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Google and Legal Search
Posted on November 19, 2009Google now has a legal search engine. You first have to go to Google Scholar and then selected the “legal opinions and journals” option. I have only taken a quick look but a couple of quick thoughts: this is will be useful if you know the case name (or part of it)...
Obama Nominates Julie Brill and Edith Ramirez to the FTC
Posted on November 17, 2009Reuters reports: U.S. President Barack Obama has chosen Julie Brill, North Carolina’s top consumer watchdog, and attorney Edith Ramirez to fill two vacant spots on the Federal Trade Commission, the White House said on Monday. … Brill became the senior deputy attorney general and chief of consumer protection and antitrust for the North Carolina Department of Justice in [...
Slides for Talk about Antitrust and Standard Setting
Posted on November 17, 2009Here are the slides for an upcoming talk on standard setting after Rambus, Broadcom (3rd. Cir.), Qualcomm (Fed. Cir.), and N-Data at the Advanced Patent Law Institute Conference in Palo Alto. Drop me a note if you are attending and would like me to address any other topics (offline, probably, the slot is only for [...
Slides from my Antitrust and IP Licensing talk in Chicago
Posted on November 16, 2009Here are the slides from my talk at the PLI seminar Understanding the IP License 2009 in Chicago. This was a fun event with a great crowd. Thanks to everyone for making this such a rewarding trip! Share on Facebook
On the Move: A. Douglas Melamed
Posted on November 14, 2009Congratulations to A. Douglas Melamed who is leaving Wilmer Hale to become the General Counsel of Intel. Share on Facebook
Intel and AMD settle for $1.25 billion dollars
Posted on November 12, 2009Earlier today it was announced that Intel and AMD settled their long running antitrust dispute(s). Reuters reports: Intel Corp will pay rival chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Inc $1.25 billion to settle all outstanding legal disputes …. … AMD said it will withdraw all its regulatory complaints against Intel...
Antitrust News & Notes
Posted on November 06, 2009A few notes from the last few weeks: The FTC is enjoying some good results regarding subpoenas. Congratulations to Tim Cornell who has joined Clifford Chance from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. The 5th circuit upheld the dismissal of an antitrust lawsuit accusing Harrah’s Operating Co...
Chilling Competition
Posted on October 30, 2009We are always happy to welcome a new antitrust blog to the blogosphere (even if we are a bit late in our welcome). Check out Chilling Competition which focuses on competition issues in Europe. Share on Facebook
House Judiciary Committee Votes To Repeal McCarran-Ferguson
Posted on October 21, 2009The Washington Post reports: The House Judiciary Committee voted Wednesday to strip federal antitrust protections shielding health insurers from investigations into price fixing and other business practices, the first step in a legislative bid to clamp down on the much-maligned industry...
Understanding the IP License (Slides)
Posted on October 19, 2009Here are some slides for an upcoming talk on antitrust pitfalls in IP licensing. This presentation covers the basics. It does not address patent pools and SSOs.
A Quick Look at the Robinson Patman Act (Slides)
Posted on October 18, 2009Here are some slides from a recent, high-level discussion of the Robinson-Patman Act, geared towards a technology firm audience.
Could AAG Varney have been more forceful?
Posted on October 14, 2009AAG Christine Varney appeared today before the Judiciary Committee to speak about the McCarran-Ferguson exemption to the antitrust laws. The exemption benefits the insurance industry and permits anticompetitive conduct short of boycott, coercion, or intimidation, such as price fixing and market allocations, within the “business of insurance” if it is regulated (however imperfectly) by state [...
On the Move: Donald C. Klawiter and Jennifer M. Driscoll-Chippendale
Posted on September 26, 2009Congratulations to Donald C. Klawiter and Jennifer M. Driscoll-Chippendale who joined Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton from Mayer Brown.
On The Move: James O?Connell
Posted on September 26, 2009Congratulations to James O’Connell who joined Covington & Burling from DOJ where he was Deputy Assistant Attorney General in charge of International, Policy, and Appellate matters in the Justice Department?s Antitrust Division. He is the third DOJ Antitrust official to join Covington this year along with Thomas Barnett and Deborah Garza.
First Merits Brief Filed in American Needle
Posted on September 25, 2009Last week, American Needle filed its brief in American Needle, Inc. v. National Football League, the antitrust case that involves joint venture issues.
1992 Merger Guidelines to be Revised (and Market Definition Here to Stay)
Posted on September 22, 2009Today at the Georgetown Law Global Antitrust Enforcement Symposium, the Chair of the Federal Trade Commission, Jon Leibowitz, announced that DOJ’s Antitrust Division and the FTC will undertake a revision of the 1992 Merger Guidelines. A series of workshops is scheduled to determine whether the Guidelines need revision, and what the revisions should be...
Google & Intel
Posted on September 21, 2009Two quick links. First, Randy Picker has some very detailed analysis of the DOJ filing in the Google-Book Search case. Second, the EC has posted a non-confidential version of its decision in the Intel matter. Also, there is a press release.
Only that which is planned is rational (or not)
Posted on August 30, 2009Here is a Sunday afternoon conjecture about a common divide between Americans and Europeans when it comes to the emotional appeal of free markets. The Continental enlightenment was very much driven by philosophical rationalism, which in the administrative realm found its expression in the belief that only that which is planned is rational (Prussia, France)...
Section 7 is focused on competition, not price. A comment on Leary?s discussion of the Ovation case.
Posted on August 19, 2009In a recent Antitrust Magazine article (login required), Thomas Leary explores the implications of Commissioner Rosch’s concurring statement in the Ovation matter, in which Rosch explained why he would have challenged not only Ovation’s acquisition of Neoprofen but also its prior acquisition of Indocin from Merck...
Open Source Business Strategies
Posted on August 16, 2009Here is a useful article by John Koenig and a nicely done presentation by FaberNovel, discussing the main strategies for making money with open source, namely (1) licensing of complementary products (e.g., a proprietary downstream products or add-ons); (2) the sale of complementary services; and (3) the use of OSS for hosted services (e...
Michael Lindsay?s Awesome Post-Leegin State RPM Chart
Posted on August 09, 2009I just came across this awesome chart. Thanks for saving my Sunday, Mike.
Section 13(b) after WholeFoods and CCC
Posted on August 09, 2009Here is a chart with the Section13(b) preliminary injunction standard after FTC v. WholeFoods and FTC v. CCC Holdings. It is troubling that the statutory “likelihood of ultimate success” standard has been watered down to a mere raising of “serious, substantial” questions...
Bill Introduced to Overturn Twombly
Posted on July 24, 2009On Wednesday, Sen. Spector (PA) introduced a bill , S.1504, to legislatively overturn Twombly (and Iqbal). The bill mandates a return to the Conley v. Gibson standard. There are currently no-cosponsors. h/t: Drug & Device Law; law.com.
Antitrust, Search Warrants And Data
Posted on July 16, 2009While researching an article regarding the search and seizure of computer hardware and electronic data in criminal antitrust investigations, I noticed a distinct lack of case law. There is a lot of case law regarding the search and seizure of computer hardware and electronic data in other types of criminal cases...
FTC Website is Down For A Second Day In A Row
Posted on July 07, 2009The FTC website is again down today. PC World reports that “agency representatives said they don’t know what caused the problem.”
DOJ Changes Its Position on Reverse Payment Settlements
Posted on July 07, 2009In the “not surprising at all” category, yesterday the United States Department of Justice filed its amicus brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in the “Cipro” case (a.k.a. Arkansas Carpenters v. Bayer)...
Supreme Court Accepts Another Antitrust Case: American Needle v. NFL
Posted on June 30, 2009Yesterday, the Supreme Court granted cert in American Needle, Inc. v. National Football League, et al. The issue in the case is whether or not the NFL, its teams and the Players Association functioned as a single entity. In short, if they did function as a single entity, then there cannot be Section 1 liability...
FTC Issues Report On Authorized Generics
Posted on June 25, 2009Yesterday, the FTC issued ?Authorized Generics: An Interim Report,? which contains the “first set of results from a study conducted to examine the short-term and long-term effects of ‘authorized generics’ on competition in the prescription drug marketplace...
Leibowitz on ?Reverse Payment? Settlements
Posted on June 23, 2009It must be “reverse payment” week as FTC Chairman Leibowitz gave a speech this morning on the topic. The FTC press release states that: an internal FTC analysis projects that stopping collusive ?pay-for-delay? settlements between brand and generic pharmaceutical firms would save consumers $3...
Supreme Court (Again) Denies Cert In a ?Reverse Payment? Case
Posted on June 23, 2009Yesterday, the Supreme Court denied cert in Arkansas Carpenters Health and Welfare Fund v. Bayer AG, again refusing to consider a “reverse payment” case. From Dow Jones: The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit challenging Bayer AG’s (BAYRY) deal with Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc...
DOJ Reportedly Investigating Tech Company Hiring
Posted on June 03, 2009The Washington Post is reporting that DOJ: has launched an investigation into whether some of the nation’s largest technology companies violated antitrust laws by negotiating the recruiting and hiring of one another’s employees, according to two sources with knowledge of the review...
Judge Sotomayor and Antitrust
Posted on May 29, 2009During her tenure on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Judge Sotomayor has been involved in a several antitrust decisions. Her most famous antitrust case is certainly Clarett v. Nat’l Football League, 369 F.3d 124 (2d Cir...
Court Upholds FCC Ruling Regarding Cable and Apartments
Posted on May 27, 2009Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheldthe FCC’s ruling that prohibited exclusivity agreements between cable companies and owners of apartment buildings and other multi-unit developments. More of an administrative law/communications law decision than an antitrust decision...
Google And Antitrust
Posted on May 18, 2009The New York Times has an article suggesting that DOJ is targeting Google. Last week, the Obama administration declared a sharp break with the Bush years, vowing to toughen antitrust enforcement, especially for dominant companies. The approach is closer to that of the European Union, where regulators last week fined Intel $1...
