Covington Honored at GCR Awards 2015

Covington Honored at GCR Awards 2015

April 20, 2015

WASHINGTON, DC, April 20, 2015  — Global Competition Review has selected matters led by Covington lawyers as winners of two 2015 GCR Awards. 

• Litigation of the Year, Cartel Defense was awarded for the defendants’ win in Motorola Mobility v AU Optronics, et al. Covington partners Robert Wick and Derek Ludwin in Washington, DC, and Jeffrey Davidson in San Francisco, assisted by associates David Zionts and John Playforth, advised Samsung Electronics in this case. The Covington team, with Rob Wick handling the oral argument, convinced the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit to reject Motorola's attempt to hold their client Samsung Electronics and several other of the world’s largest liquid crystal display manufacturers liable under U.S. antitrust law for allegedly fixing prices of mobile phone displays sold to Motorola’s foreign subsidiaries. The ruling affirms a district court order that threw out a $3.5 billion set of antitrust claims shortly before trial. Issued on November 26, 2014, the Seventh Circuit ruling held that Motorola could not invoke U.S. antitrust law because its foreign subsidiaries had been the “immediate victims” of any alleged conspiracy to boost prices on liquid crystal display screens.
   
• Behavioural Matter of the Year, Europe was awarded for the Samsung SEP settlement, secured by Covington partner Peter Camesasca in Brussels (previously of Peter Camesasca Advocaat BVBA) on behalf of Samsung Electronics. This is a path-breaking settlement, which together with the infringement decision against MMI, sets out EU policy regarding SEPs and an important aspect of the IP/antitrust interface. The EU settlement closed the investigation against Samsung without a finding of infringement or fine levied against Samsung, also highlighting that in its negotiations with Apple, Samsung had not engaged in any wrongdoing under EU competition law.

In addition, Covington was named to GCR’s Global Elite, a list of the top 20 competition practices worldwide, ranking it among the top practices in both Brussels and Washington, D.C.