Two weeks before trial on its bid to stop the merger of American Airlines and US Airways, the Department of Justice agreed to allow the transaction to proceed subject to divestitures of take-off and landing slots and gates at several major airports. A district court refused to dismiss a Department of Justice complaint alleging that senior executives at eBay and Intuit agreed to refrain from hiring one another’s employees.
Other antitrust developments of note included an opinion by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirming the dismissal of a complaint asserting a conspiracy to undercut rival insurance estimation software providers and a district court decision that relied on the long-standing antitrust exemption for baseball in dismissing claims that the league prevented the Oakland A’s from moving to San Jose in violation of antitrust law.