FTC Dismisses Rambus Case
Posted on May 16, 2009On Thursday, the FTC formally dismissed its case against Rambus. The press release, in its entirety, read: The Federal Trade Commission has formally dismissed the complaint in the Rambus matter. ?While we remain disappointed by the decision of the Court of Appeals, we of course respect the Court?s opinion and will move forward,? said Richard A...
Intel Fined
Posted on May 13, 2009Reuters, via the New York Times, reports that the European Commission has fined Intel$1.45 billion. The European Commission fined Intel a record ?1.06 billion on Wednesday for abusing its dominance in the computer chip market to exclude its only serious rival, Advanced Micro Devices...
DOJ To Announce More Agressive Antitrust Enforcement [Updated]
Posted on May 11, 2009Today’s New York Times has a front page article about a speech that new DOJ Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Christine Varney will give today (and again tomorrow). The speech is not (yet) on the DOJ webpage and the article only provides a general sense of what will be in the speech: [DOJ] plans to restore [...
Antitrust and Newspapers
Posted on April 22, 2009Yesterday, the House Judiciary’s Subcommittee on the Courts and Competition Policy and the Internet held a hearing on a possible antitrust exemption for newspapers. The Department of Justice said “We do not believe any new exemptions for newspapers are necessary...
FTC Seeks Comments On Revised Petroleum Market Manipulation Rule
Posted on April 17, 2009Yesterday, the FTC announced it was seeking public comments on its proposed revised rule “that would prohibit market manipulation in the petroleum industry.” According to the FTC: The revised proposed rule in the RNPRM announced today retains the anti-fraud approach of the August 2008 proposed rule...
House Bill To Ban ?Reverse Payment? Settlements Introduced
Posted on March 27, 2009On Wednesday, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) introduced H.R. 1706, the “Protecting Consumer Access to Generic Drugs Act of 2009.” The Bill is very similar to S. 369, ”The Preserve Access to Affordable Generics Act” introduced in the Senate in February (Antitrust Review analysis of that bill is here)...
More From China on Coca-Cola
Posted on March 26, 2009Last week, China rejected on antitrust ground Coca-Cola?s acquisition of the China Huiyuan Juice Company. Today, the AP (via the NY Times) reports: In its first detailed explanation of the March 18 ruling, the commerce ministry said it looked at China?s beverage market and concluded that Coca-Cola?s dominance in carbonated drinks could be used to promote [...
Leegin, General Electric, and Agency
Posted on March 26, 2009Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued an opinion in a RPM case. According to the Court: In this Sherman Act suit, plaintiffs, who provide pest control services to individual customers, allege that defendants, who manufacture pesticides, illegally conspired with their distributors to set minimum resale prices of certain termiticide products...
Broken Links
Posted on March 22, 2009Due to indexing issues in the database behind The Antitrust Review, most links on this blog are currently broken. We are working to fix the problem. Please pardon us in the meantime.
Trinko After LinkLine
Posted on March 18, 2009One of the effects of the Supreme Court’s recent LinkLine decision was to extend the reach of Trinko. Trinko dealt with the relation of regulation (in the telecomm industry) and Antitrust. The decision proceeded in three steps: The 1997 Telecommunications Act declares the antitrust laws to be applicable...
China Denies Coke?s Bid to Acquire the China Huiyuan Juice Company
Posted on March 18, 2009Earlier today, the Chinese government rejected on antitrust ground Coca-Cola’s acquisition of the China Huiyuan Juice Company. The New York Times reports: The ministry of commerce said Coke?s bid to acquire the China Huiyuan Juice Company was rejected on antitrust reasons...
FTC and Whole Foods Settle
Posted on March 08, 2009The FTC and Whole Foods have reached a settlement argeement. In short, “Whole Foods agreed to divest itself of 31 Wild Oats stores in 12 states, including 19 stores that already have been closed, and one Whole Foods store. Whole Foods also agreed to relinquish the rights to the Wild Oats brand, which could be [...
What LinkLine Didn?t Say; A Slippery Slope?
Posted on February 26, 2009The LinkLine holding is not particularly surprising. Trinko applies at the wholesale level and Brooke Group at the retail level. Wholesale — If there is no antitrust duty to deal in the first place, then the upstream firm may charge whatever price it wants...
Supreme Court Decides linkLine
Posted on February 25, 2009The decision is available here. The decision begins: The plaintiffs in this case, respondents here, allege that a competitor subjected them to a “price squeeze” in violation of §2 of the Sherman Act. They assert that such a claim can arise when a vertically integrated firm sells inputs at wholesale and also sells finished goods or services at [...
Essential Facilities Presentations, Berkeley
Posted on February 23, 2009Here are the print and the screen versions of my essential facilities presentations at the ABA IP and Antitrust Conference in Berkeley earlier this February.
International Antitrust, Course Materials
Posted on February 23, 2009Here are some (draft) slides and materials from my course in International Antitrust and Policy at U.C. Berkeley. Segment 1: Introduction Segment 2: Horizontal Agreements in the U.S. and the EU Segment 3: International cartels at work As always, everything is licensed under a Creative Commons attribution only license...
Cert Denied in Rambus
Posted on February 23, 2009The FTC’s petition for certiorari has been denied by the Supreme Court. The FTC’s petition had been unusual in that the DoJ did not join in seeking review by the Supreme Court. Here is what we’ve previously said about the Rambus cert petition.
DOJ Releases Its Amensty Letters
Posted on February 05, 2009Today, the U.S. Department released redacted copies of its leniency (amnesty) letters. DOJ explains that it did not want to release the letters but: in light of the Court’s opinion in FOIA litigation titled Stolt-Nielsen Transportation Group Ltd...
Bill To Ban ?Reverse Payment? Settlements Introduced
Posted on February 05, 2009Yesterday, Senators Kohl and Grassley introduced a bill “to prohibit brand-name drug manufacturers from using pay-off agreements to keep cheaper generic equivalents off the market.” They titled their bill ”The Preserve Access to Affordable Generics Act” (S...
FTC v. Whole Foods to Settle?
Posted on January 29, 2009The FTC has agreed to stay its Part III administrative proceedings against Whole Foods for 5 days to permit settlement discussion. At issue in the administrative proceedings is the legality under Section 7 Clayton Act of the acquisition Wild Oats by Whole Foods Markets, a merger that was consummated in Fall of 2007 after the [...
DC Circuit: FTC may continue Part III against Whole Foods
Posted on January 26, 2009In a very brief opinion, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Whole Food’s petition for a writ of mandamus to stop the FTC from pursuing administrative proceedings against Whole Foods. The claim was that the FTC had violated Whole Food’s constitutional rights by pursuing expedited Part III proceedings against Whole Foods on the grounds [...
Christine Varney to lead Antitrust Division
Posted on January 22, 2009The Wall Street Journal reports that Christine Varney (currently a partner at Hogan & Hartson, and a former member of the FTC), has been picked as Assistant Attorney General, to head the DoJ Antitrust Division. WASHINGTON — President Obama is expected to name a new antitrust enforcement team shortly, signaling stiffer merger-review standards and more cases [...
HSR Primer #4: Getting to the Person
Posted on January 16, 2009The last post left off by listing the three steps required to parse an acquisition for HSR purposes: (1) Identify all acquisitions in the transaction, (2) eliminate the non-reportable ones, and (3) find the acquiring and acquired persons. It’s that last step this post is about...
Elhauge & Leibowitz Are ?Likely? Obama Picks
Posted on January 16, 2009Reuters reports: Harvard law professor Einer Elhauge and Federal Trade Commissioner Jon Leibowitz are U.S. President-elect Barack Obama’s likely choices for the government’s top antitrust jobs, according to antitrust sources who have been following the matter.
HSR Primer #3: Parsing Acquisitions
Posted on January 13, 2009Before continuing this series of posts about the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act (HSR), here are some links to useful materials. The most basic materials are the HSR statute, §7A Clayton Act (15 USC 18a), and the rules implementing HSR: Coverage Rules (16 CFR 801), Exemption Rules (16 CFR 802), and Transmittal Rules (16 CFR 803)...
Hanno?s Primer in Antitrust Law and Policy
Posted on January 12, 2009Here is an updated version of my Primer in Antitrust Law and Policy, released under a Creative Commons Attribution Only (i.e., CC-BY) license. As always, comments and suggestions are welcome.
World of Warcraft Antitrust
Posted on January 10, 2009David Friedman notes that: There is no antitrust law in WoW, which makes it a good place to observe collusive behavior by sellers. My wife, who spends more time in the auction house buying ad selling than I do, has observed both an attempt to corner a market and an attempt, at least partly successful, [...
HSR Primer #2: The Basic Test
Posted on January 09, 2009Continuing my series of posts about the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, here is a discussion of the basic test of reportability under HSR. §7A Clayton Act contains this magic language: Except as exempted, no person shall acquire, directly or indirectly, any voting securities or assets of any other person, unless both persons file notification and the waiting period has [...
Linkline revisited
Posted on January 09, 2009The Supreme Court on December 8th heard oral arguments in Pacific Bell v. Linkline. Here is a link to the transcript of the oral arguments, although you can take a short cut and read a summary here. There is also an comprehensive analysis of the case in the Antitrust Source, by Aryeh Friedman and Joyce [...
HSR Penalities Increased: $1,600/day
Posted on January 09, 2009As an interesting holiday present, the FTC on December 23, 2008 announced higher civil penalties, including penalties for the violation of the premerger notification requirement under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. From previously $11,000 per day of violation, the penalties were raised to $1,600 per day...
HSR Primer: §7 and HSR
Posted on January 07, 2009If you think it’s bad having to admit at parties that you are a lawyer, try explaining that what you deal with is called the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976. At least you won’t be stuck talking about work all night. But if there isn’t much glamor in HSR work, there certainly is a [...
Today is HSR Day - 3rd Edition of Axinn/Fogg/Stoll/Prager/Nisa Out
Posted on January 07, 2009I am declaring today HSR Day. After the announcement of the new adjusted thresholds for 2009 came out, the Third Edition of Acquisitions Under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act: A Practical Analysis of the Statute & Regulations landed on my desk...
