Assembly Member Aguiar-Curry's legislation targeting algorithmic pricing practices would prohibit the use or distribution of pricing algorithms that incorporate nonpublic competitor data, while establishing new legal standards for antitrust enforcement under California's Cartwright Act.

The bill creates a framework of legal presumptions that would apply when pricing algorithms are distributed to or used by multiple parties in the same market. Under these provisions, courts would presume antitrust violations occurred if an entity distributed an algorithm trained on nonpublic competitor data to two or more users who employed it for pricing decisions, or if multiple parties used such an algorithm in related markets. Defendants could overcome these presumptions only by proving they neither developed nor distributed the algorithm and lacked knowledge of its use of nonpublic data.

The legislation also modifies pleading requirements for Cartwright Act complaints, requiring only that plaintiffs present plausible factual allegations of anticompetitive conduct rather than having to exclude the possibility of independent action. Additional provisions establish joint and several liability for parties who knowingly distribute prohibited algorithms and define key terms including "nonpublic competitor data," "commercial terms," and "pricing algorithm." The bill maintains existing antitrust protections while adding these new regulatory elements specifically focused on algorithmic pricing practices.