In this issue:
The new year kicks off with hot-off-the-presses controversies. We’re starting with four articles on sports, including recent charges of maladministration against Commissioner Almunia resulting from his alleged allegiance to Spanish football. Two articles visit a perennial favorite, Noerr-Pennington immunity, and pose a unique question—is N-P antitrust’s Shrödinger’s Cat paradox? Then we ask if, to stop patent trolls, certain states will succeed in going where the feds fear to tread. Buckle your seat belts, people, it’s going to be a bumpy year.
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Sports Update
Litigating Change in College Sports
Regardless of how O’Bannon ultimately resolves, it is in the courts, not on them, where student-athletes may earn their greatest victory. David Greenspan & Joseph Litman (Winston & Strawn)
Sport and State Aid – Reining in the Populist Gesture
However, at the very same time, as if to remind law-makers of sport’s uniquely political nature, an unprecedented controversy has erupted in which the European Ombudsman has accused the EU’s (Spanish) Commissioner for competition of maladministration…Ken Daly (Sidley & Austin)
Counting the Pennies in Sport: UEFA’s Financial Fair Play Regulations Under the Competition Law Microscope
It appears that UEFA’s careful plans to forestall any challenges to its prized new regulations will be tested before the FFPR have fully got off the ground. Brian Kennelly & Ravi Mehta (Blackstone Chambers)
Sports and Competition Law in India: The Need for a Third Umpire?
Given that sporting events or activities are typically globally or nationally organized under the supervision of a single administrative body, the use or abuse of a dominant position by such bodies is often subject to judicial scrutiny. Cyril Shroff & Nisha Kaur Uberoi (Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co.)
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Noerr-Pennington Immunity – the Schrödinger Cat of Antitrust?
Letting the Cat Out of the Box: Noerr-Pennington Immunity and Consent Decrees
There is no precedent or authority providing a clear answer as to whether consent orders are protected by Noerr-Pennington immunity. Thomas J. Dillickrath & William C. Lavery (Baker Botts LLP)
Noerr-Pennington’s Furtherance Standard for Petitioning Immunity: Application to Settlements
In particular, courts should clarify that the Noerr-Pennington doctrine articulates a unidirectional furtherance standard for petitioning immunity. Christopher Grengs (FTC Attorney Advisor)
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Troll Alert
Angels Rush in Where Fools Fear to Tread: State Enforcement Against Patent Trolls
Existing case law suggests that state efforts to respond to patent troll abuse face an uphill battle to avoid federal preemption. Yet…, Jay L. Himes & Matthew J. Perez (Labaton Sucharow LLP)
