Judge to Rule With No Oral Argument on Meta’s Motion to Dismiss FTC Suit

U.S. District Judge Edward Davila for Northern California in San Francisco vacated the hearing he previously scheduled for Feb. 23 on Meta’s Oct. 13 motion to dismiss the FTC’s Oct. 7 amended complaint to block Meta’s Within Unlimited buy on antitrust grounds, said a text-only entry Friday (docket 5:22-cv-04325). Davila will take Meta’s motion under submission without oral argument, said the entry. The FTC’s amended complaint leaves the agency with “no viable claim” to block the transaction because the commission’s only remaining argument is that Meta’s Within buy would lessen the “potential competition” in the market for dedicated virtual-reality fitness app, said the company’s motion to dismiss. “In the past four decades, no court has accepted a ‘potential competition’ theory to find an acquisition in violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act,” said Meta. “On the contrary, every time the FTC has sought to enjoin such a transaction on that theory, the court has denied injunctive relief.” This court’s evidentiary hearing on the FTC’s motion for an injunction to block the transaction (see 2211300059) will start Friday. The hearing is scheduled to span portions of seven court days, said an Aug. 18 text-only docket entry.