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McDonald’s taps law firm White & Case in cases alleging AI-powered price-fixing

By Reuters News

By Mike Scarcella

WASHINGTON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - McDonald's MCD.N has turned to law firm White & Case to defend it against proposed class actions claiming the fast-food giant uses AI-assisted pricing tools to illegally coordinate menu prices across its US restaurants.

Here are the details:

  • Lawyers from White & Case entered appearances on Monday in lawsuits against McDonald’s in federal court in Chicago. The team includes Jack Pace III, co-leader of the 2,000-lawyer-plus firm’s antitrust and competition team

  • McDonald's was sued in October for allegedly violating US antitrust law by ​conspiring with its independent franchisees to fix prices using algorithms ​trained on nonpublic data, leading customers to pay higher prices

  • The proposed class action followed a Reuters report detailing how McDonald's is using AI to guide ​menu prices

  • McDonald’s has denied any wrongdoing, saying its ​franchisees set prices individually, and that "AI does not set the price of a Big Mac or any other menu item.”

  • Pace and other White & Case lawyers are separately defending the National Association of Realtors and academic publisher Taylor & Francis in ongoing antitrust cases. Pace did not immediately respond to a request for comment

Read more:

Inside McDonald’s push to have AI price your Big Mac

AI pricing lawsuit against McDonald's raises new antitrust questions

McDonald's hit with class action alleging AI-powered menu price-fixing

Burger King must face workers’ antitrust lawsuit over wages, judge rules

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