On February 18, 2015, WLF asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to immediately review a district court ruling that would require businesses to litigate refusal-to-deal antitrust claims brought by potential rivals in the absence of any prior, voluntary course of dealing. Because no Third Circuit precedent answers the certified question in this case, and five other circuits have ruled the other way, WLF urged the court to hear an interlocutory appeal in the matter. In its brief, WLF emphasized the enormous uncertainty the decision below would create if allowed to stand. In the absence of a bright-line rule, the lingering uncertainty would chill competition and spur more speculative antitrust litigation against other patent-holders in the pharmaceutical industry. WLF’s brief also argued that the enormous expense the defendant would incur in defending this untenable suit through the discovery phase warrants interlocutory appeal.
