Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, WORTH NOTING: Other Antitrust and Trade Regulation developments, (Jul 10, 2026)

By WK Editorial Staff

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

ANTITRUST—E.D.N.Y.: A consumer who allegedly sustained injury as a result of taking the prescription drug Adderall (amphetamine dextroamphetamine) failed to allege antitrust standing in an action against a pharmaceutical company because the allegations of harm, including “medical deterioration, emotional distress, and social impairment,” as well as “[l]oss of financial endeavors, were unique injuries to the consumer and did not allege an injury to competition (Gioia v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., No. 2:25-cv-04418-NJC-SIL (E.D.N.Y. Jun. 26, 2026)).

ANTITRUST NEWS: The European Commission opened a formal antitrust investigation to assess whether Align Technology has breached EU competition rules by tying its intra-oral scanners to its dental clear aligners branded as Invisalign in the European Economic Area ('EEA'). This investigation, which follows a complaint by a competitor, is the first formal antitrust investigation in the medical devices sector. Align Technology, headquartered in the US, is a global medical device company specializing in two flagship products. First, clear aligners sold under the Invisalign brand, which are customized removable dental aligners made of clear plastic designed to treat teeth misalignment. Second, Align Technology also markets intra-oral scanners, branded as iTero, used by dental professionals to generate a 3D digital scan of a patient's teeth and jaws. The Commission is concerned that Align Technology may have unfairly leveraged its market-leading Invisalign clear aligners, by effectively forcing dental professionals to purchase the iTero scanner if they wish to order Invisalign for their patients.

ANTITRUST—N.D. Cal.: The federal district court in San Francisco ruled on several motions in a suit alleging that LinkedIn Corp. violated the Sherman Act by overcharging its Premium subscribers. The monopolization and attempted monopolization claims were based on practices that allegedly allow LinkedIn to overcharge Premium subscribers. The court denied with prejudice the consumer’s request to require LinkedIn to add two custodians in light of the requests for production related to LinkedIn’s API agreements and alleged anticompetitive conduct. LinkedIn must reproduce all responses and documents it produced in connection with Klein v. Meta Platforms, Inc., and must run the plaintiffs’ proposed search terms against the four custodians it has identified and provide hit counts for each custodian to the plaintiffs. The parties must meet and confer on the hit counts to discuss any narrowing of the plaintiffs’ proposed terms. Further, LinkedIn must serve a privilege log for its Volume 23 production in compliance with the Interim ESI Order and the court’s standing order, and it must reproduce readable production images for any file in Volume 23 that contains illegible or corrupt images. The plaintiffs’ request that LinkedIn produce all metadata for the Volume 23 production set is denied. LinkedIn must produce the full set of available metadata for the Klein production, as it has offered to do. The Interim ESI Order does not require that LinkedIn manually input missing metadata fields, and it would be unduly burdensome to LinkedIn if ordered to do so (Crowder v. LinkedIn Corp., No. 4:22-cv-00237-HSG (N.D. Cal. Jul. 1, 2026)).

ANTITRUST NEWS: The United States, including the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department, filed a Statement of Interest in a parens patriae action by the State of Michigan, alleging that Defendants BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Shell (the Fossil Fuel Defendants) and the American Petroleum Institute (API) conspired to delay the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. The Statement explains that most of the fossil-fuel-based energy purchased by the State and its residents was not purchased directly from the Fossil Fuel Defendants, and thus claims for damages for any alleged overcharges on such purchases under Section 4 of the Clayton Act are barred by Illinois Brick (Michigan v. BP P.L.C.., No. 1:26-cv-254 (W.D. Mich. June 29, 2026))..

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS NEWS: The European Commission (EC) announced on July 9 the approval of Baker Hughes Company’s proposed acquisition of Chart Industries, Inc., subject to divestitures. Both companies are based in the United States and are active in the global supply of equipment and technology for the liquefaction of natural gas, according to the EC. In order to address the EC's preliminary competition concerns, Baker Hughes and Chart agreed to divest Chart's proprietary process technology (IPSMR), and its small-scale process technology business to a suitable third-party purchaser to be approved by the EC and to ensure the interoperability of their equipment with third parties' LNG equipment. The obligations will run for a ten-year period, it was noted.

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS NEWS: Getty Images Holdings, Inc. has abandoned its proposed merger with Shutterstock, Inc., which the Department of Justice and U.K. Competition and Markets Authority had conditionally cleared earlier this year. The CMA had concluded that the deal could go ahead if Shutterstock’s editorial business was sold to an approved buyer. The inquiry group found that a loss of competition between the two businesses would reduce choice for UK media outlets and could lead to higher prices, with knock-on negative impacts for consumers who rely on high-quality editorial content to stay informed. Shutterstock provides one of the few meaningful alternatives to Getty, the market leader in editorial content in the UK.

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS NEWS: The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division released their 48th Annual Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Report. This report summarizes the agencies’ merger enforcement efforts and provides fiscal year 2025 data on the Premerger Notification Program, which alerts the agencies to transactions that may substantially lessen competition in violation of federal law.

