Rivals including AT&T and smaller competitors had sought through months of lobbying to block the merger, and federal officials say they would not be surprised if one of the rivals filed a lawsuit seeking to block the deal.
Rival file-sharing networks, based on open standards, are now in the ascendant.
In the United States, a federal judge has already dismissed the lawsuits filed by the entertainment industry against two rival file-sharing services, Grokster and StreamCast Networks, saying that they could not be held liable for what their users do with the software.
The decision comes in the wake of similar rulings in the U.S. in favor of rival file-sharing programs Grokster and StreamCast Networks, saying that the programmers could not be held liable for the actions of their users.
That was made clear again this week when Team Dennis Conner, routed on the water by a 4-0 loss to its American rival OneWorld, filed a protest to have OneWorld thrown out of the competition for stealing other teams' design secrets.
Its rival Chrysler filed for Chapter 11 protection there April 30.
A PayPal rival, CertCo, filed the lawsuit earlier this week, claiming patent infringement.
On Monday, Best Buy's largest rival, Circuit City Stores, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and said it was cutting more jobs than the thousands announced last week.
The dour outlook from Best Buy was the latest jolt from the retail industry, coming days after its rival, Circuit City, filed for bankruptcy protection.
Sheldon H. Solow, a rival bidder, filed a suit in Chancery Court in Delaware on Sept. 12, seeking to block the scheduled closing of the sale to Mr. Macklowe next Friday.
