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• Top News

What the AstraZeneca and Ranbaxy pay-to-delay case didn't tell us

A closely watched trial that many hoped would help clarify a contentious battle over access to generic drugs instead ended in disappointment last week. In fact, the outcome only seems to have underscored the difficulty in sorting out so-called pay-to-delay deals, a topic that has embroiled the pharmaceutical industry, regulators and the courts for years. In these arrangements, a brand-name drug maker and a generic rival locked in patent litigation reach a settlement. The brand-name drug maker may offer cash or something else of value and, in return, wins more time to sell its medicine without encountering lower-cost competition. The generic drug maker, meanwhile, also comes away with an agreement to sell its copycat medicine at a specified future date. Such maneuvering has raised antitrust concerns at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which has estimated these deals cost Americans $3.5 billion annually in higher health-care costs. For its part, the pharmaceutical industry contends the deals are not only legal, but allow lower-cost generic drugs to reach consumers faster than if patent litigation dragged on.

Clearer limits for insider trading prosecutions

Enforcers have revealed an insider trading line by stepping over it. A federal court on Wednesday threw out the convictions of two hedge fund managers, sharply narrowing the law on improper dealings. Prosecutors should expect more embarrassing reversals. The silver lining is that the ruling gives Wall Street some much-needed clarity on what's forbidden, and it may curb government excesses. Anthony Chiasson and Todd Newman were spared prison because of a legal nuance. They traded on data passed from Dell and Nvidia employees through intermediaries, but denied knowing whether those insiders were compensated for their tips. They argued correctly that such knowledge was an essential element of the alleged crime. Prosecutors disagreed and persuaded the trial judge to instruct the jury accordingly. The appeals court reversed, saying government lawyers had not even shown that the two men knew the origin of the information. That's a big problem, the three-judge panel said, because it's easy to imagine a "trader who receives a tip and is unaware that his conduct was illegal."

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• Crumbs

1 - Oi of Brazil Agrees to Sell Assets in Portugal to Altice- click here.

2 - Appeals Court Deals a Setback to U.S. Crackdown on Insider Trading - click here.

3 - Petrobras Announced by Glancy Binkow & Goldberg LLP - click here.

4 - Protests in Paris as France unveils economic reforms -click here.

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• Historia verdadera

Acuerdo

El Salvador y la empresa italiana Enel firmaron el "un Acuerdo Marco" para ponerle fin al litigio por US$120 mlls que reclamaba la firma por impedirle adquirir más acciones en la sociedad salvadoreña LaGeo. (Presione aquí)

De autos

El fabricante estadounidense de vehículos General Motors (GM) invertirá más de US$ 5.000 mlls. en México para duplicar su capacidad de producción en el país hacia el 2018. En el 2013, la empresa produjo en México 645.823 unidades. Entre enero y noviembre de este año, la producción de la firma fue de 635.252 vehículos ligeros, que en una mayoría exporta a Estados Unidos.

• Brief News

CIA chief says 'abhorrent' tactics may not have been essential

CIA Director John Brennan defends his agency's past interrogation program but admits some techniques used against detainees were "abhorrent". He said some officers acted beyond their authority but most did their duty; the CIA "did a lot of things right" at a time when there were "no easy answers". But we have not concluded that it was the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" (EITs) within that program that allowed us to obtain useful information from detainees who were subjected to them, he added. "The cause-and-effect relationship between the use of EITs and useful information subsequently provided by the detainee is, in my view, unknowable." Senator Dianne Feinstein, whose committee produced the report, said torture should now be outlawed by law.