New HSR Thresholds Announced
Posted on January 07, 2009The FTC has announced the new adjusted HSR thresholds. Every year the thresholds are adjusted, up from the original amounts in §7A Clayton Act. Adjustments will be effective 30 days after publication. The FTC’s press release is here. HSR ORIGINAL THRESHOLD AND ADJUSTED THRESHOLD $10 million adjusted to $13...
NIN CC-Licensed Ghosts Album Tops Amazon 2008 Download Charts
Posted on January 05, 2009This is truly remarkable. NIN’s album Ghosts I-IV is ranked the best selling MP3 album of 2008 on Amazon?s MP3 store. Take a moment and think about that. NIN fans could have gone to any file sharing network to download the entire CC-BY-NC-SA album legally...
Essential Facilities and Infrastructure Theory
Posted on January 04, 2009I am very much looking forward to the ABA 2009 Antitrust Intellectual Property Conference in my new hometown Berkeley, where I will be on a panel about different approaches toward “forced access” to IP in the US and in the EU. My remarks will focus on the exciting contributions that infrastructure theory has made to [...
Posner, Unions, The UAW and Cartels
Posted on December 30, 2008Gary Becker and Richard Posner have a piar of interesting posts about the UAW and costs to American car manufacturers (Posner’s post, Becker’s post). Posner on unions as a cartel: Unions, in other words, are worker cartels. Workers threaten to withhold their labor unless paid more than a competitive wage (including benefits and work rules), but [...
On The Move: Michael Baye & Pauline Ippolito
Posted on December 23, 2008Michael R. Baye, who served as the director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Economics for the past year and a half, is leaving the FTC on December 31 to return to Indiana University?s Kelley School of Business. Pauline Ippolito will take over as director of the FTC’s Bureau of Economics...
Whole Foods Sues The FTC
Posted on December 09, 2008The complaint (via the Legal Time’s BLT) is here (pdf). The BLT reports that: Whole Foods asks for injunctive relief that would order the FTC to halt a specialized administrative trial involving the merger, set for February 2009, and move all future proceedings into federal court...
Blawg Review #189
Posted on December 08, 2008Blawg Review #189 is now available at Infamy or Praise.
Oral Argument in Pacific Bell Telephone Co. v. linkLine Communications, Inc.
Posted on December 08, 2008Earlier today, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Pacific Bell Telephone Co. v. linkLine Communications, Inc.. You can access the transcript here (pdf). And you can read Manfred’s primer on the case here.
Commission Guidance on Article 82: Initial Reactions
Posted on December 04, 2008Here are some initial reactions to the Commission Guidance to Article 82 in no particular order. The Commission confirms that exclusion is a derivative antitrust offense. There is only one type of harm to competition, namely consumer exploitation. Exclusion is relevant only if and to the extent it leads to exploitation...
DOJ Was 3 Hours Away From Suing Google
Posted on December 04, 2008The AmLaw Daily reports: Google Inc. and Yahoo! Inc. called off their joint advertising agreement just three hours before the Department of Justice planned to file antitrust charges to block the pact, according to the lawyer who would have been lead counsel for the government...
On The Move: Jay L. Himes
Posted on December 03, 2008Congratulations to Jay L. Himes who has joined Labaton Sucharow. According to the press release: Labaton Sucharow LLP announced today that Jay L. Himes, former Chief of the Antitrust Bureau for the Office of the Attorney General of the State of New York, has joined the Firm as a Partner and Co-Chair of its Antitrust Practice [...
Blawg Review #188
Posted on December 01, 2008Blawg Review #188, with an Alice’s Restaurant theme, is available at the New York Personal Injury Law Blog.
EC on Pharmaceuticals
Posted on November 28, 2008Today, the European Commission published its preliminary report on the competition inquiry into the pharmaceutical sector. The New York Times, which misleading headlines its article “E.U. Accuses Drug Makers of Gouging Consumers,” reports: The European Union accused drug companies on Friday of adding billions of dollars to health care costs by delaying or blocking the [...
No Holiday For the FTC This Week
Posted on November 26, 2008Most of us slow down a bit on holiday weeks like this one. Not the FTC. This week the FTC filed a petition for certiorari with the United States Supreme Court asking it to review the circuit court’s decision in Rambus Inc. v. Federal Trade Commission...
Whole Foods: Rehearing En Banc Denied
Posted on November 21, 2008The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order today denying Whole Food’s petition for a rehearing en banc. We have posted about the case here, here, here, and here. It will be no comfort to the defendant that the Circuit granted the unusual motion for leave to file a reply (which was written by [...
Imperfect Market Conditions on the Death Star
Posted on November 21, 2008Here is a youtube clip describing the sadly imperfect market conditions prevailing in the Death Star… cantine. It is a useful, if somewhat technical, illustration of asymmetrical information barriers to concluding a transaction. HT to Olivier. And TGIF.
Slides on Horizontal Agreements
Posted on November 20, 2008Here’s a set of slides discussing horizontal agreements under U.S. law. Eventually, this set will grow to encompass the EU and other jurisdictions.
Thoughts on LinkLine
Posted on November 19, 2008The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case of Pacific Bell Telephone Company v. LinkLine Communications, Inc. on December 8th. (Briefs can be found here.) The court rushed to grant cert on a case that is on appeals from a 12(b)(6) motion; the facts haven?t been fully developed, leaving (for example) the question [...
Updated Slides on Antitrust and IP Law; CC-BY relicensing
Posted on November 19, 2008I recently updated my slides on Antitrust and IP law and the ever popular Microsoft cheat sheet. Note that the slides are now available under a Creative Commons attribution only license (aka cc-BY), which is a more permissive license than the prior attribution-only, non-commercial license...
Blawg Review #186
Posted on November 17, 2008Blawg Review #168 is now available at the Res Ipsa blog.
Beer Merger
Posted on November 14, 2008Long time readers know that if there is one thing we at Antitrust Review like more than antitrust, it is beer. Today, the two came together. And yes, we will party like it is 1999 tonight. The AP (via the Washington Post) reports: The Justice Department approved a $52 billion beer buzz Friday, allowing Belgian-based InBev SA to [...
On The Move: Deborah Garza To Replace Thomas Barnett
Posted on November 14, 2008Yesterday, the White House announced that “[t]he President intends to designate Deborah Garza, of Illinois, to be Acting Assistant Attorney General (Antitrust Division) at the Department of Justice.”
Another Large Cartel Fine (and More to Come); This Time LCD Manufacturers
Posted on November 13, 2008The New York Times reports: Three leading flat-screen producers ? LG Display of South Korea, Sharp of Japan and Chunghwa Picture Tubes of Taiwan ? pleaded guilty and agreed to pay a total of $585 million in criminal fines for their role in fixing the price of liquid-crystal display panels...
Analysis of DOJ?s Section 2 Report
Posted on November 13, 2008We infrequently publicize ABA seminars but we are making an exception today. On December 11, the ABA Section of Antitrust Law is hosting an “Analysis of the Department of Justice’s Section Two Report.” As the ABA’s website states the focus of the one hour, thirty 30 minute seminar is: the Department of Justice?s (DOJ) report on Section [...
A Very Large Cartel Fine
Posted on November 12, 2008The EC fined four companies 1.3 billion euros ($1.66 billion) for price fixing. Reuters (via the Washington Post) reports: The EU’s antitrust chief on Wednesday fined car glass producers Asahi, Pilkington, Saint-Gobain and Soliver more than 1...
Antitrust News & Notes
Posted on November 11, 2008David Bois tells the New York Times that he does not expect stricter scrutiny of mergers under an Obama administration because “[p]reserving jobs and economic stability will be perceived as more important than preserving competition.? James ?Hart? Holden tells the WSJ Deal Journal the same thing but he [...
The Antitrust Rumormill
Posted on November 09, 2008Head over to Truth on the Market for the latest.
Are Economic Laws Universal or Culturally Determined?
Posted on November 08, 2008Ever since Socrates demolished Gorgias to lasting effect, the universalism vs. relativism debate has had a prominent place in moral theory, in law, and (with some delay) in the natural sciences, too. In stark contrast, much of modern price theory proceeds in a strictly Platonic fashion...
The Resurgence of the Idea of the Public Good
Posted on November 05, 2008One of the undercurrents driving the movement that led to Obama’s landslide victory is that people have finally started to reject en masse a public policy that by and large conceived of them only in the most limited, reductionist, and anemic way possible: as private, rational actors, pursuing primarily their own (usually material) advantage...
Goolge and Yahoo Are Not Going To Be Partners
Posted on November 05, 2008The AP (via the New York Times) reports: Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. have scrapped their Internet advertising partnership, abandoning attempts to overcome the objections of antitrust regulators and customers who believed the alliance would give Google too much power over online commerce...
Good Advice for the Safe Use of Statistics
Posted on November 02, 2008From John Ralston Saul:[I]f you can take a number a statistics and you can either halve it or double it and it’s still shocking then you can use it.
Who Owns ideas? Excellent CBC Radio Feature
Posted on October 31, 2008This great feature by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation examines the (many) apparent and (few, but serious) real tensions between creating a commons of publicly available works and rewarding artists and how copyrights and patents have morphed from a necessary evil (circa 1787) to “tangible property plus...
Verizon Wireless-Alltel Deal Moves Forward After Divestitures
Posted on October 31, 2008The Washington Post reports that: The proposed merger between Verizon Wireless and rural carrier Alltel to create the nation’s largest wireless company moved a step closer to reality yesterday after the Justice Department signed off on the deal...
Delta-Northwest Moves Forward
Posted on October 30, 2008Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Justice released a statement to announce “the closing of its investigation of the proposed merger of Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corporation.” According to the statement: After a thorough, six-month investigation, during which the Division obtained extensive information from a wide range of market participants ? including the companies, [...
