Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, WORTH NOTING: Other Antitrust and Trade Regulation developments, (Jul 17, 2026)

By WK Editorial Staff

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

ANTITRUST—N.D. Cal.: A complaint brought by pro se plaintiff Joseph Reyna against Apple for a wide range of claims stemming from his alleged roles as an Apple Card holder, musical artist whose music is available on Apple’s streaming service, layman with product ideas relevant to Apple, and consumer of Apple hardware and software products was dismissed with prejudice. Failure to allege adequately a product market rendered Reyna’s antitrust claims for monopolization under Section 2 of the Sherman Act insufficient. Reyna’s false advertising claim under the Lanham Act, alleging that Apple misrepresents its music chart rankings by suggesting they are determined by streaming activity and not disclosing they are impacted by “commercial arrangements,” failed because Reyna failed to identify any specific representations to that effect (Reyna v. Apple, Inc., No. 3:26-cv-03137-RS (N.D. Cal. Jul. 14, 2026)).

ANTITRUST—S.D.N.Y.: Reconsideration of the court’s July 31, 2025 Opinion & Order overruling objections to the May 8, 2023 Opinion & Order of a Magistrate Judge was denied by the federal district court in New York City in the consolidated litigation involving allegations that Keurig engaged in anticompetitive and unlawful conduct by redesigning its coffee makers to block competitors’ cups. Winn-Dixie’s reconsideration requests with respect to each of three court rulings in the July 2025 Opinion that Winn-Dixie failed to timely comply with three discovery orders issued by the magistrate in 2022 were without merit (In Re: Keurig Green Mountain Single-Serve Coffee Antitrust Litigation, No. 1:14-mc-02542-VSB (S.D.N.Y. Jul. 10, 2026)).

ADVERTISING—S.D.N.Y.: Defendant The Proctor & Gamble Company (P&G) was granted in part its motion to dismiss a putative consumer class action alleging that statements on labels of P&G’s tampon products cause consumers to believe the Products to be free of potentially harmful ingredients or elements, namely lead. Dismissal was granted as to the claim for negligent misrepresentation, but was denied as to all other claims including a number of claims for violation of state consumer protection laws, unjust enrichment, and breach of implied warranty. Because the plaintiffs failed to point to an extra-contractual duty that P&G owes to the plaintiffs, the economic loss rule barred the plaintiffs’ negligent misrepresentation claim. As to the allegedly misleading nature of the labelling, P&G’s arguments contesting whether the labels are misleading get at the strength of the plaintiffs’ claims, not the sufficiency of their allegations, so the court rejected them (Foster v. The Procter & Gamble Co., No. 1:25-cv-09735 (N.D. Ill. Jul. 15, 2026)).

ANTITRUST—D. Nev.: In an antitrust class action brought by a professional mixed martial arts fighter against the operators of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), defendants’ request to redact a portion of the plaintiff’s statement to remove a reference to a UFC executive’s communication preferences was denied. The information did not amount to confidential business information. Also rejected was the defendants’ requests to seal parts of an exhibit, which contained non-UFC email addresses and names related to non-party fighters, and another exhibit in its entirety based on the rejected assertions that it included nonpublic payments and negotiation positions (Davis v. Zuffa, LLC, No. 2:25-cv-00946-RFB-BNW (D. Nev. Jul. 15, 2026)).

ANTITRUST—N.D. Cal.: Corcept Therapeutics, Inc. can take a limited deposition of Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.’s CEO regarding his critique of the nature of Teva’s strategies for promoting generic mifepristone and his ideas for possible solutions, according to the federal district court in San Jose, California (Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. v. Corcept Therapeutics, Inc., No. 5:24-cv-03567-NW (N.D. Cal. Jul. 15, 2026)).

ANTITRUST NEWS: Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Eric Schmitt (R-MO) introduced the bipartisan Securing Enforcement of Americans’ Right to Competition at Home (SEARCH) Act to prevent dominant search engines from blocking smaller competitors and preferencing their search products in other lines of business. The SEARCH Act would ban dominant search engines from blocking smaller competitors by paying distributors to make them users’ default choice, a practice federal courts have found violates antitrust laws by illegally maintaining a monopoly. The legislation would also require dominant search engines to share data and syndicate search results to foster competition in a market that has had little for decades, and require search access points to offer users choice screens so users can easily find and switch to alternative search engines.

ANTITRUST NEWS: At a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) delivered opening remarks highlighting how Express Scripts, the exclusive administrator of the military’s TRICARE pharmacy program, may be pushing local pharmacies out of the TRICARE network and limiting access to timely, personalized care for service members and their families. Express Scripts has the power to decide which pharmacies are in network and how much they are reimbursed. As a result, in the last four years alone, over 13,000 local pharmacies have left the network, leaving 400,000 military families scrambling to find a new covered pharmacy. Senator Warren called out Express Scripts and the Department of Defense for refusing to provide Congress with documentation to support these claims, which Express Scripts and the Department have claimed are “proprietary” or “trade secret.”

