California-Led States Examining Antitrust Challenge to Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery Merger

A coalition of states led by California is preparing a lawsuit to block Paramount’s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, with the filing expected within a month. Robert Van Nest, a partner at Keker, Van Nest & Peters, met with California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office on Friday to discuss representing the states in the case.

No final decision has been made on his participation. The states have identified theatrical distribution, streaming and news as relevant markets. Claims in the potential lawsuit remain fluid. A person with knowledge of the matter said the states are looking at what is happening with CBS right now and that the Warner Bros.

Acquisition is going to impact that more with CNN. New York, Colorado, Oregon, Nevada, Washington, Connecticut and Tennessee are among the states in talks to join the lawsuit. 2 billion proposed acquisition of Tegna.

State attorneys general are one of several groups that could pose an obstacle to the merger, along with the Justice Department, the Federal Communications Commission, the European Union and consumers. K. regulators opened a probe into the Paramount-Warner Bros.

Discovery deal. An initial deadline of Aug. 7 has been set for a decision on whether to initiate a phase 2 investigation, a more in-depth review if it is concluded that the merger may substantially lessen competition.

Paramount’s legal team for the deal is led by Jeffrey Kessler and Makan Delrahim, Trump’s former assistant attorney general for antitrust. A Paramount spokesperson said: “We continue to engage constructively with regulators, including State Attorneys General, and are always prepared to address legitimate, clearly articulated antitrust concerns.

However, we do not believe any aspect of this transaction raises such concerns.

Van Nest represented Google in a lawsuit from Oracle seeking billions of dollars over software that powers much of the world’s smartphones. He helped convince the Supreme Court that Google’s copying of about 11,000 lines of software code constitutes fair use. He currently represents OpenAI in a series of lawsuits accusing the company of illegally training its technology on copyright works.

He has represented Netflix in patent litigation and other technology disputes. He also represented Qualcomm in a major antitrust trial that threatened the chip maker’s entire business model. A federal appeals court tossed a verdict against Qualcomm, reversing a federal judge who found that the company abused its monopoly by overcharging phone makers for its patents.

Van Nest penned an op-ed for The New York Times last year urging law firms to challenge what he argued is unconstitutional retaliation against lawyers who represented President Trump’s adversaries. 3 million in funding for antitrust litigation.