In a recent Business Law Segment of Smart Pros – Knowledge for Professionals, Wiggin and Dana partner, Bob Langer, was the guest antitrust expert on a program entitled “When Can You Set and Enforce Minimum Prices?” The host begins the program as follows: “In an opinion [Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc.] released on the last day of the courts term, the Supreme Court held that it was not automatically unlawful for manufacturers and distributors to agree on minimum retail prices. The court struck down the 96 year old rule that resale price maintenance agreements were an automatic or a per se violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. In its place the court instructed judges considering such agreements for possible antitrust violations to apply a case by case approach, known as the rule of reason, to assess their impact on competition.”

Bob Langer, along with his partners, Aaron Bayer and Suzanne Wachsstock, in collaboration with the firm of Bryan Cave, filed a friend of the court (amicus) brief in Leegin on behalf of PING, Inc. The PING brief was noted by Chief Justice Roberts and the Deputy Solicitor General of the United States during oral argument and is referenced favorably by Associate Justice Kennedy, author of the court’s majority opinion. Leegin is widely acknowledged to be the most significant antitrust decision issued by the United States Supreme Court in the past thirty years.

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Dunham, named as one of the top four U.S. franchise attorneys in this year’s Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, will serve as Forum Chair for a two-year term. The ABA Forum on Franchising is the preeminent organization dedicated to the legal aspects of franchising.

Antitrust Opinions: No Bright Lines, More Facts. On the antitrust front, Robert M. Langer, head of the antitrust and trade regulation practice group at Wiggin and Dana, Hartford, Conn., submitted that Leegin was the key case of the term, and perhaps the most important since Continental T.V. Inc. v. GTE Sylvania Inc., 433 U.S. 36 (1977). Leegin held that vertical price restraints in the form of resale price maintenance agreements between manufacturers and distributors are not per se illegal under Section 1 of the Sherman Act, but instead should be analyzed under the rule of reason in deciding whether those measures are anticompetitive. In reaching that conclusion, the court overruled Dr. Miles Medical Co. v. John D. Park & Sons Co., 220 U.S. 373 (1911).

In order to qualify, candidates must have demonstrated a broad background in practicing law involving common law subjects. The candidate must then pass a rigorous three-day examination covering English statutes, cases, practice rules and common law.

"As more aging-services providers look to new technology ventures, it will be important to incorporate HIPAA into strategic planning."

The co-authors of the Unfair Trade Practices treatise are: Robert M. Langer, of Wiggin and Dana's Antitrust & Trade Regulation Practice Group, David L. Belt and John T. Morgan.

This issue also includes:

The program will be called the Wiggin & Dana Innovation@work Series after its lead sponsor. Wiggin and Dana’s top technology partners Bill Perrone and Frank Marco are excited about the possibilities the program will present for the State. “We are in a time of significant technical advances by many firms here, companies of all sizes. If we can find ways to promote sharing of the best techniques that these firms are using and also stimulate strategic partnerships we have a win-win situation for everyone,” Marco noted.

Wiggin will have seven summer associates this year, down from 10 in 2003. Prout said the firm purposely reduced the program's size so it can give more attention to the interns it did bring on. It wasn't a question of economics, he maintained.

More than 500 venture capitalists and company executives packed the mezzanine of the Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale.

Robert M. Langer, a partner at Wiggin and Dana, was a member of this panel.

• PIPEDA - A Clearly Canadian Approach to Privacy Protection
• New Rules for Marketing by Email and Text Message
• The European Commission’s First Report on the Implementation of the Data Protection Directive: Towards Greater Convergence?
• Broadband Security: Developing Legal Standards for a Brave New World