A federal court should dismiss Sky Angel’s antitrust claims against...
A federal court should dismiss Sky Angel’s antitrust claims against C-SPAN, C-SPAN said in a brief filed with the U.S. District Court, Washington, in response to Sky Angel’s opposition to C-SPAN’s motion to dismiss the complaint. Sky Angel has alleged…
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C-SPAN violated federal antitrust law by refusing to allow Sky Angel to distribute C-SPAN programming on its online video service. But in a brief that stopped just short of ridicule, C-SPAN argued that the court should toss Sky Angel’s inconsistent and contradictory complaint. C-SPAN highlighted areas where Sky Angel’s initial complaint and its opposition to the motion to dismiss contradict each other. “Such inconsistent and contradictory pleading is itself a basis for dismissal,” C-SPAN said. “Sky Angel cannot make out even the most basic of antitrust claims in this case because C-SPAN has done nothing wrong,” said Bruce Collins, C-SPAN’s general counsel. “Not every disappointment in life is an antitrust violation,” Collins said. “The tone of the brief should not inspire confidence in C-SPAN’s legal position,” said Jonathan Rubin, Sky Angel’s counsel. “If C-SPAN’s legal position were so clear, then why is it necessary to adopt a tone of ridicule in the first place?” he said. “They don’t seem to want to acknowledge basic principles of antitrust law -- that a trade association cannot get together for the purpose of disadvantaging a rival,” he said.