DOJ Signals Increased Antitrust Scrutiny of Algorithmic Pricing in Willow Bridge Decision

Algorithmic pricing tools commonly used by businesses to increase efficiency and profits are under increasing antitrust scrutiny. This summer, federal regulators, state attorneys general, and state legislatures grappled with competing businesses providing nonpublic, competitively sensitive data to common algorithmic platforms. The Third Circuit deepened an emerging circuit split with the Ninth Circuit on algorithmic pricing liability, reviving antitrust claims against Atlantic City casino-hotels in a decision with direct implications for any company that uses a common pricing platform. See Crowell’s recent client alert. And New Jersey enacted two landmark laws—the FAIR Act and the Fair Price Protection Act—directly regulating algorithmic rent-setting and surveillance pricing. See Crowell’s recent client alert.

Most recently, the DOJ issued a Proposed Final Judgment against Willow Bridge Property Company, LLC (“Willow Bridge”), other property management companies, and RealPage, Inc. (“RealPage”). RealPage licenses revenue management products called AI Revenue Management (“AIRM”) and YieldStar to Willow Bridge and competing property managers, including the other defendants. The United States initiated this civil antitrust action against RealPage in August 2024. In January 2025, the DOJ added Willow Bridge—one of the largest apartment managers in the United States—and five other property management companies (“property managers”) as defendants. DOJ alleged defendants’ use of the product likely aligned their pricing processes, strategies, and pricing responses, thus decreasing competition among them. The Proposed Final Judgment prohibits Willow Bridge from using algorithmic pricing tools that generate pricing recommendations based on non-public, competitively sensitive information.

These examples demonstrate how the once benign practice of using algorithmic pricing tools can put companies at risk of antitrust law violations.

The Alleged Violations in the Willow Bridge Case

Willow Bridge and other landlords used RealPage’s revenue management products to determine how to price floor plans and units for the conventional multifamily rental housing that they each manage and lease. In doing so, the DOJ alleged, Willow Bridge unlawfully shared its confidential and competitively sensitive information with RealPage for use in its and competing landlords’ pricing, violating Section 1 of the Sherman Act.

According to the Complaint, RealPage’s algorithmic pricing tools collected and leveraged its users’ confidential, competitively sensitive data to generate pricing recommendations. RealPage’s property management software, such as its OneSite product or Yardi’s Voyager, allegedly pulled data that Willow Bridge and other landlords use to manage leases, accounting, track rental payments, and maintain their respective properties. This data included rental applications, executed new leases, renewal offers and acceptances, and occupancy estimates and projections.

By simply using RealPage’s revenue management products, the DOJ alleged that the property managers agreed with RealPage to align their pricing. The DOJ alleged that the landlords provided RealPage with real-time, forward-looking, detailed, and nonpublic competitively sensitive information, including the amount of lease renewals, renewal terms, and prices. Defendants’ data influenced the recommendations that these competitors received from RealPage. The DOJ’s Competitive Impact Statement states the widespread use of a common pricing model that collects nonpublic information from its users results in less competitive prices for renters.

Key Prohibitions and Requirements of the Proposed Final Judgment

On July 6, 2026, the United States filed a Proposed Final Judgment and a Stipulation and Order, designed to remedy the loss of competition alleged in the Complaint. Some of the key prohibitions and requirements include:

Third-Party Revenue Management Products:  Willow Bridge cannot license or use any third-party revenue management product that uses third-party nonpublic data or that pools information across Willow Bridge properties with different owners, to recommend or set prices.

Proprietary Revenue Management Products:  Any Willow Bridge proprietary revenue management product cannot use any third-party nonpublic data, including in training its models or in runtime operations, nor can it pool or combine data from Willow Bridge properties that have different property owners.            

General Prohibition on Use of Competitor Data:  Willow Bridge cannot disclose, solicit, or use competitively sensitive information from competitors that can be used to set rental prices or generate pricing.

Cooperation:  Willow Bridge must cooperate in this civil antitrust proceeding, which includes allowing DOJ to inspect its documents and to interview its employees to ensure compliance.

Antitrust Compliance Infrastructure:  Willow Bridge must adopt a written antitrust compliance policy and designate a chief antitrust compliance officer. If Willow Bridge violates the Order, it will be subject to the appointment of a monitor.

Looking Ahead

The government’s action against Willow Bridge, read alongside the Third and Ninth Circuits’ decisions in algorithmic pricing conspiracy cases, and New Jersey’s new statutory framework regulating algorithmic pricing, shows that algorithmic pricing has become a first-order antitrust enforcement priority. Whether the use of a shared algorithmic platform that ingests competitors’ nonpublic data constitutes an agreement in restraint of trade under Section 1 of the Sherman Act has been litigated and regulated over the course of weeks this summer. Companies would be well served to treat these developments not as sector-specific housing or hospitality concerns, but as broadly applicable guidance on how shared data inputs and algorithmic pricing software use will be evaluated by antitrust enforcers and private plaintiffs across all industries. Crowell’s Antitrust & Competition practice stands ready to assist clients in navigating this rapidly evolving landscape.