Act First, Reason Later
Posted on October 29, 2008In today’s NYT, David Brooks writes:Roughly speaking, there are four steps to every decision. First, you perceive a situation. Then you think of possible courses of action. Then you calculate which course is in your best interest. Then you take the action...
International Antitrust at U.C. Berkeley
Posted on October 27, 2008I am very much looking forward to teaching International Antitrust Law at U.C. Berkeley in Spring 2009. Here is the course announcement.Modern antitrust law is global antitrust law. Driven by economic globalization and trade liberalization, antitrust laws have proliferated around the globe...
In re Cipro and the intersection of antitrust and IP
Posted on October 27, 2008In its decision in In re Cipro, the Federal Circuit presents us with what John Ralston Saul calls the “hypnotic clarity of false choices.” Either any “analysis of patent validity is [in]appropriate in the absence of fraud or sham litigation...
UHF RFID Patent Consortium Licensing Approved
Posted on October 22, 2008Too often we focus on noisy conflicts, but sometimes the dog that does not bark is just as important (especially for practicing attorneys). Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it would not challenge a “proposal by a consortium of companies to jointly license patents needed to comply with standards for ultra high frequency radio frequency [...
Cipro Decision Affirmed - Reverse Payment Case
Posted on October 15, 2008Today, the Federal Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision to dismiss the plaintiffs’ claims. The opnion is available on the Court’s website (pdf). This is an interesting and important decision that is worth reading. A few excepts are below to give you a sense of the decision: We conclude that in cases such as this, wherein [...
Bank of America, Merrill Lynch get Early Termination
Posted on October 15, 2008The FTC yesterday granted Early Termination (.pdf) for the $34.9 billion transaction in which Bank of America will buy Merrill Lynch, a deal that was announced just after Lehman Brothers folded.
Rangers v. NHL, And the Single Entity Defense
Posted on October 14, 2008As previosuly noted, the New York Rangers (i.e., Madison Square Garens, the Rangers’ owner) sued the N.H.L. which was mostly related to control over the Ranger’s website. The ranger’s motion for a preliminary inunction was denied. On Friday, the district court - Judge Preska - granted the NHL’s motion to dismiss as to the parts [...
More Action in Whole Foods
Posted on October 10, 2008As I posted earlier, Whole Foods filed a petition for a rehearing en banc after losing its appeal in the D.C. Circuit. Last month, the FTC responded by filing a brief in opposition (pdf), stating that the D.C. Circuit Court panel “applied established standards to the specific factual setting of this case, and rendered a [...
More About Atrivo
Posted on October 09, 2008A couple of weeks ago, we passed along a report that several upstream internet service providers (ISPs) ”shunned” Atrivo, a downstream ISP. The Washington Post’s Security Fix blog reports today that there was a “short-lived but precipitous decline in the level of badness online after Atrivo was shut down …”
Do Not Pass Go ?
Posted on October 02, 2008Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that several shipping company executives had plead guilty and agreed to serve jail sentences “for their roles in a wide-ranging conspiracy to rig bids, fix prices and allocate market shares for customers transporting goods between the continental United States and Puerto Rico by ocean vessel …” The press [...
Blawg Review
Posted on September 25, 2008I have not linked to Blawg Reviews recently because the quality has been, IMHO, poor. But the last two were well done. Check out Blawg Reviews #177 and #178.
DOJ Investigates Possible Food Price Collusion
Posted on September 23, 2008Today’s Wall Street Journal (h/t Danny Sokol) reports that: Federal prosecutors have opened separate criminal probes into possible price-fixing by major egg producers and California tomato processors, the latest in a series of U.S. investigations of alleged collusion in food and agriculture...
Upstream Internet Service Providers ?Shun? a Downstream ISP
Posted on September 23, 2008The Washington Post reports that “Atrivo, a.k.a ‘Intercage,’” an ISP “ceased to be reachable from any points on the Internet early Sunday morning when the ISP’s sole remaining provider - Pacific Internet Exchange (PIE) - stopped routing traffic for the troubled company...
Lessig on Faith Based Technology Policy, Net Neutrality
Posted on September 16, 2008Here is Larry Lessig’s assessment of McCain’s technology policy, which, by the way, was written and titled before McCain’s VP pick. Lessig chronicles how the U.S. has lost ground in terms of broadband infrastructure in the past eight years...
Baker on the Inter-Agency Divide
Posted on September 15, 2008Perhaps you need a little relief from watching the distressing news from Wall Street. Here is an article by Jonathan Baker in the New Republic: Turning on Itself: How Dueling Agencies in the Bush Administration Made Mincemeat of Antitrust Regulation Policy...
The Catfight Goes Mainstream: The MSM Picks Up on the DOJ-FTC Dispute over the Section 2 Report
Posted on September 09, 2008Both the Washington Post and the New York Times have articles about the disagreements between DOJ and FTC over DOJ’s Section 2 report. The Washington Post reports: Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee, called the report an assault on the Sherman Act, the basis for much U...
FTC Not Amused by DoJ Report
Posted on September 08, 2008On the heels of the DoJ Report on Single Firm Conduct, the FTC Commissioners have issued two statements, one by Chairman Kovacic and another by the other three Commissioners. Here is what Commissioners Harbour, Rosch, and Leibowitz have to say: We have two overarching concerns with the Department?s Report...
DOJ and Single Firm Conduction
Posted on September 08, 2008Earlier today, the Department of Justice (without the FTC) released a massive, 215 page, report that, in DOJ’s own words “examines whether and when specific types of single-firm conduct may or may not violate Section 2 of the Sherman Act by harming competition and consumer welfare...
More on Whole Foods
Posted on August 27, 2008As we have reported here before, the D.C. Circuit recently overturned the district court’s ruling in FTC v. Whole Foods, holding that it was legal error to consider only marginal customers in assessing whether the FTC had met its burden for a preliminary injunction, since “core customers,” under the Brown Shoe practical indicia, could form [...
Antitrust, Single Entities, and the NFL
Posted on August 22, 2008On Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit released a very interesting opinion in American Needle v. National Football League. In short, the Court found that NFL teams constitute a single entity “when collectively licensing their intellectual property...
Obama & McCain to Debate Antitrust ? via surrogates
Posted on August 18, 2008The Legal Times blog reports about the debate on September 24 at GW law school in DC: Two local antitrust lawyers on different sides of the presidential election are getting ready to square off in a D.C. Bar debate. James Rill, a partner at Howrey, will address Sen...
Antitrust, Deceptive Conduct Under Consumer Protection Statutes and Indirect Purchasers
Posted on August 07, 2008In states where the antitrust laws do not permit indirect purchaser suits (i.e., non Illinois Brick repealer states), plaintiffs often allege that, by not revealing their price-fixing, the defendants engaged in deceptive conduct that violates the state consumer protection laws...
Jeff Schmidt to Leave FTC
Posted on August 07, 2008Jeff Schmidt, the current Director of the Bureau of Competition, will leave the FTC. He will be replaced by David P. Wales as Acting Director. The FTC’s press release states: Schmidt joined the Commission in February 2005 as Deputy Director of the Bureau of Competition...
Antitrust Practitioner Survey
Posted on August 04, 2008Dan Sokol is conducting a “survey of non-government antitrust practitioners (including practitioners with law firms and in-house) who undertake antitrust work in the United States to better understand how antitrust law shapes compliance.” You can take 8-12 minutes to fill it out here.
PA Health Insurance Company Merger Before the US Senate
Posted on August 04, 2008Last week, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights held a hearing titled “Consolidation in The Pennsylvania Health Insurance Industry: The Right Prescription?” regarding the merger between Independence Blue Cross and Highmark...
First Thoughts on Whole Foods
Posted on July 31, 2008After mulling it over for a couple of days, here are some first thoughts on FTC vs. Whole Foods. Litigated cases, and especially appellate court decisions, are so rare in Section 7 matters that each decision carries enormous weight in shaping the advice counsel will give their M&A clients and the agencies’ attitude when deciding [...
Whole Foods-Wild Oats Merger Decision Reversed
Posted on July 29, 2008Today, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reversed District Court’s denial of an injunction. The Court stated: The FTC sought a preliminary injunction, under 15 U.S.C. § 53(b), to block the merger of Whole Foods and Wild Oats...
More Cuil results
Posted on July 28, 2008Searching hasn’t been that much fun in ages! “rosch antitrust” “majoras antitrust” “sherman antitrust act”
Cuil, a new search engine
Posted on July 28, 2008Cuil, a new search engine started by former Google engineers, looks very, well, “cuil.” Cuil breaks with the “here’s a long list of stuff” search results page paradigm. It also seems to associate image content with the text search results, which sounds like a great idea...
A Brilliant Opinion
Posted on July 23, 2008There is tension between Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a) - requiring a ?short and plain statement? - and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b) - requiring the party state fraud claim with particularity. Not to mention between Rule 8(a) and Twombley...
Copyright Slider
Posted on July 18, 2008Check out this great tool to determine whether a work is in the public domain. The problem (not with the tool, but with the law) is the the correct answer in most cases is “maybe.” This comes in the wake of frustrating news from Europe re retroactive extension of copyrights.
Privacy and Competition
Posted on July 08, 2008In a short essay on Competition and Privacy in Web 2.0 and the Cloud, Randy Picker hones in on an issue that will be of huge commercial and regulatory importance in the not too distant future. The current architecture of mostly decentralized data storage is privacy-friendly in the sense that I control what happens to [...
Should Bloggers be Liable for Defamation in Comments?
Posted on July 08, 2008Here is an interesting and spirited debate between Cass Sunstein (for some limited liability) and Eugene Volokh (against it). In practice, I don’t think that the problem is quite as stark as Volokh makes it appear, i.e., publisher liability for comments would force blogs to disable comments or shut down altogether...
Kaiser on China Monopoly Law
Posted on July 08, 2008See our very own Hanno Kaiser in the news today: the Recorder is running a story on “Bracing for China Monopoly Law.” Free registration required. Despite concerns, Hanno says, the new Chinese antitrust law is a step in the right direction.