Brazil truth commission reports torture during military rule

Brazil's National Truth Commission [official website, in Portuguese] released a report [press release, in Portuguese] on Wednesday declaring that state agents engaged in human rights violations between 1964 and 1985 when the country was under military rule. The human rights violations include enforced disappearances, torture, sexual violence, executions and hiding bodies. At least 434 people are believed to have died or gone missing during this period, and 210 bodies have never been found [BBC report]. The report also urges the prosecution of those who were involved in the violations. The commission began investigating the abuses in May 2012, gathering thousands of testimonies and holding public hearings throughout 20 Brazilian states. Brazil's current President, Dilma Rousseff [official website, in Portuguese] was one of the victims tortured and imprisoned [AP report] during the 1970s. (click here)

10 Wall Street firms fined over conflicts in Toys 'R' Us I.P.O.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined the 10 firms $43.5 million, saying they implicitly or explicitly offered favorable research coverage in return for a role in a planned I.P.O. of Toys "R" Us.

2 economists better than 1 is Apple iPod trial strategy

Apple Inc. tried a two-economists-are-smarter-than-one strategy to convince a jury in a $1 billion antitrust trial that it wasn't trying to cheat consumers with its early iPod upgrades. Two University of Chicago professors summoned by Apple testified Dec. 10 and Thursday that a Stanford University economist called earlier as a witness by consumer attorneys got it wrong when he calculated that "locking" iPod users to iTunes raised prices starting in 2006 and resulted in damages to consumers and retailers totaling $351 million. Topel's colleague, Kevin Murphy, told the jury Dec. 10 that Apple's "integrated" system for digital music, made up of a music player, a media player and a music store, was "pro-competitive" and benefited consumers because it was seamless, reliable and easy to use. Because Apple controlled every piece of the system, "it had the flexibility to innovate," Murphy said. "There was no anticompetitive impact."

Strict new copyright law forces end of google news in Spain

Online search giant Google is shutting down its Google News service in Spain before a new intellectual property law is introduced. Google will shut the service on 16 December before the law comes into effect in January, the firm said. The law allows Spanish publications to charge services like Google News if their content is shown on the site. But Google has argued against the ruling, saying that it makes no money from its search-based service. Richard Gingras, head of Google News said that the law which would allow Spanish publishers to charge Google "for showing even the smallest snippet from their publications" was not sustainable. "Google News itself makes no money (we do not show any advertising on the site)," he said. He also pointed out that publishers can choose whether or not they want their articles to appear in Google News. "The vast majority choose to be included for very good reason. Google News creates real value for these publications by driving people to their websites, which in turn helps generate advertising revenues," he said. The Spanish legislation, nicknamed the "Google Tax", did not specify how much the tech giant would have to pay publishers. Global newspaper publishers have long argued that services such as Google News infringe on their copyright by creating an online selection of headlines.

Canada police 'can search phones'

Canadian police can search the contents of a mobile phone after arrest, the Supreme Court of Canada rules. In a 4-3 decision, the court said a warrant was not needed as long as the search is directly related to the suspected crime and records are kept. The dissenting judges argued phones were an "intensely personal and uniquely pervasive sphere of privacy". The outcome is opposite from a similar case decided in the US Supreme Court in June. In a unanimous decision, the US high court said searches of mobile phones must require a warrant, with few exceptions. Canada's lower courts were previously divided on the issue.

US House passes $1.1tn budget bill

The US House of Representatives has passed a $1.1tn budget, hours before government was due to shut down at midnight on Thursday.

Funds audit clears UK Islamic charity

Britain's biggest Islamic charity says an audit of its activities in Palestinian Territories shows no evidence it funded terrorism. Islamic Relief Worldwide denied claims made first by Israel and later the United Arab Emirates and hired leading auditors to review its West Bank work. The charity works with international organizations and governments, such as Unicef and the World Food Program.

Executives charged in Petrobras scandal

Brazilian prosecutors have charged executives from six of the country's largest construction firms in connection with a corruption scandal at the state-run oil company, Petrobras. The 22 executives and 13 others are accused of forming a cartel and channelling kickbacks into a Petrobras scheme to pay politicians. They were also charged with money-laundering and organized crime. If they are convicted, the accused face more than 20 years in jail. The executives were accused of forming a "club" to rotate contracts with Petrobras and cream off cash for politicians to look the other way. Dilma Rousseff who served as chair of the Petrobras board for seven years has denied any knowledge of the corruption scheme.

