prominent antitrust cases in Europe in the last 20 years, we helped Ampere AG, a small German energy broker, obtain a preliminary injunction against the ministerial approval of a merger between two energy giants — for the first time in German legal history.
• In the wake of a widely reported U.S. antitrust action involving price increases and allegedly anticompetitive raw material supply agreements for two anti-anxiety drugs, we defended a major pharmaceutical company against a resulting direct-purchaser lawsuit. In a case that raised cutting-edge legal issues involving government enforcement and class actions, we achieved an exceptional settlement — significantly lower than what companies previously had paid to settle government enforcement actions.
• On behalf of the American Red Cross, we defended cases alleging predatory pricing and unlawful bundling of products and successfully obtained settlement without any monetary payment.