A Post-Leegin Decision From A Circuit Court
Posted on July 03, 2008We’re a bit behind on this (which I blame on having day jobs) but a couple of weeks ago, the Third Circuit applied the rule-of-reason test in a RMP case. The district court had granted summary judgment to the defendant but the Third Circuit reversed...
South Korean Merger Control Amendments
Posted on July 02, 2008In June, the Korean Executive Branch approved amendments to the merger control regime (called Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Law or MRFTL), which went into effect yesterday, July 1. Here is a summary: 1. Increase of the Size Threshold for Business Group Designation The size threshold for the “Business Group” designation under the [...
Rosch on Competitive Effects v. Structural Arguments
Posted on June 26, 2008In a speech held earlier this month, FTC Commissioner Tom Rosch discussed the litigation of merger challenges. His argument is that the focus on market definition or structural presumptions is neither required by the law nor a threshold issue in merger cases...
MasterCard and American Express Settle for $1.8 Billion
Posted on June 25, 2008The New York Times reports: MasterCard Worldwide agreed on Wednesday to pay $1.8 billion to its credit card rival American Express to settle claims related to a 2004 antitrust lawsuit. The settlement comes about seven months after Visa paid more than $2...
Dutch Leniency Movie: International Release
Posted on June 13, 2008We’ve reported on the emotionally moving picture, Clementie in kartelzaken, which has come a long way from sleeper hit (last week) to early favorite for this year’s Oscars in the category “Best motion picture by a competition authority...
Sabotage Field Manual Instructions for Conference Calls and Meetings
Posted on June 11, 2008This 1944 Simple Sabotage Field Manual from the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (the precursor to the CIA) contains valuable advice on how to run a large-scale organization. Highly recommended (cough). (HT: BB).
FTI Consulting to Acquire Attenex
Posted on June 11, 2008As announced today, Attenex and FTI Consulting have entered entered into a definitive agreement under which FTI will acquire Attenex. Those who do antitrust litigation, second requests, or other large document review tasks will be familiar with FTI and Attenex as providers of e-discovery services and document-review and production software...
Creative Commons Technology Summit
Posted on June 11, 2008I will be at the CC Technology Summit next week (6/18/08). Send me an email if you plan on attending too. Here’s the program announcement:On June 18 Creative Commons holds its first technology summit in Silicon Valley (generously hosted by Google), bringing together many parties interested in making sure “Copyright 2...
FTC Petitions for Rehearing En Banc in Rambus
Posted on June 11, 2008Here is the FTC’s petition for rehearing en banc. The brief is all about the critical issue of causation. The FTC argues that the panel decision conflicts with Microsoft’s holding on causation in monopolization cases, i.e., whether the conduct “reasonably appears capable of making a significant contribution to … monopoly power...
Neelie Kroes on the Goals of Antitrust Intervention in Standards-based Industries
Posted on June 10, 2008In industries governed by standards, it is not always easy to identify the goal of antitrust intervention. Neelie Kroes defined it as follows:When a market develops in such a way that a particular proprietary technology becomes a de facto standard, then the owner of that technology may have such power over the market that it [...
Blawg Review #163
Posted on June 09, 2008Blawg Review #163 is now available at More Partner Income.
Kovacic reverses Majoras: FTC Opens Intel Antitrust Investigation
Posted on June 06, 2008Here is the NYT article:The Federal Trade Commission has opened a formal antitrust investigation of Intel, the world?s largest maker of computer microprocessors, for anticompetitive conduct, government officials and lawyers involved in the proceeding said Friday...
Is Cultural Production Really Driven by Copyright Protection?
Posted on June 06, 2008Arguments about the merits of increased copyright protection usually proceed in three stages.Pro: “IP is like any other form of property.” Con: “No, it is not, because information is non-rivalrous. The main justification for exclusive property rights, allocating scarce resources, is therefore lacking...
Early Termination Search Engine
Posted on June 06, 2008This personalized Google search widget crawls the path www.ftc.gov/bc/earlyterm/*. Theoretically, it should be search engine for all grants of early termination.
Roadmap to Motion to Dismiss Post-Twombly
Posted on June 05, 2008The case, Babyage.com, Inc. v. Toys “R” Us, Inc., gives an interesting roadmap for what must be alleged in order to survive a motion to dismiss in a post-Twombly world. The case concerns retail-price maintenance after Leegin; the allegations were that a dominant retailer (Babys “R” Us) strong-armed high-end baby-goods manufacturers to adopt and [...
EU Antitrust Powers Not Enough for Dawn Raid?
Posted on June 05, 2008The EU Commission on Monday announced that it is investigating the French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis for obstruction of justice. As part of its crack-down on the pharmaceutical industry, the EU conducted a dawn raid at Sanofi-Aventis, but was refused access to documents without a French search warrant: The commission’s allegation centers on Sanofi-Aventis’ refusal to let [...
Time zone converter
Posted on June 05, 2008Trying to schedule a conference with folks from Brussels, D.C., Chicago, San Francisco, and Shanghai? Confused by GMT -7, GMT +8, GMT ^(2n-1) daylight savings time, etc> Then time and date.com is for you.
Sports Teams And Media
Posted on June 05, 2008Although not an antitrust issue, I thought this news (via the Washington Post) might generate a few comments (my emphasis): Redskins owner Dan Snyder reached a deal yesterday to buy three local AM radio stations from Clear Channel Communications, including the area’s leading sports-talk station, WTEM...
Pamoyo: Creative Commons Licensed Fashion
Posted on June 04, 2008When we’re not dealing with the antitrust implications of models in swimsuits (still our most linked post), we’re closely following the fashion industry. David, because he’s a style maven. I, because it is an interesting example for rapid innovation in a low-IP environment...
Monetizing Civil Liberties: On trading rights for consumer welfare
Posted on June 04, 2008The permit is one of the oldest business models. First, the government issues some prohibition. Then, for a fee, the prohibition is partially lifted. Usually, the government collects the fee. But in the days of public-private partnership in security matters, some private entity does...
The Economics of Free and the value of privacy: Google offers real time stock quotes at no cost for the user
Posted on June 03, 2008Google just moved to offering NASDAQ and Dow Jones Indices quotes in real time for free, thus effectively ending the subscription model for this category of content. Real time information is, of course, a great way of making a website sticky and thus of aggregating incremental eyeballs on Google Finance, access to which, in turn, [...
Posner on Convincing a Federal Court of Appeals
Posted on June 03, 2008Here is the short version:[B]e brief, be clear, be simple, be vivid, be commonsensical, avoid legalisms, and do not be afraid to spoon-feed us?we will not bite your hand.The longer version is here.
Google from the command line
Posted on June 02, 2008Not directly (or at all) antitrust related, but this tool was written with me in mind. (HT: /.)
Innovation and the Domain of Competition Policy
Posted on June 02, 2008In his latest article on the subject, Herbert Hovenkamp expands his argument about the role of antitrust in the context of technology markets. Innovation requires: a public domain of ideas and expressions; andsome protection for new ideas.The former is a necessary condition for innovation, the latter is not...
Leniency in style: Clementie in kartelzaken
Posted on May 31, 2008Did I mention before that I love most everything Dutch? This 10 minute short film from the Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa) is no exception. It’s a morality tale of price fixing, self doubt, concern for the families of the co-conspirators, and ultimately the triumph of justice and the cathartic effect of a confession...
The TSA Business Model
Posted on May 30, 2008One of the gnomes finally came up with #2. Create long lines at “security” checkpoints Sell CLEAR passes for $128/year to let people cut in line Profit! Mike Luckovich has an even better proposal.
?Will M&A Die Under Obama or Clinton?? asks the WSJ
Posted on May 30, 2008You can’t be serious, fellas. First, you’re nine days late to the “story.” Second, how do you even answer this question in the affirmative? “Yes! Any transfer of corporate assets will be enjoined if antitrust enforcement were to return to pre-2000 levels...
EU to Fine and/or Sanction Intel?
Posted on May 30, 2008The Financial Times Deutschland reports, according to Marketwatch, that the European Union’s competition authority will take action later this year against Intel Corp. over the semiconductor giant’s sales and distribution practices. The Financial Times Deutschland said the EU had acquired enough evidence to act to keep Intel from selling its microprocessors at a discount to PC [...
DOJ and NAR (Realtors) Settle
Posted on May 27, 2008The Department of Justice and the National Association of Realtors settled today. According to DOJ: The Department of Justice announced today that it has reached a proposed settlement with the National Association of Realtors (NAR) that requires NAR to allow Internet-based residential real estate brokers to compete with traditional brokers...
Solicitor General Recommends the Court Grant Cert in an Antitrust Case
Posted on May 23, 2008SCOTUSblog reports that the Solicitor General recommends that the Court grant certiorari in the antitrust case Pacific Bell Telephone Co., dba AT&T California v. linkLine Communications. It reports: The petition, filed in response to a Ninth Circuit ruling last September, involves whether a company that has no duty under antitrust law to sell to others at wholesale can [...
FTC Report on Generic and Branded Drug Manufacturer Settlements
Posted on May 22, 2008Yesterday, the FTC released its annual report on generic and branded drug manufacturers patent settlements. According to the FTC: In fiscal year 2007, there were 33 final settlements, nearly half of which (14, or 42%) included both compensation to the generic company and a restriction on the generic?s ability to market its product...
Oil, OPEC and Antitrust
Posted on May 21, 2008Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed HR 6074 which, in part, would amend the Sherman Antitrust Act.* The bill provides, in part: The Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. 1 et seq.) is amended by adding after section 7 the following: Sec. 7A. (a) It shall be illegal and a violation of this Act for any foreign state, or [...
Obama and Antitrust
Posted on May 20, 2008I believe that Senator Obama is the first canidate to address any antitrust issues from the stump this year. During a speach on Sunday in Oregon, he said he would pursue a vigorous antitrust policy if elected. Reuters reports: “I will assure that we will have an antitrust division that is serious about pursuing cases,” the [...
