Ninth Circuit Revives Aligner Antitrust Class Actions And Clarifies Rule-Of-Reason Burden ...

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals revived two antitrust class actions against a leading dental-device maker accused of monopolizing the clear aligner and intraoral scanner markets by refusing to deal with a competitor. The court clarified the three-step burden-shifting framework for refusal-to-deal claims under Section 2 of the Sherman Act, finding that genuine factual disputes prevent summary judgment and require further examination of whether the defendant's business justifications are pretextual.

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