Earlier this month, District Judge Edward Chen dismissed the first amended complaint filed by Apple and Intel in their Northern District of California case against Fortress Investment Group LLC (and several entities associated with it). The court ruled that the plaintiffs’ claims that Fortress’s aggregation of patents violates antitrust laws and that its collection and assertion of standard essential patents (SEPs) constitutes unlawful and/or unfair business practices both suffer from pleading defects. Noting that the first amended complaint, which Judge Chen previously dismissed as well, did provide more specificity about, for example, the relevant product/patent markets, the court nevertheless found that the pleading in the amended complaint remains deficient, granting the plaintiffs 30 days to file a second amended complaint that fixes the problems identified, at least as to some of the claims pled.