Law360 recently featured Slade Bond, Chair of Public Policy at Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca, in an article examining the waning effectiveness of the "refusal-to-deal" defense in major antitrust cases involving tech giants like Apple, Google, and Live Nation.
Bond, who led the landmark House Antitrust Subcommittee’s investigation into Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google, told Law360 that “there has been a dam breaking,” referring to a growing number of federal court decisions rejecting tech firms’ reliance on the once-powerful doctrine to shield monopolization claims.
He pointed in particular to U.S. District Judge Julien Xavier Neals’ late June ruling allowing the Justice Department’s antitrust case against Apple to move forward—calling it “a huge departure” from what had effectively become “a get-out-of-jail-free card.” The judge found that Apple’s alleged conduct—limiting developer access and restricting user functionality—fell outside the traditional refusal-to-deal framework, as it didn’t involve withholding business from direct competitors but instead dictated market terms in ways that could harm competition.
Learn more here: https://www.law360.com/articles/2369616/big-tech-s-refusal-to-deal-defense-hits-a-wall-judges?te_pk=5c8d731e-c6e6-4d16-904d-c7995ab46496