1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,960 Speaker 1: Well, now it's time for our Bloomberg Law Report. Let's 2 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:05,400 Speaker 1: get to the legal stories we're watching this morning with 3 00:00:05,440 --> 00:00:10,920 Speaker 1: Steve Podusk in the Bloomberg Washington news room. When the U. S. 4 00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:14,200 Speaker 1: Supreme Court rules on a case challenging American Express companies 5 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:17,959 Speaker 1: merchant rules, it could shape how antitrust violations will be 6 00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:22,000 Speaker 1: judged in complex markets like healthcare or credit cards. Companies 7 00:00:22,040 --> 00:00:24,880 Speaker 1: that want to introduce new digital currencies into the marketplace 8 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:27,120 Speaker 1: may have to brace for scrutiny from a new source. 9 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:31,560 Speaker 1: The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Verizon Communications will pay 10 00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:35,400 Speaker 1: seventeen point seven million dollars to resolve FCC and Department 11 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:38,960 Speaker 1: of Justice investigations into whether it violated the rules of 12 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:42,920 Speaker 1: a program that subsidizes broadband in schools and libraries. Bloomberg 13 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:47,120 Speaker 1: Law everything you need, all on one legal research platform, 14 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:51,920 Speaker 1: including guidance analysis and Bloomberg Market Intelligence. Find out more 15 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:55,880 Speaker 1: at Bloomberg Law dot com. All right, thanks Steve. Now, 16 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:57,640 Speaker 1: in other legal news, let's take a look at a 17 00:00:57,680 --> 00:01:01,280 Speaker 1: recent setback for drugmaker allergy And after a federal judge 18 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:04,600 Speaker 1: ruled its use of an Indian tribe to protect patents 19 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:07,839 Speaker 1: for the drug re stasis did not hold up in court. 20 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:10,320 Speaker 1: Here with more in this story is Bloomberg Law host 21 00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:13,759 Speaker 1: Joam Grosso and Greg Sture speaking with Rutgers University Law 22 00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:19,080 Speaker 1: School professor Michael Carry and Bloomberg Intelligence senior litigation analyst 23 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:24,200 Speaker 1: Owed Gersbacker. Oh tell us about Judge Bryson's decision on 24 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:29,240 Speaker 1: the patents. Okay, so there's really two decisions that came down. Um, 25 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:32,680 Speaker 1: one on the patents, invalidating all of them, so that 26 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:35,840 Speaker 1: really clears the way for generics, and the other was 27 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:39,280 Speaker 1: the decision to actually join the tribe to the lawsuit. 28 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:42,600 Speaker 1: Could you explain what the decision was based on. The 29 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:46,319 Speaker 1: patents were invalidated for um what we call obviousness in 30 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:50,440 Speaker 1: patent law, and that just means that the judge found that, 31 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:56,040 Speaker 1: prior to alegan filing these patent applications that eventually became patents, 32 00:01:56,360 --> 00:01:59,920 Speaker 1: the the invention had already been um made or disc 33 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:04,280 Speaker 1: it or written about in different pieces of literature. Mike 34 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:08,639 Speaker 1: tell us about the other decision, Uh, so, um that 35 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:11,360 Speaker 1: he could have stopped. I guess with that one decision 36 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:14,160 Speaker 1: that Ode was just talking about invalidating the patents, but 37 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:17,519 Speaker 1: he also wrote something separate that talked about what he 38 00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:21,960 Speaker 1: called a ploy to transfer the patents to a Native 39 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:24,000 Speaker 1: American trap. Tell us a little bit about that issue, 40 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:26,440 Speaker 1: if you would. So that question was whether or not 41 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:30,320 Speaker 1: aller Gun's motion would be granted to join a party, 42 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:32,920 Speaker 1: to join the tribe to the lawsuit. At the end 43 00:02:32,919 --> 00:02:35,079 Speaker 1: of the day, the court said yes, because it wasn't 44 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:38,040 Speaker 1: willing to take the chance that by not joining the 45 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:41,000 Speaker 1: tribe eventually the decision could be thrown out if the 46 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:44,240 Speaker 1: tribe really did play a role, a valid role in 47 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:47,760 Speaker 1: this transaction. So the court was really being conservative in 48 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:50,919 Speaker 1: saying there's a chance that the tribe could play a role, 49 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:54,200 Speaker 1: so I will allow them to join the case. But 50 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:57,560 Speaker 1: in doing that, to judge was as clear as I 51 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:00,639 Speaker 1: have ever seen in a court opinion that is basically 52 00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:03,800 Speaker 1: a sham transaction, and there were tons of language that 53 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:07,239 Speaker 1: made that clear. So, Mike, why would Allergan want to 54 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:11,960 Speaker 1: transfer the patent to the st regious tribe? The primary 55 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:14,960 Speaker 1: reason is that it allows them to make an argument 56 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:19,079 Speaker 1: that they are now immune from having their patents challenged. 57 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:22,800 Speaker 1: Sovereign immunity is a doctrine that goes back century. But 58 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:26,840 Speaker 1: the point here is that Allergan was trying to transfer 59 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:30,080 Speaker 1: the patent to the Native American tribe so that the 60 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:33,360 Speaker 1: tribe would be immune. So if generics were challenging the 61 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:36,840 Speaker 1: patents at the patent office, then they can say you're 62 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:40,440 Speaker 1: out of law. The game's over because we are immune. 63 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:44,760 Speaker 1: As Rutgers University Law School professor Michael Kerrier and Bloomberg 64 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:49,440 Speaker 1: Intelligence Senior litigation analyst Ode Gersbacker speaking with Bloomberg's June 65 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:52,360 Speaker 1: Grosso and Greg Store. You can listen to Bloomberg Law 66 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:56,000 Speaker 1: weekdays at one pm Wall Street Time here on Bloomberg Radio, 67 00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:58,880 Speaker 1: and find more legal news at Bloomberg Law dot com. 68 00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:01,360 Speaker 1: Attorneys will find accept in a legal research and business 69 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:04,920 Speaker 1: development tools there as well. Visit Bloomberg Law dot com 70 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:06,480 Speaker 1: for more information.