CONSUMER PROTECTION NEWS: The European Commission (EC) announced on July 9, 2026, that it has preliminarily found Meta in breach of the Digital Services Act for the addictive design of Instagram and Facebook. The investigation focuses on features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, and the platforms' highly personalized recommender systems. The investigation indicates that Meta did not adequately assess the risks of its addictive design on the physical and mental wellbeing of users, including minors and vulnerable adults. If the EC's views are ultimately confirmed, the Commission may issue a non-compliance decision, which can trigger a fine proportionate to the nature, gravity, recurrence and duration of the infringement, capped at 6% of the total worldwide annual turnover of the provider.

CONSUMER PROTECTION NEWS: The FTC has sent warning letters to seven companies that appear to have misrepresented certain products as “Made in the USA,” and one company that appears to have misrepresented certain products as “Made in Texas,” despite indications that such products were imported, in whole or in significant part. The letters were issued to companies selling products such as drums, industrial laser machinery, coordinate measuring machines and e-cigarettes.

CONSUMER PROTECTION NEWS: Amazon will pay $2.25 million in civil penalties to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that the online retail giant knowingly violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) by refusing to provide transaction records to consumers whose personal information was used by identity thieves to commit fraud, the FTC announced. The complaint, filed by the Department of Justice upon notification and referral from the FTC, alleged that in numerous instances, Amazon.com Inc. failed to comply with Section 609(e) of the FCRA, which requires companies to, within 30 days of a consumer’s request, provide victims of identity theft with application and business transaction records about fraudulent transactions made in their names.

FRANCHISING & DISTRIBUTION—D.P.R.: In a distribution dispute between manufacturer Goal Zero and distributor LCG Holdings the federal district court in Puerto Rico has resolved various discovery disputes. The parties had entered into a distribution agreement under which LCG would distribute Goal Zero’s portable power and renewable energy products in Puerto Rico on an exclusive basis. After payment disputes, Goal Zero terminated the agreement and filed suit seeking contractual damages in an amount of no less than $11,600,000. LCG responded with counterclaims, including alleged violations of Puerto Rico Act 75. Calling the discovery process in the litigation up to the present time “tortuous,” the court granted in part and denied in part several requests for production and responses to interrogatories put forth by Goal Zero. Similarly, the court ruled on several requests by LCG. The court also denied Goal Zero’s request for an award of expenses including attorney fees, finding that both parties raised, at least as to some of their claims, arguments and/or objections that were substantially justified (Goal Zero LLC v. LCG Holdings LLC, No. 3:23-cv-01488-SCC-HRV (D.P.R. Jul. 6, 2026)).

FRANCHISING & DISTRIBUTION NEWS: The International Franchise Association (IFA) submitted comments responding to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding joint employer status, a regulation essential to the operation of the franchise business model. In its comments, IFA outlined its support for the proposed rule’s core provisions providing clarity and predictability for the franchise business model

INDUSTRY NEWS: The Brattle Group welcomed Dr. Kevin Pflum to its Washington, DC office as a Principal in the firm’s Antitrust & Competition and Healthcare & Life Sciences practices. A competition economist and testifying expert, Dr. Pflum has more than 15 years of experience helping clients navigate complex antitrust disputes, merger reviews, and government enforcement actions.

STATE UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES—10th Cir.: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit found state law claims related to wholesale sales and transportation of natural gas in interstate commerce were field preempted. Kansas residents that purchased gas from local distributors who in turn purchase gas from interstate wholesalers sued the wholesalers for violating the Kansas Consumer Protection Act (KCPA), alleging that the wholesalers profiteered during a winter-weather emergency. The rates charged by these wholesalers are regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) under the Natural Gas Act (NGA). The Supreme Court resolves preemption issues under the NGA by looking at whether the target at which the state regulation aims is the retail market or the interstate wholesale market. The alleged misconduct on which the claims were based was that “Defendants cut each of Plaintiffs’ distributors’ baseload supplies of gas[] tied to the $2.55/MMBtu first-of-the-month prices, and forced them into the exponentially higher-priced spot market.” This alleged misconduct was entirely in the interstate wholesale market—namely, transactions between Defendants and the distributors from whom consumers bought gas in the retail market (In re: Winter Storm Uri Natural Gas Litigation, No. 25-3046 (10th Cir. Jul. 6, 2026)).

Attorneys: Christopher M. Burke (Burke LLP) for Kevin Schulte. Julia Elizabeth Chapman (Dechert LLP) for LinkedIn Corp. Jay F. Fowler (Foulston Siefkin LLP) for Russ Mehil. Amanda Flug Davidoff (Sullivan & Cromwell) for BP Energy Co. Gabriela A. Perez-Velez (McConnell Valdes LLC) for Goal Zero LLC. Ubaldo M. Fernandez-Barrera (O'Neill & Borges) for LCG Holdings LLC. Mariafrancesca Gioia, pro se, Glenn S. Kerner (Greenberg Traurig LLP) for Teva Pharmaceuticals U.S., Inc.

Companies: Meta; Align Technology; Getty Images Holdings, Inc.; Shutterstock, Inc.; LinkedIn Corp.; BP Energy Co.; Goal Zero LLC; LCG Holdings LLC; Teva Pharmaceuticals U.S., Inc.; Baker Hughes Co.; Chart Industries, Inc.; Amazon

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