Swimsuits and Antitrust
Posted on May 16, 2008On Monday, swimsuit maker TYR Sport Inc. filed an antitrust lawsuit against Warnaco Swimwear Inc., parent company of Speedo in the United States District Court for the Central District of California (and against USA Swimming; the United States national team director, Mark Schubert; and Erik Vendt, a swimmer and former “pitchman” for TYR)...
Jeff Adachi?s Bar Exam Survival Series
Posted on May 16, 2008This is a completely unsolicited plug for Jeff Adachi’s excellent Bar Breaker and Bar Exam Survival Kit series of books. The two Bar Breaker volumes contain about 80 sample essays with answers and grading keys, and the Survival Kit booklet has condensed outlines of “bar exam law...
German Court of Appeals Allows Suit by Claims Consolidator to Go Forward
Posted on May 15, 2008The case pending before the regional court in Düsseldorf concerns a thirty-year cartel of cement companies, and is being brought on behalf of 29 of the largest customers by Cartel Damage Claims (CDC). CDC is a Belgian claims consolidator, which is seeking over 100 million Euros in the action...
Blawg Review #159
Posted on May 12, 2008Blawg Review #159 is now available at the Whistleblower Blog.
FTC Challenges Northern VA Hospital Deal, Designates Rosch as ALJ
Posted on May 12, 2008By a 3-0 vote (Commissioner Rosch not participating), the under-strength Federal Trade Commission on Friday approved a complaint challenging the proposed acquisition by Inova Health System Foundation of Prince William Health System, Inc. and authorized the staff to seek a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in federal district court to block the deal [...
On The Move: Stacey Anne Mahoney
Posted on May 08, 2008Congratulations to Stacey Anne Mahoney who joined Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher from Constantine Cannon. Ms. Mahoney is the current Chair of the Antitrust Section of the New York State Bar Association. According to the press release: Mahoney focuses her practice on antitrust litigation and counseling...
Antitrust Issues in Mergers and Acquisitions; Slides
Posted on May 04, 2008Here are the slides from a recent presentation on antitrust issues in mergers and acquisition in Scottsdale, AZ.
On The Move: Marc G. Schildkraut
Posted on April 29, 2008Congratulations to Marc G. Schildkraut who returned to Howrey from Heller Ehrman. According to the press release: Howrey LLP announced today that Marc G. Schildkraut has rejoined its global Antitrust Practice in Washington, D.C. Schildkraut had been with Howrey from 1993 to 2005, prior to which he spent 17 years at the Federal Trade Commission in [...
Blawg Review #157
Posted on April 28, 2008Blawg Review #157 is now available at the Thoughts From A Management Lawyer blog.
On The Move: John Gibson
Posted on April 25, 2008Congratulations to John S. Gibson has joined Winston & Strawn’s Los Angeles office from Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP. According to the press release: Gibson?s practice focuses on the representation of Fortune 500 companies in complex civil litigation, including antitrust and unfair competition litigation, post-trial litigation, class actions, commercial purchase disputes, lender-liability defense litigation and real estate [...
More Detailed Rambus Analysis
Posted on April 25, 2008Following up on this earlier post, here is a more detailed analysis of the Rambus case that I co-authored.
Antitrust and Innovation: Complete Set of Slides
Posted on April 25, 2008Here is the complete set of slides from my Fall 2007 course on Antitrust and Innovation at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. I posted the slides as the course progressed, but these ones contain some updates and bugfixes. As always, the slides are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3...
The Limited Legal Impact of the D.C. Circuit?s Rambus Decision
Posted on April 25, 2008Deception in the standard setting process is anticompetitive if the deception leads to increased market power. In other words, the conceptual sequence of events is as follows:Deception:Reliance by the SSO on the deception in the standards-adoption decisionMarket power gain through inclusion in the standard...
BMS Executive Faces Criminal Charges in Connection With Plavix
Posted on April 25, 2008On Wednesday, a former Bristol-Myers Squibb vice-president was indicted by the United States Department of Justice one count for making a false statement to the FTC. The New York Times reports: Andrew G. Bodnar, a doctor, had made a false statement to the Federal Trade Commission in describing a 2006 agreement between Bristol-Myers and Apotex, a Canadian [...
On The Move: H. Stephen Harris, Jr.
Posted on April 25, 2008Congratulations to H. Stephen Harris, Jr. has joined Jones Day from Alston & Bird. According to the press release: He has been widely recognized as a leading U.S. and international antitrust litigator, has considerable experience in Asia competition law and regimes, and currently serves as the International Officer of the ABA Section of Antitrust Law...
FTC loses Rambus on Appeal
Posted on April 22, 2008Here is the opinion. After a quick read, we’re convinced this is a big one and probably headed for the Supreme Court. The D.C. Circuit applies NYNEX, which puts into question several harm-through-deception theories for conduct in standards-setting organizations.
Gates Foundation Under Antitrust Investigation
Posted on April 21, 2008BBspot reports: … Bill Gates faced antitrust investigations in the US and abroad as CEO of Microsoft, and now the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation may be coming under scrutiny for monopolistic charity practices. Donations are down at charities like the United Way, Red Cross and Catholic Charities of America, and the organizations are finding the outlets [...
Whole Foods Appeal: Oral Argument
Posted on April 21, 2008The oral argument for the appeal in FTC v. Whole Foods Market, Inc. (D.C. Cir. 07-5276) is scheduled for Wednesday, April 23rd, at 9:30. Whole Foods is the third case on the docket that morning. Judges: Tatel, Brown, and Kavanaugh. See you there.
Exclusionary conduct in Microsoft III
Posted on April 20, 2008Here is a chart that summarizes Microsoft’s conduct and its evaluation by the D.C. Cir. in the Microsoft III case. A similar chart is included in my 2007 Antitrust and Innovation lecture slides, but this one corrects an error: The commingling of OS and IE code was found to be exclusionary...
Poker Antitrust Lawsuit Settled
Posted on April 20, 2008On Friday, the World Poker Tour and five professional poker players (Chris Ferguson, Andrew Bloch, Annie Duke, Phil Gordon, and Howard Lederer) settled the antitrust lawsuit brought by the players. According to the WPT Press Release: In their lawsuit, the poker players challenged WPT?s standard player?s release and contracts with casinos claiming that they [...
China to Join ICN
Posted on April 14, 2008Bloomberg reports that Chinawill become a full member of the International Competition Network within a year, said Philip Collins, head of the Office of Fair Trading, in an April 10 interview in London. The move comes as China is taking steps to bring its competition laws in line with other nations, he said.
Blawg Review #155
Posted on April 14, 2008Blawg Review #155 is now available at the California Blog of Appeal.
More on China?s Merger Control Regime
Posted on April 10, 2008Following up on a previous post, here’s a brief article on China that I co-authored. The current edition of the Antitrust Magazine also has very useful, in depth discussions of China’s Anti-Monopoly Law by Lester Ross, Fei Deng, and Gregory Leonard...
Young people are dumb and lazy
Posted on April 03, 2008What’s up with McElhaney?Young people don’t read books; they don’t read papers. And when they say ‘write,’ they use computers to cobble together little snippets of information, have a spell-checker proof it, and even let the computer put in paragraph breaks...
China Clarifies Merger Control Rules
Posted on April 03, 2008China’s Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council recently clarified certain key provisions relating to merger control in the Anti-Monopoly Law, which will come into force on August 1, 2008. One of the stranger pronouncements is that “being the largest shareholder” now qualifies as an “acquisition of control” and thus as a concentration...
Commission White Paper on Private Damages Actions
Posted on April 03, 2008The Commission published a White Paper on Private Damages Actions. While EU law clearly provides for the compensation of victims of antitrust violations, many member states have been slow in updating their rules of civil procedure to make the enforcement of such rights commercially viable...
Job Opening: Chief Antitrust Counsel At Wyeth
Posted on April 03, 2008Congratulations to Ann Rappleye who has been promoted to Assistant Vice President, Planning at Wyeth. As a result, Ann DeVos at Wyeth writes that they are looking for a Chief Antitrust Counsel. The “primary objective” of the job: will be to serve as chief legal advisor and counselor on a broad range of domestic and international antitrust issues in [...
On The Move: James ?Hart? Holden
Posted on April 03, 2008Congratulations to James “Hart” Holden who has joined Paul Hastings from Clifford Chance. According to Paul Hastings: Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP (Paul Hastings), a leading international law firm, is pleased to announce that James “Hart” Holden, most recently co-chair of the antitrust practice at Crowe & Dunlevy PC, has joined the firm?s Corporate Department [...
DOJ Investigates Chocolate Price Fixing
Posted on April 03, 2008On Tuesday, the Department of Justice confirmed that it is investigating price fixing in the chocolate industry. According to the Wall Street Journal: The investigation, which had been previously reported, had not been acknowledged by the federal officials...
Announcement: Patents and the Commercialization of Innovation
Posted on April 03, 2008Here is a heads-up on what promises to be an interesting Conference coming up in May: The Law and Economics of Innovation: Patents and the Commercialization of Innovation May 15, 2008, Arlington, VA The George Mason/Microsoft Conference Series on the Law and Economics of Innovation will bring together leading academics to present [...
2008 ABA Section of Antitrust Law Spring Meeting
Posted on April 02, 2008Last week the ABA Section of Antitrust Law held its Spring Meeting in Washington, DC. The meeting attracts several thousand antitrust lawyers and economists and features numerous panel discussions of various antitrust and consumer protection issues. There is also, of course, a lot of socializing and networking...
April 1 Antitrust Notes
Posted on April 01, 2008The American Antitrust Institute reports the ABA Section of Antitrust Law has been sued by the American Anti-Rust Institute: Washington attorney Timothy J. Muris, speaking at a gathering of the ABA Antirust Section, declared that confusion between rust and trust is easy to explain, in that the recent evaporation of the nation?s secretarial pool has left [...
