When is a lawsuit against competitors so meritless that it loses the protection of the First Amendment and exposes the plaintiff to antitrust liability?
On Jan. 15, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit will hear argument about whether the Federal Trade Commission should keep a $448 million disgorgement award from AbbVie Inc. for monopolizing the market for its topical testosterone supplement Androgel by filing “sham” lawsuits against competitors to keep them out of the lucrative market.
At issue in the case is whether the district court applied the right standard and exactly how antitrust plaintiffs must ...