The National Law Journal: O’Melveny’s Daniel Petrocelli, DOJ Square Off as Book Publishers’ Antitrust Trial Gets Underway

The US Department of Justice’s antitrust trial challenging Penguin Random House’s proposed acquisition of Simon & Schuster got underway yesterday with opening arguments. The DOJ contends that the merger deal would give Penguin “outsized influence” over the book publishing industry. O’Melveny partner Daniel Petrocelli, who is leading Penguin’s defense, argued that the DOJ’s focus on books with author advances exceeding US$250,000 was arbitrary and constitutes just 2% of commercially sold books each year. “Not able to show harm to the overall market, the government went looking for harm, and shrunk its case down to a tiny corner of the book market,” Petrocelli said.

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