Showing results for: “digital markets act”
The Catch-22 of AICOA’s Guidelines
If S.2992—the American Innovation and Choice Online Act or AICOA—were to become law, it would be, at the very least, an incomplete law. By design—and not for good reason, but for political expediency—AICOA is riddled with intentional uncertainty. In theory, the law’s glaring definitional deficiencies are meant to be rectified by “expert” agencies (i.e., the ... The Catch-22 of AICOA’s Guidelines
Antitrust Populists Don’t Seem to Care About the Poor
Antitrust populists like Biden White House official Tim Wu and author Matt Stoller decry the political influence of large firms. But instead of advocating for policies that tackle this political influence directly, they seek reforms to antitrust enforcement that aim to limit the economic advantages of these firms, believing that will translate into political enfeeblement. ... Antitrust Populists Don’t Seem to Care About the Poor
The anti-patent crowd seems to think your smartphone doesn’t actually exist
I respect Alex Tabarrock immensely, but his recent post on the relationship between “patent strength” and innovation is, while pretty, pretty silly. The entirety of the post is the picture I have pasted here. The problem is that neither Alex nor anyone else actually knows that this is “where we are,” nor exactly what the ... The anti-patent crowd seems to think your smartphone doesn’t actually exist
Shelf Space Contracts and Slotting Fees in Israeli Supermarkets
A TOTM reader sends me the following interesting development on an emerging dispute over shelf space competition in Israeli supermarkets: Israel’s Super-Sol to Aggressively Pursue Stocking Fees and Perhaps its Private Label Positioning Tel Aviv…Stocking shelves in an Israeli supermarket will henceforth cost manufacturers and distributors money, it was announced by the mega Super-Sol chain, ... Shelf Space Contracts and Slotting Fees in Israeli Supermarkets
Making markets seem thicker
The Internet (read: inexpensive information dissemination) comes to the notoriously informationally-challenged housing market. The WSJ reports on a new website, zillow.com, which, as the WSJ says, uses data such as tax records, sales history and the actual prices of “comparables” — homes in your area that are similar to yours — to come up with ... Making markets seem thicker
How the Facebook Claim’s Intellectual Foundations Doomed Its Argument
The UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) recently handed down a judgment refusing to allow “the Facebook Claim”—among the more well-known UK competition-law class-action cases—to proceed to trial. While the case failed to receive the necessary certification, it may yet fight another day, provided that it undergoes, as the CAT put it, a “root and branch ... How the Facebook Claim’s Intellectual Foundations Doomed Its Argument
Inter Partes Review Jeopardizes the Social Contract between Drug Makers and Patients
It’s been six weeks since drug maker Allergan announced that it had assigned to the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe the patents on Restasis, an Allergan drug challenged both in IPR proceedings and in Hatch-Waxman proceedings in federal district court. The unorthodox agreement was intended to shield the patents from IPR proceedings (and thus restrict the ... Inter Partes Review Jeopardizes the Social Contract between Drug Makers and Patients
The Incorporation Transparency Act
This post is based on a legal backgrounder I recently published with the Washington Legal Foundation, which is available here. This analysis is cross-posted from the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation. The Incorporation Transparency and Law Enforcement Assistance Act, introduced by Senators Levin, Grassley, and McCaskill and currently pending before the ... The Incorporation Transparency Act
ITSA Foreshadows Final Act in 5.9GHz Fight
It’s a telecom tale as old as time: industry gets a prime slice of radio spectrum and falls in love with it, only to take it for granted. Then, faced with the reapportionment of that spectrum, it proceeds to fight tooth and nail (and law firm) to maintain the status quo. In that way, the ... ITSA Foreshadows Final Act in 5.9GHz Fight
Exclusivity Agreements, the Bailout Act, and Section 126(c)
The Wachovia-Citigroup-Wells Fargo dance continues. Now, however, it seems to involve confusion about Section 126(c) of the newly adopted Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (“EESA”). Allow me to take a stab at clarifying. To bring everyone up to speed, last weekend, after Lehman was allowed to go belly-up and Washington Mutual was seized by the FDIC, ... Exclusivity Agreements, the Bailout Act, and Section 126(c)
Epstein on the Economics of Fault in Contract Law
A new paper from Richard Epstein came across my inbox via SSRN this morning, The Many Faces of Fault in Contract Law: Or How to Do Economics Right, Without Really Trying? Here’s the abstract: Modern law often rests on the assumption that a uniform cost/benefit formula is the proper way to determine fault in ordinary ... Epstein on the Economics of Fault in Contract Law
The OECD Provides Further Guidance on Assessing the Anticompetitive Impact of Laws and Regulations
The most welfare-inimical restrictions on competition stem from governmental action, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s newly promulgated “Competition Assessment Toolkit, Volume 3: Operational Manual” (“Toolkit 3,” approved by the OECD in late June 2015) provides useful additional guidance on how to evaluate and tackle such harmful market distortions. Toolkit 3 is a ... The OECD Provides Further Guidance on Assessing the Anticompetitive Impact of Laws and Regulations
