The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that "reverse payment" settlements of patent disputes could be unlawful, rejecting the view that restrictions within the "scope of the patent" could not violate antitrust law. The Supreme Court also decided that courts must enforce a contractual provision prohibiting class arbitration despite the contention that the cost of pursuing individual antitrust claims exceeded the likely recovery, effectively deterring the vindication of statutory rights.
Other antitrust developments of note included a district court's judgment that Apple facilitated a conspiracy among publishers to increase e-book prices and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit's affirmance of the FTC's challenge to efforts to restrict teeth-whitening services by non-dentists in North Carolina.
