Big tech’s refusal-to-deal defenses against antitrust claims are not convincing courts, according to a Law360 analysis. The report highlights cases where courts rejected arguments from large tech companies for not letting rivals into a market. It cites Keker’s 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals victory for Commercial Real Estate Exchange Inc. (CREXi) as a significant appellate win for cases alleging monopolistic behavior.
The June opinion allowed CREXi to pursue its claims against larger rival CoStar. According to Law360’s report: "Among the panel's conclusions was that the lower court wrongly applied a refusal-to-deal framework to free CoStar from allegations of exclusive dealing. Those claims targeted CoStar's contracts with brokers seeking to bar them from providing listings to CoStar's competitors, and technological barriers that prevent brokers from freely transferring their own listings to competing platforms. Instead of a refusal-to-deal, the panel said CREXi is alleging the contracts and technological barriers increase the costs brokers incur when working with CoStar's competitors."
A Keker team is representing CREXi in its complex litigation with CoStar and argued the successful appeal. The team includes Elliot Peters, Nicholas Goldberg, Warren Braunig, Katie Lynn Joyce, Niall Frizzell, Julia Greenberg, Christina Blais, Jason George, Christine Zaleski, Kelly Kaufman, Eleanor Brock, and Ryan Peterson.
Read more at Law360 (subscription required).