U.S. antitrust law generally presumes that companies can choose with whom they do business, with no "duty to deal," particularly with their direct rivals. While government cases meeting refusal-to-deal defenses have yet to reach an appellate court, that will change soon: Google has made clear it plans to appeal its ad tech loss as soon as the judge there issues final judgment, following a remedies phase set for September. "It's a very difficult claim to bring," said David D. Cross, a Goodwin attorney speaking specifically as a plaintiffs attorney who's pursued refusal-to-deal claims. Cross argued that in the digital age, Trinko's requirement that companies have an existing relationship, in order to permit claims alleging breach of a duty-to-deal, is "antiquated" in the face of the need for data access just to enter many markets. "That is a big hurdle in refusal-to-deal cases right now," he said. Please read the Law360 article for more.