The Paul, Weiss Antitrust Practice advises clients on a full range of global antitrust matters, including antitrust regulatory clearance, government investigations, private litigation, and counseling and compliance. The firm represents clients before antitrust and competition authorities in the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and other jurisdictions around the world.
Sharp Corporation and Sharp Electronics Corporation Obtain Dismissal of Antitrust Claims
- Client News
- January 23, 2014
Practices
Paul, Weiss client Sharp Corporation and Sharp Electronics Corporation scored an enormous victory when Judge Gottschall of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois dismissed antitrust claims by Motorola Mobility Inc. covering nearly $6 billion in commerce, and leaving only $61 million at issue. Because Motorola has already collected over $150 million in settlements from other defendants, any damages based on that commerce will be more than offset by those settlements. The effect of the order is to have dismissed approximately $3 billion in treble damage claims.
Sharp sought out Paul, Weiss's counsel in 2008 after it had agreed to plead guilty, along with half a dozen other electronics companies, for price-fixing activity related to thin film transistor liquid crystal displays - a key component of flat screen monitors, televisions, cell phones and other handheld devices. The civil class action and opt-out lawsuits that followed were consolidated before Judge Illston in the Northern District of California. Motorola's complaint sought damages on nearly $6.1 billion worth of commerce, nearly 99 percent of which was related to purchases made by foreign affiliates. The defendants sought to have the affiliates' claims dismissed by saying the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act of 1982, as well as the Sherman and Clayton antitrust acts, cannot apply to foreign firms in foreign markets. The court's decision confirmed that U.S. antitrust law does not apply to the foreign transactions at issue in this case.
The Paul, Weiss team included litigation partners Craig Benson, Kenneth Gallo and Joseph Simons and counsel Gary Carney and Daniel Crane.