FTC and DOJ To Participate in Google?s Custom Time Electronic Filing Program
Posted on April 01, 2008Google just rolled out its much anticipated “custom time” email feature, allowing users to backdate emails. This feature has proven successful in auctions and first-come-first-serve raffles. The Pre-Merger Office is expected to announce that it will accept HSR filings submitted through the Google program...
Blawg Review #153
Posted on March 31, 2008Blawg Review #153 is now available at Declarations and Exclusions.
Congratulations, Chairman Kovacic
Posted on March 26, 2008Bill Kovacic will be the new Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. Congratulations!
States Challenge Resale Price Maintenance Agreement; Settlement
Posted on March 26, 2008In a complaint filed on 3/21/08 in the S.D.N.Y., the states of New York, Illinois, and Michigan challenged what appears to be a pure intra-brand resale price restraint between the manufacturer of the Aeron chair and its distributors. The manufacturer required the retailers not to advertise below a specified price...
Wal-Mart Expansion Animation
Posted on March 26, 2008Here is a great animation of the growth of Wal-Mart starting with one store in Arkansas in 1962. The distribution efficiencies strategy is clearly visible. Wal-Mart is accepting some cannibalization from existing stores in order to reap maximum distribution efficiencies from the existing network...
ABA Section Of Antitrust Law Spring Meeting
Posted on March 25, 2008The ABA Section of Antitrust Law’s Spring Meeting begins tomorrow and the Antitrust Review team will, as always, be there. With luck and a good wi-fi connection we will try to post during the meeting and we certainly will post about it afterwards (including fashion commentary)...
DOJ Approves XM-Sirius Merger
Posted on March 24, 2008Earlier today, DOJ approved the XM-Sirius merger. The Washington Post reports: The deal was approved without conditions despite opposition from consumer groups and an intense lobbying campaign by the land-based radio industry. The combination still requires approval from the Federal Communications Commission, which prohibited a merger when it granted satellite radio operating licenses in 1997...
Health Care Clinical Intergration and Antitrust
Posted on March 18, 2008The Federal Trade Commission will hold a public workshop on May 29, 2008 in Washington DC regarding “collaborations between health care providers to improve the provision of health care services and reduce costs.” According to the FTC: ?Clinical integration? is used to describe certain types of collaboration among otherwise independent health care providers to improve quality and [...
Disemination of Innovation and Patent Life
Posted on March 13, 2008This chart from The Economist shows that for some important market changing products the time from innovation to market penetration has become progressively shorter. The article explains:The upshot is that technology is spreading to emerging markets faster than it has ever done anywhere...
Escort Economics
Posted on March 13, 2008If you look at what a lawyer makes (in a particular city), that’s what an escort makes.SFGate $4,300/hour?
Paul Krugman?s Theory of Interstellar Trade
Posted on March 12, 2008While everyone else is waiting in line to check out Kristen’s MySpace page, we at the Antitrust Review keep offering wholesome nerd fare such as Paul Krugman’s 1978 Theory of Interstellar Trade. (HT: /.) The paperextends interplanetary trade theory to an interstellar setting...
What Antitrust and Science Fiction Have in Common
Posted on March 12, 2008Merger antitrust is in the business of making predictions about the near future. Market definition in particular rests on the premise that product markets today will be reasonably similar to product markets tomorrow, or else it makes little sense to speculate about effects in the post merger world...
House of Lords: No Extradition to US for Price Fixing
Posted on March 12, 2008In the aftermath of the international Graphite Electrodes cartel, the US sought the extradition of former Morgan Crucible Co. Chief Executive Officer Ian Norris from the UK on the theory that price fixing is a criminal conspiracy to defraud (which is punishable both in the US and in the UK)...
Commission Approves Google Doubleclick Merger
Posted on March 11, 2008According to the San Francisco Chronicle (yes, I’m supporting my new local paper):European regulators approved Google Inc.’s $3.1 billion acquisition of online advertising giant DoubleClick on Tuesday, removing the last major obstacle for the deal that critics said would hobble competition and violate consumer privacy...
I?m back! (And David is the man)
Posted on March 10, 2008After a long hiatus, I’m back to blogging. Thanks to all of you who sent emails. (I’m fine. It just took a while settling in after the move from NY to SF.) Many thanks to David, who has been carrying the torch for the last three months. David, you’re the man!
On The Move: Jay N. Fastow and Denise Kosineski Plunkett
Posted on March 10, 2008Congratulations to Jay N. Fastow and Denise Kosineski Plunkett who joined Dickstein Shapiro from Weil Gotshal & Manges.
Mergers and Innovation (Katz & Shelanski)
Posted on March 10, 2008Merger analysis works best in markets with unchanging, undifferentiated products, and costs that are affected more by scale than by changes in production methods. This is mainly because merger analysis is forward looking and the more tomorrow will look like today, the more reliable our prognosis...
DRAM Price Fixing Jury Reaction
Posted on March 07, 2008The Recorder, via law.com, has a fascinating article about juror comments following the hung jury in the recent DRAM antitrust trial. After 11 trial days, the first thing jurors talked about when they could finally discuss the price-fixing case before them was the government’s star witness, foreperson Phyllis McCaughey said Thursday...
The Credit Card Fair Fee Act
Posted on March 07, 2008Yesterday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers introduced the “Credit Card Fair Fee Act which is an attempt by Congress to regulate credit card interchange fees (i..e., the fees that credit card companies charge retailers). Here is a copy of the bill...
On The Move: Andrew G. Berg
Posted on March 07, 2008Congratulations to Andrew G. Berg who has joined Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal from King & Spalding. According to the press release: Well-known antitrust attorney Andrew G. Berg has joined Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP as a partner in its Washington, D...
On The Move: FTC Employees - And Thomas Barnett?
Posted on March 04, 2008The Deal (via law.com) reports that: Jeff Schmidt, the top antitrust enforcer at the Federal Trade Commission, is preparing to leave the agency for a job at an international law firm in the next few months, Washington sources said. Antitrust lawyers said Schmidt, a political appointee to the FTC, is expected to leave for Linklaters, a global [...
Blawg Review #149
Posted on March 02, 2008Like last time - Blawg Review #67 - this blawg review begins with a quick review of the antitrust issues that Antitrust Review focuses on. We’ll then canvas the blogosphere and finally finish with some lighter items, including what is undoubtedly the greatest four paragraphs to ever appear in a newspaper...
The Antitrust Source
Posted on February 28, 2008The new edition of The Antitrust Source is now available.
Breaking News: Deborah Platt Majoras Reportedly To Resign
Posted on February 28, 2008The Wall Street Journal is reporting that FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras will step down to serve as vice president and general counsel at Procter & Gamble. See also Reuters, the New York Times, and law.com. Update: the FTC website confirms the news: “Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras today announced her decision to leave the [...
Nexium/Prilosec Antitrust Decision
Posted on February 27, 2008On Monday, the United States District Court dismissed the antitrust claims of several drugstore chains that “AstraZeneca?s decision to market and aggressively promote Nexium was exclusionary conduct prohibited by Section 2 of the Sherman Act.” According to the opinion (footnotes omitted): The Prilosec patent expired in October 2001 [and generic entry occured in December 2002]...
EU Fines Microsoft $1.3 Billion
Posted on February 27, 2008From the AP (via the Washington Post): The European Union fined Microsoft Corp. a record $1.3 billion Wednesday for the amount it charges rivals for software information. EU regulators said the company charged “unreasonable prices” until last October to software developers who wanted to make products compatible with the Windows desktop operating system...
Blawg Review #147
Posted on February 25, 2008Blawg Review #148 is now available at Blawg IT. Next week Antitrust Review hosts Blawg Review. Submit your suggestions via the Blawg Review website.
On The Move: Ellen M. Jakovic
Posted on February 20, 2008Congratulations to Ellen M. Jakovic who joined the Washington, DC office of Kirkland & Ellis from White & Case. According to the press release: Ms. Jakovic will take a lead role in Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) notification and antitrust clearance matters, a rapidly growing practice area for Kirkland...
Blawg Review #147
Posted on February 18, 2008Blawg Review #147 is now available at Rush on Business.
FTC Sues Cephalon For ?Reverse Payment? Settlement
Posted on February 14, 2008Yesterday, the FTC filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against Cephalon arising from its settlement of patent cases relating to Provigil (but not against the generic drug manufacturers). According to the FTC press release: According to the Commission?s complaint, … Cephalon entered into agreements with four generic drug manufacturers that each planned to sell a [...
A Little Bit of Respect For Antitrust From Westlaw
Posted on February 13, 2008Westlaw has a new tab on the topic of Global Competition and Antitrust. The new tab looks at the content from a global perspective, and offers you the option of searching all of the content together, by type, or by jurisdiction. Also included is a filing tool, which will allow the user to quickly retrieve detailed information [...
EC Raids Intel and Retailers
Posted on February 13, 2008Yesterday, EC competition authorities “raided” the European offices of Intel and several electronics retailers. According to the Financial Times: European Commission officials visited Intel’s Munich offices, as well as Europe’s biggest electronics chain, Media Markt, its second-biggest, DSG International, operator of the UK’s PC World, and French retailer PPR...
Blawg Review #146
Posted on February 11, 2008Blawg Review #146 is now available at The Invent Blog.
On The Move: Allan Huss
Posted on February 07, 2008Congratulations to Allan Huss who joined Weil Gotshal & Manges from DaimlerChrysler. According to Weil’s press release: As Senior Counsel for Antitrust and Trade Regulation for DaimlerChrysler Corporation, he managed the company’s antitrust legal affairs in the NAFTA region and served as principal counsel for DaimlerChrysler?s MOPAR Parts Division...
Congress on Microsoft and Yahoo
Posted on February 07, 2008InformationWeek reports that the House might hold a hearing on the antitrust implications (if any) of a potential Microsoft acquisition of Yahoo. “Microsoft’s bid to acquire Yahoo is certainly one of the largest technology mergers we’ve seen and presents important issues regarding the competitive landscape of the Internet,” said Judiciary chairman John Conyers Jr...
