Lawyer Monthly - August 2021 Edition

MONTHLY ROUND-UP Multinational pharmaceutical company Pfizer has agreed to a payout of $345 million to resolve allegations that customers overpaid for EpiPens due to anti-competitive practices by Pfizer and Mylan, the company that markets the anaphylaxis treatment. Tiffany & Co has settled its 8-year-long lawsuit accusing Costco Wholesale of trademark infringement, counterfeiting, and unfair business practices for selling rings bearing the “Tiffany” name. TIFFANY & CO SETTLES 8-YEAR LONG LAWSUIT WITH COSTCO WHOLESALE OVER TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT The settlement on 19 July came after the Manhattan federal appeals court dis- carded a $21 million decision made in August judging that Tiffany won the suit following a jury trial in 2017. A trial judge ruled that Cost- co was liable for selling the disputed rings, despite the retailer’s claims that “Tiffany” had come to be a generic term used to describe the rings’ prong setting. The deci- sion left jurors to decide how much Tiffany should recover. Despite the ruling, the ap- peals court stated that Cost- co had acted in good faith and that customers of the re- tailer were intelligent enough to understand that Tiffany & Co neither produced nor endorsed Costco’s “Tiffany” rings. It is estimated that 3,349 customers purchased Costco’s Tiffany-set rings dur- ing the period covered by the lawsuit. Tiffany & Co sued Costco on Valentine’s Day in 2013 to protect the company’s brand and cachet. The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed. LM PFIZER AGREES TO $345 MILLION PAYOUT TO RESOLVE EPIPEN PRICING LAWSUIT The proposed class action settlement was disclosed in a federal court filing in Kansas City. However, the deal does not resolve claims against Mylan, with a trial scheduled for January 2022. Despite the settlement, Pfiz- er has said in a statement that it denies any wrongdo- ing and believes its actions were appropriate. The litigation follows public outrage in 2016 when Mylan increased the price of a pair of EpiPens, a handheld de- vice that treats severe and life-threatening allergic reac- tions, to $600 from $100 in 2008. The move by Mylan be- came central to the ongoing debate about the often un- affordable cost of medicines and healthcare in the United States. Consumers accused Mylan and Pfizer, which produced the EpiPens for Mylan, of an- ti-competitive practises that gave them a monopoly over the market for anaphylaxis treatments. Last month, US District Judge Daniel Crab- tree dismissed most, but not all, of the allegations against Mylan. The remaining claims con- cern a patent settlement that is said to have delayed the launch of a generic epineph- rine auto-injector. However, Mylan has said it believes its conduct was lawful. Back in 2017, the company agreed to a $465 million pay- out to resolve US Justice De- partment claims that it over- charged the government for the EpiPen. LM 7 AUG 2021 | WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM