Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, WORTH NOTING: Other Antitrust and Trade Regulation developments, (Mar 13, 2026)

By WK Editorial Staff

A periodic roundup of other items of interest to the Antitrust and Trade Regulation community.

ANTITRUST NEWS: Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy with concerns over the company’s use of opaque algorithms and misleading contracts to overcharge schools, local governments, and taxpayers for essential goods. A recent analysis by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) revealed that Amazon Business, the company’s marketplace for sales to businesses and the public sector, has been sidestepping traditional procurement processes, in cahoots with private equity firm OMNIA Partners. According to Warren, Amazon appears to be using its market dominance and its pricing algorithms to inflate prices across the Internet. An antitrust complaint brought by the FTC and 17 states alleges that Amazon constantly crawls the web and automatically responds to prices set by both third-party sellers on Amazon and competing online retailers. As the report notes, a dominant firm with a superior algorithm can “instantly undercut any discount offered by a competitor, teaching rivals that lowering prices won’t win them more market share” and pushing up prices for consumers overall.

ANTITRUST NEWS: The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has responded to the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) consultation on proposals to improve the pace, predictability, proportionality and process of the UK's competition regime. The CMA response addresses each of the multiple areas of reform proposed in the consultation.

ANTITRUST NEWS: In an amicus brief filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Academics and Former Enforcers in Support of Affirmance argued in In Re Rail Freight Fuel Surcharge Antitrust Litigation (No. I), No. 1703 (D.C. Cir. March 5, 2026).that the district court faithfully applied precedent demanding evidence from which a reasonable jury could find the inference of a conspiracy more attractive than the alternative inference of independent action.

ANTITRUST NEWS: The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority announced plans to step up monitoring of petrol and diesel prices, putting firms responsible for thousands of fuel stations on notice that formal requirements to supply revenue, costs, and sales data will be brought forward. This will accelerate the CMA’s review of fuel margins made by businesses since the conflict began. When the data is available, the CMA will also consider how quickly fuel prices rise and fall as wholesale costs change, and whether there is evidence of so-called “rocket and feather” pricing.

Similarly, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission wrote to petrol companies seeking information about recent price increases. After reviewing their responses, the ACCC will require further clarification in a meeting with fuel market participants next week. The ACCC noted that the increase in petrol and diesel price varied widely between Australian capital cities and in many cases have increased as fast as wholesale prices and in some cases by a greater extent. The first weekly pricing update to be provided by the ACCC during the current Middle Eastern conflict also shows Australian refined international petrol and diesel benchmark prices have increased more than international oil prices during the initial period of the conflict.

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS NEWS: The European Commission has approved the acquisition of joint control of Cambridge Mobile Telematics Inc. by TPG Inc., Vitality Group International, Inc., all of the US, and SoftBank Vision Fund L.P. of the UK. The transaction relates primarily to telematic services. The Commission concluded that the notified transaction would not raise competition concerns, given that the joint venture has negligible activities in the European Economic Area and that the companies are not active in the same or vertically related markets.

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS NEWS: A report published by the FTC describes US physician practices using data from the agency’s Physician Practice and Healthcare Facility Merger Study. The data consists of healthcare claims data from six major insurers in 15 states which collectively account for approximately 80 percent of commercial insured patients between 2015 and 2020. The authors found that the degree of patient choice of provider practices varies substantially by physician specialty.

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS NEWS: Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) announced that “the Treasury Department dodged its responsibility to conduct a serious national security review of Paramount’s winning bid for Warner Bros.” As of December 2025, the deal included $24 billion from sovereign wealth funds in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi, leading the Senators to press Scott Bessent, Treasury Secretary and Chair of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), to carefully examine whether the deal is subject to a CFIUS review, and if so, to conduct it in a comprehensive, thorough, and non-politicized manner. “Given the cloud of corruption surrounding the Trump administration’s review of this deal from Day One, it’s no surprise that Trump’s Treasury Department is sticking its head in the sand instead of investigating the national security risks of $24 billion from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds apparently flooding this deal. It’s American consumers who will pay the price,” said Senator Warren.