ANTITRUST NEWS: U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) have asked the FTC to stop food and grocery delivery apps from using deceptive fees, surveillance pricing, and anti-consumer marketing tactics. The letter argues that delivery apps are taking advantage of consumers by slapping on unexplained and misleading fees that lead to exorbitantly higher prices. Also, delivery apps are combining costs and hiding fees during the checkout process. They also withhold whether they charge more for the same items that cost less in person at the same time they tack on these additional fees. Lastly, mandated pricing disclosures reveal that delivery apps rely on consumers’ personal data, such as their order history, to set prices.

ANTITRUST NEWS: The European Commission's first review of the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) has found that the regulation is fit for purpose to address distortions in the internal market caused by foreign subsidies. The review of the first three years of FSR enforcement shows the instrument is working well in practice. At the same time, the review shows certain concerns about complexity and administrative burden, so the Commission is looking into ways to simplify where possible.

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS NEWS: The European Commission has opened a formal investigation to assess whether, in the context of the proposed acquisition by XXXLutz KG of Porta, the parties may have engaged in gun jumping. The proposed transaction was publicly announced in January of 2025, and has not been formally notified to the Commission. The Commission's preliminary view is that this transaction has an EU dimension and would be notifiable to the Commission. This investigation is separate from a review by the Commission of the proposed transaction's impact on competition, under EU merger rules, and would not prejudge its outcome.

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS NEWS: The European Commission approved the acquisition of joint control of a housing portfolio in Spain by Münchener Rückversicherungs-Gesellschaft Aktiengesellschaft in München of Germany and Oaktree Capital Holdings, LLC of the U.S. Prior to the transaction, the housing portfolio was owned by Oaktree. The transaction relates primarily to the ownership and leasing of residential real estate in Spain. The Commission concluded that the notified transaction would not raise competition concerns, given the companies' limited combined market positions resulting from the proposed transaction. The notified transaction was examined under the simplified merger review procedure.

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS NEWS: TransDigm Group has abandoned its attempt to acquire rival defense and industrial component manufacturer Stellant Systems. TransDigm and Stellant compete, in addition to industrial products, to supply and repair components used in radar systems for the U.S. Navy’s Aegis Combat System and the U.S. Air Force’s F-16 fighter jets. The acquisition would have left the Department of War with a single source for critical products. The Justice Department had informed the parties that it would file a lawsuit in federal court to block the transaction.

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS NEWS: The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found that eBay Inc.’s proposed acquisition of Depop Limited from Etsy, Inc. would not lead to a substantial lessening of competition (SLC) as a result of horizontal unilateral effects in the provision of C2C online marketplaces for apparel in the UK. The CMA found that, against the backdrop of Depop’s declining market position and the decision by Etsy/Depop, made prior to the contemplation of the merger, to materially reduce the investment in Depop’s UK activities, the Merged Entity would continue to be constrained by a range of competitors, including a particularly strong leading competitor. Accordingly, the merger did not give rise to a realistic prospect of an SLC as a result of horizontal unilateral effects.

CONSUMER PROTECTION NEWS: The FTC supported an Ohio Supreme Court proposal to end the American Bar Association’s explicit control over whether an Ohio bar applicant’s legal education is sufficient for practicing law in the state. The Office of Policy Planning and Bureau of Competition sent a letter to the court arguing there were competitive risks of continuing to grant the ABA the power to set policies that limit entrance into the profession. The FTC contends that restricting the supply of lawyers might increase compensation for ABA members, but it does so by imposing significant burdens on Ohioans seeking legal representation. According to the FTC, the ABAs accreditation group is also dominated by law school faculty and administrators with strong incentives to thwart lower cost alternatives for legal education. Recently, the Florida and Texas Supreme Courts amended their rules so that the ABA would no longer have the “final say” as the “sole gatekeeper” of educational requirements for lawyers. The Tennessee Supreme Court is also considering reducing its reliance on ABA accreditation.

Attorneys: Joseph Anthony Reyna, pro se. Brian Patrick Quinn (O'Melveny and Myers LLP) for Apple Inc. Aldo A. Badini (Winston Taylor LLP) for Treehouse Foods, Inc. Daniel Johnson, Jr. (Dan Johnson Law Group, LLP) for Treehouse Foods, Inc. Carrie Amezcua (Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC) for Keurig Green Mountain, Inc. Naomi B. Spector (Kamberlaw LLP) for Stephanie Foster. Andrew James Soukup (Covington & Burling LLP) for Procter & Gamble Co. Benjamin D. Brown (Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC) for Phil Davis. Adam B. Peterson (Latham & Watkin, LLP) for Zuffa, LLC. Devora Allon (Kirkland and Ellis LLP) for Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. Adam Bryan Wolfson (Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Sullivan LLP) for Corcept Therapeutics, Inc.

Companies: Apple Inc.; Treehouse Foods, Inc.; Treehouse Foods, Inc.; Keurig Green Mountain, Inc.; Procter & Gamble Co.; XXXLutz KG; Porta; Münchener Rückversicherungs-Gesellschaft Aktiengesellschaft; Oaktree Capital Holdings, LLC; TransDigm Group; Stellant Systems; eBay Inc.; Depop Limited; Etsy, Inc.; Zuffa, LLC; Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.; Corcept Therapeutics, Inc.

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