# Paramount fights back on the states' merger suit

> Paramount's first legal answer to the 12-state challenge lays out the defenses it plans to run at trial next March.
- Title: Paramount fights back on the states' merger suit · Variety
- Summary: Paramount's first legal answer to the 12-state challenge lays out the defenses it plans to run at trial next March. Paramount's opening play is to question…
- Keywords: paramount, antitrust, warner bros discovery, media mergers, litigation, entertainment, culture, fights, back, states', merger, suit
- Source: Variety — https://variety.com/2026/film/news/paramount-answer-antitrust-case-1236859363
- Author: Gene Maddaus
- Published: 2026-09-12T04:16:38+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: paramount, antitrust, warner bros discovery, media mergers, litigation, entertainment, culture
## Paramount answers the states
Paramount's lawyers filed their formal response Friday to the antitrust suit aimed at the Warner Bros. Discovery merger.
## A merger worth blocking
Twelve states have sued to stop Paramount from absorbing Warner Bros. Discovery, arguing the combination harms competition.
## March trial on the calendar
The filing sketches out the arguments and defenses Paramount may deploy when the case reaches trial next March.
## The jurisdiction defense
Paramount's main gambit: the states have no authority over the merger, because that power sits with the Justice Department.

> which is vested in the U.S. Department of Justice
## Why that argument strains
States can bring claims alleging harm from conduct that violates federal antitrust law. Merger review is not a DOJ monopoly.
## Confidence as strategy
Paramount is betting the case falls apart once a court examines it closely, a posture designed to hold as much as to win.

> collapse under scrutiny
## Key takeaway

Paramount's opening play is to question whether states can block a merger at all, but the law says they can sue over federal antitrust harms.