Patent & Antitrust At Duke Law School
Posted on February 05, 2008On February 29, Duke’s Intellectual Property and Cyberlaw Society and the Duke Law and Technology Review are holding their 7th annual “Hot Topics” Symposium. The topics this year are patent reform and the intersection between antitrust law and intellectual property...
Blawg Review #145
Posted on February 04, 2008Blawg Review #145 is now available at What About Clients.
On The Move: Christine L. White
Posted on February 01, 2008Congratulations to Christine L. White who has joined Crowell & Moring from Bingham McCutchen. According to the press release: Crowell & Moring LLP is pleased to announce the addition of partner Christine L. White to its New York office as a member of the firm’s Antitrust and Health Care groups...
Antitrust and State Alcohol Laws
Posted on January 31, 2008Yesterday, the Nineth Circuit issued an opinion in the interesting case that Costco brought against the Washington state liquor board. [W]e reverse the judgment of the district court insofar as it held that most of Washington?s restraints on the sale of beer and wine were hybrid restraints subject to preemption under the Sherman Act...
Microsoft Antitrust Decree Extended
Posted on January 30, 2008On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly extended the antitrust decree until November 2009. According to Bloomberg: U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington yesterday extended an antitrust decree governing the conduct of the world’s largest software maker until November 2009...
Blawg Review #144
Posted on January 28, 2008Blawg Review #144 is now available at Cyberlaw Central.
This Is Not Legal Advice
Posted on January 27, 2008We never have, and never will, give legal advice on this blog. It is not legal advice, however, to suggest that companies do not take legal advice from journalists. In particular, Apple should heed the legal advice of its antitrust lawyers and not Adrian Kingsley-Hughes...
FTC Wins In The Fifth Circuit
Posted on January 26, 2008On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals “ruled in favor of the Federal Trade Commission, denying a petition by Chicago Bridge & Iron Company (CB&I) to review an administrative FTC opinion that CB&I illegally acquired certain assets of Pitt-Des Moines, Inc...
The FTC, Licensing Patents and Conduct That Is Not A Sherman Act Violation
Posted on January 24, 2008Yesterday, the FTC announced it had settled a case involving the licensing of ethernet patents. According to the FTC (brackets in original, emphasis added): The Federal Trade Commission today announced a complaint and settlement with Negotiated Data Solutions LLC (N-Data), which allegedly violated federal law by engaging in unfair methods of competition and unfair acts or [...
Air Cargo and the EC
Posted on January 24, 2008I am sure that most of our readers regularly read Flight International magaine. For the few that do not, it is reporting that the EC has issued statements of objection to at least 15 airlines. The cargo price-fixing probe has entered a new phase with European regulators handing at least 15 airlines statements of objections...
The Supreme Court, AT&T and Antitrust
Posted on January 23, 2008Yesterday, the Supreme Court asked the Solicitor General for the United States’ views on an antitrust case. According to CNN Money: The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Bush administration for its opinion on an antitrust lawsuit several small Internet service providers filed against AT&T Inc...
Blawg Review #143
Posted on January 21, 2008Blawg Review #143 is now available at the Public Defender Stuff blog.
Barnett Speaks in Germany
Posted on January 16, 2008Thomas Barnett, the Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust, gave a speech in Germany yesterday, during the celebration for 50 years of the German Competition Act. Did you know that the Germans had premerger notification before the U.S. did? Here is a taste from the speech: Dr...
EU Probes Pharmaceutical Industry
Posted on January 16, 2008According to the Wall Street Journal: European Union investigators raided drug companies in several countries as the bloc’s antitrust watchdog launched a wide investigation of potentially anticompetitive practices in the industry. Neelie Kroes, the EU antitrust chief, said the industry-wide inquiry would examine whether large companies are abusing their market power to prevent competitors from bringing new [...
Presidential Candiates On Antitrust
Posted on January 14, 2008Reuters is running a story on what the presidential candidates’ positions on Antitrust might be. The gist is: to the extent we can guess, significant change is unlikely. Here is a taste: Overall, none of the leading presidential candidates is considered an antitrust maverick although Democrats have had a reputation for being more aggressive than [...
Blawg Review #142
Posted on January 14, 2008Blawg Review #142 is now available at the Build A Solo Practice Blog.
Antitrust and the Ski Resort
Posted on January 12, 2008Last month (blame the holidays for our lack of diligence in posting about this), Judge Moon of the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia denied a motion to dismiss the antitrust complaint brought by a real estate company against a ski resort...
NY Urges Court to Read Microsoft Final Judgment Broadly
Posted on January 11, 2008It’s been a busy week for NY’s antitrust lawyers. NY submitted a brief today in D.C. District Court, in which NY and other states argue for a broader reading of the section of the Microsoft 2002 Final Judgement that requires Microsoft to disclose communications protocols “used to interoperate, or communicate, natively (i...
Mean But Funny
Posted on January 11, 2008This way off topic, but after watching the “meanest thing [Gizmodo] did at CES” I really want one of these.
NY Investigates Intel
Posted on January 10, 2008The New York Times reports that NY AG Cuomo has issued a subpoena against Intel. The allegations are that Intel is monopolizing the market for x86 chips—not novel, perhaps, but always good for antitrust news. ?Protecting fair and open competition in the microprocessor market is critical to New York, the United States, and the world,? Mr...
Proposed Antitrust Exemption for Pharmacies
Posted on January 10, 2008Health Care News (via the Heartland Institute) has a lengthy article about House Bill 971 which would provide antitrust immunity to independent pharmacies to jointly purchase pharmaceuticals. The U.S. House Judiciary Committee has approved a bill creating an exemption in antitrust law to enable independent pharmacies to negotiate contracts with Medicare Part D plans and private [...
EU Antitrust Case Against Apple Ends
Posted on January 09, 2008Apple and the EU have reached an agreement that will end the EU’s investigation of Apple. According to the AP: The maker of the popular iPod media players had been under investigation since April by EU authorities after a British consumer group complained that Apple and major record companies were unfairly restricting the choice and [...
Antitrust Lawsuit Against NASCAR Dismissed
Posted on January 08, 2008Yesterday, the Eastern District of Kentucky district court granted NASCAR’s motion for summary judgement. According to the AP: Kentucky Speedway alleged that NASCAR had conspired to leave the Sparta track and others out of the Sprint Cup ? formerly known as the Nextel Cup ? series despite their superior amenities...
Another Apple Antitrust Lawsuit
Posted on January 06, 2008A few days ago, another lawsuit was filed against Apple for maintaining a monopoly in the digital music market (via slashdot). According to Information Week: The complaint against Apple claims that the company controls 75% of the online video market, 83% of the online music market, more than 90% of the hard-drive based music player market, [...
The Antitrust Source
Posted on December 20, 2007The December issue of The Antitrust Source is now online. It includes, among the many excellent articles, Symposium: What’s Next for the Supreme Court? regarding reamining antitrust issues for the Court to adress and an interview with William Blumenthal, General Counsel, Federal Trade Commission.
FTC Closes Google-DoubleClick Investigation
Posted on December 20, 2007The FTC announced this morning that: it will not seek to block Google Inc.?s proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of Internet advertising server DoubleClick Inc. In a 4-1 vote to close its eight-month investigation of the transaction, the Commission wrote in its majority statement that ?after carefully reviewing the evidence, we have concluded that Google?s proposed acquisition [...
Google - BlackBerry Synch
Posted on December 13, 2007On the off chance that any of our readers have BlackBerries (a remote possibility to be sure), Google has recently launched a moblie package of applications for BlackBerries and now allows synchronization between Google calendars and BlackBerries. Details at the Google Operating System blog.
Radiohead: Is $2.26 per album enough? The ?piracy? v. obscurity tradeoff
Posted on December 09, 2007A while ago we discussed Radiohead’s decision to sell its new album on a “pay us what you think it’s worth” basis. Today’s NYT has a nice article on the band and the album release. With respect to the donationware pricing, Jon Pareles reports:The band and its managers are not releasing the download’s sales figures [...
Per se tying: Why no simple ?relative size of markets? test?
Posted on December 08, 2007Modern tying law is concerned with foreclosure in the tied product market, not customer exploitation in the tying product market. As a result, we require market power in the tying product market, because without market power, there’s nothing to be leveraged into the tied product market...
Universal Test for Determining the Truth of Any Statement
Posted on December 08, 2007Here is a process for determining the truth of any statement. This process greatly simplifies the law of evidence. Relevance, admissibility? How quaint! Thanks Sean Bonner for this revelation.Technorati Tags: The Truth
Barak Orbach?s Über-RPM Website, Article
Posted on December 04, 2007Barak Orbach of the University of Arizona is in the process of creating a comprehensive RPM web archive. Orbach’s new paper, Antitrust Vertical Myopia: The Allure of High Prices and Consumer Experiences, provides an in depth discussion of the practice...
German Trial Court Upholds iPhone/T-Mobile Exclusivity
Posted on December 04, 2007The NYT has the story:T-Mobile can sell Apple’s sought-after iPhone exclusively locked to its own service, a German court ruled Tuesday, reversing an injunction last month requiring the company to sell an unlocked version in Europe’s biggest economy...
Buff Up on Your Economics at the Gym
Posted on December 04, 2007The Apple iTunes Store is offering a new service, called iTunes U. There are lectures, recorded at various universities, inlcuding Duke, UC Berkeley, MIT, Penn, Yale and several others. There are lectures on economics, for example, or on Law & Society (I picked up a couple of lectures on Max Weber)...
DOJ Wants You - If You Like Antitrust Appellate Law
Posted on December 03, 2007The Appellate Section of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division: is seeking highly qualified attorneys to fill two openings in an active office that deals routinely with complex issues on the cutting edge of antitrust law. The Appellate Section represents the Antitrust Division in the federal courts of appeals in all Division criminal and civil enforcement proceedings...
Blawg Review #137
Posted on December 03, 2007Blawg Review #137 is now available at Infamy or Praise.
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