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS NEWS: The European Commission has approved the acquisition of joint control of County Broadband Limited, Freedom Fibre Limited and Truespeed Communications Limited by Truespeed Communications Group Limited, all of the UK, and DigitalBridge Group, Inc. of the US. The transaction relates primarily to the provision of fibre-to-the-premises. The Commission concluded that the notified transaction would not raise competition concerns, given the limited impact on the European Economic Area. The notified transaction was examined under the simplified merger review procedure.

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS NEWS: The European Commission has approved the acquisition of joint control of PDSVision Group Invest AB of Sweden by Bridgepoint Group plc of the UK and Polaris Management A/S of Denmark. The transaction relates primarily to solutions for digitalization of value chains. The Commission concluded that the notified transaction would not raise competition concerns, given the companies' limited market positions resulting from the proposed transaction. The notified transaction was examined under the simplified merger review procedure.

FRANCHISING & DISTRIBUTION—S.D. Ohio: Hotel franchisor Defendants Red Roof Inns, Inc. and Red Roof Franchising, LLC, were denied their motion to transfer an action brought by an alleged sex trafficking victim from the federal district court for the Southern District of Ohio to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a). The victim, R.S., a resident of Florida, alleges that she was trafficked for sex in 2015 at the Red Roof Inn located in Virginia Beach, a franchisee of Defendants, each of whom have their principal place of business in the Southern District of Ohio. In accordance with its recent opinions denying motions to transfer venue, absent jurisdictional or venue deficiencies, the court determined that it will not exercise its discretionary power to transfer the cases to a different district court pursuant to § 1404. The court reiterated that it has repeatedly explained that the “public interest factors have become demonstrably more important, requiring this Court to consider the impact of transferring these cases as a whole, and not in isolation.” The Defendants argued that the court should transfer this case to the Eastern District of Virginia because the Section 1404 venue factors weigh in favor of transfer, as Plaintiff is not an Ohio resident and alleges she was trafficked at a Red Roof Inn-branded property in Virginia. But the Defendants failed to distinguish the Court’s numerous TVPRA decisions on venue and nothing in the record of this case indicated that the importance of the public interest factors has diminished (R.S. v. Red Roof Inns, Inc., No. 2:25-cv-00965-ALM-EPD (S.D. Ohio Mar. 4, 2026)).

FRANCHISING & DISTRIBUTION—D.N.J.: In a dispute between Xtreme Machines, a dealer of recreational sports vehicles, and BRP US, a manufacturer of Can-Am and Sea-Doo sports vehicles, the federal district court in Trenton, New Jersey, stayed litigation and ordered the dispute sent to arbitration. After BRP sent the dealer a letter purporting to offer a renewed dealership agreement for only one of the four BRP product lines distributed by the dealer, the dealer filed suit seeking a preliminary injunction preserving their relationship. However, the parties’ dealer agreement contained an arbitration provision stating that arbitration shall be the sole and exclusive method of resolving the parties’ contractual disputes. The dealer argued that the arbitration agreement, which contains both Florida choice of forum and law provisions, would frustrate the purposes of New Jersey franchise law. The court determined that because the dealer did not challenge the arbitration provision’s delegation clause, but only challenged the provision as a whole, it was up to the arbitrator to determine the provision’s enforceability. Thus, the case was stayed, pending clarification by the arbitrator (Xtreme Machines, LLC v. BRP US, Inc., No. 3:26-cv-01395-MAS-JBD (D.N.J. Mar. 11, 2026)).

Attorneys: Randolph D. Janis (Douglas & London, P.C.) for R. S. Elisabeth Catherine Arko (Tucker Ellis LLP) for Red Roof Inns, Inc. Peter Francis Berk (Pem Law LLP) for Xtreme Machines, LLC. Nicholas Kord Lagemann (Trif & Modugno, LLC) for BRP US, Inc.

Companies: Red Roof Inns, Inc.; Xtreme Machines, LLC; BRP US, Inc.; Amazon; Cambridge Mobile Telematics Inc.; TPG Inc.; Vitality Group International, Inc.; SoftBank Vision Fund L.P.; Paramount; Warner Bros. County Broadband Limited; Freedom Fibre Limited; Truespeed Communications Limited; Truespeed Communications Group Limited; DigitalBridge Group, Inc.; PDSVision Group Invest AB; Bridgepoint Group plc; Polaris Management A/S

News: Antitrust AcquisitionsMergers ConsumerProtection FranchisingDistribution OhioNews FederalTradeCommissionNews NewJerseyNews