FTC, AbbVie Seek Rehearing in Antitrust Sham Litigation Case

The Federal Trade Commission urged a federal appeals court to reconsider a recent ruling against its attempt to block AbbVie Inc. and Besins Healthcare Inc. from filing patent litigation in order to thwart competition in the generic drug market.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit erred when it upheld a district court’s order declining to enter injunctive relief despite finding the two companies liable for anticompetitive conduct, the FTC said Monday.

“Allowing proven, intentional antitrust violators to escape injunctive relief will have the pernicious effect of encouraging profitable misconduct,” the FTC said in ...