Attorney faces rare sanction from nation's highest court

The Supreme Court raised eyebrows earlier this week with a highly unusual order demanding that a patent attorney at a major law firm show cause as to "why he should not be sanctioned for his conduct as a member of the Bar," in connection with a petition filed with the court. It's not every day that the nation's highest court singles out a corporate attorney for possible punishment. Supreme Court observers don't recall seeing such an order come down in more than a decade.

Uber's troubles mount even as its value grows

The attorneys general of San Francisco and Los Angeles counties are suing Uber. "Prosecutors say that Uber misrepresents and exaggerates how extensively it does background checks on drivers. Uber searches publicly available databases on individuals, but prosecutors say it needs to take fingerprints to check for criminal histories like traditional taxi companies." Complaints against the company fall into two broad categories: One is the accusation that it doesn't screen its drivers properly; the other is the fact that it lacks permits to operate or is unregulated, and hence the charge that Uber has an unfair advantage over traditional taxis.

Mutual fund industry may face new rules

Mary Jo White, chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said the agency was considering whether to update its liquidity standards for mutual funds.

After protests, Harvard Law students request exam delay

Students at Harvard Law School, joining their counterparts at a pair of other leading universities, have asked that final exams be postponed for students who have been "traumatized" by two recent grand jury decisions in Missouri and New York, and who have focused their energies on protesting racial injustice. "Unless you act now, you will allow the systematic underperformance of a great many students of color and allies on this campus on their exams," a student coalition wrote in a letter Monday to law school administrators. "We cannot walk away from our pain, and we cannot ignore our call to act against the injustice that threatens our families and our commitment to the justice system." Law students at Columbia and Georgetown universities have made similar requests.

Detroit's bankruptcy is over

"The financial emergency in the city of Detroit will be defined as wrapping up today," Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. The largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, will end at 12:01 a.m. ET on Thursday. Paperwork to officially end the bankruptcy would be approved later today. The move comes a month after a federal judge approved a strategy for the city to exit bankruptcy.

Russian Baltic moves 'unprecedented'

Poland complains of "unprecedented" Russian military activity in the Baltic Sea region, saying Nato is being tested but is not at risk of attack.

Bridge scandal prosecutors may use obscure fraud law

Federal prosecutors investigating the lane closings at the George Washington Bridge last year are considering charges based on a rarely used provision of a fraud statute, under which they could argue that associates of Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey used the bridge for a purpose other than its intended one. The statute can be used against members of any government agency that receives more than $10,000 a year in federal money — which could include the state, or the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the bridge — and it is typically used to elevate offenses committed by local officials into federal crimes. People close to the case say prosecutors have not settled on a legal theory for any charges. But even identifying a possible theory is significant; a big question since the United States attorney in New Jersey began investigating the bridge scandal in January has been whether the lane closings violated any federal law. While one possible chain of events would be to charge people involved with official misconduct, that is a state, not a federal, crime.

The strange British law that is leading hundreds of people to mimic sex acts

On Friday at midday, hundreds of people have arranged to meet at Old Palace Yard, next to Britain's Houses of Parliament. Once there, they plan to mimic sexual acts en masse while singing from the classic British comedy Monty Python. According to the Register, the group had been hoping to get the Guinness Book of World Records staff on hand, though they were rebuffed. It may seem an unusual way to spend a weekday, but for those people planning to attend, the event is designed to highlight something more serious: A shift in Britain's laws regarding pornography that they see as a dramatic infringement of rights. At the start of December, the Audiovisual Media Services Regulations 2014 came into force, amending the 2003 Communications Act. The amendment essentially meant that all online video on demand pornography would be judged the same as pornography sold legally in stores on DVDs, which is subject to the restrictions of the British Board of Film Censors (BBFC).

Commerzbank Faces $1 Billion Penalty

German lender Commerzbank is likely to pay more than $1 billion to U.S. authorities to resolve two probes examining whether it violated U.S. economic sanctions and money laundering laws.