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Showing results for:  “FTC policy statement unfair methods of competition”

A Brief Assessment of the Procompetitive Effects of Organizational Restructuring in the Ag-Biotech Industry

Today the International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) Antitrust and Consumer Protection Research Program released a new white paper by Geoffrey A. Manne and Allen Gibby entitled: “A Brief Assessment of the Procompetitive Effects of Organizational Restructuring in the Ag-Biotech Industry.” Over the past two decades, rapid technological innovation has transformed the industrial organization of ... A Brief Assessment of the Procompetitive Effects of Organizational Restructuring in the Ag-Biotech Industry

NY Times Endorses Pre-Chicago Antitrust

The NY Times (HT: Danny Sokol) decided to run an editorial blasts the DOJ’s Section 2 Report, asserting that the “antitrust division is supposed to be the agency looking out for the interests of American consumers, not big companies — a role it has clearly forgotten over the last eight years” citing the familiar bullet ... NY Times Endorses Pre-Chicago Antitrust

How Uber uses innovative management tactics to incentivize its drivers: A critical commentary on Noam Scheiber’s “How Uber Uses Psychological Tricks to Push Its Drivers’ Buttons”

In a recent long-form article in the New York Times, reporter Noam Scheiber set out to detail some of the ways Uber (and similar companies, but mainly Uber) are engaged in “an extraordinary experiment in behavioral science to subtly entice an independent work force to maximize its growth.” That characterization seems innocuous enough, but it is ... How Uber uses innovative management tactics to incentivize its drivers: A critical commentary on Noam Scheiber’s “How Uber Uses Psychological Tricks to Push Its Drivers’ Buttons”

Merging to Second Best

Luke Froeb, Mikhael Shor and Steven Tschantz have just posted an interesting looking model of mergers in auction settings where the incumbent firm has an advantage in subsequent auctions. The model captures the intuition that sometimes a mergers creating a “second-best” rival can result in more more aggressive bidding and result in lower prices even ... Merging to Second Best

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

Who’s Your Nanny?

My law school classmate, M. Todd Henderson (Chicago Law), has posted an interesting paper on SSRN. The paper, entitled The Nanny Corporation and the Market for Paternalism, explores “Nannyism” by business firms and the government. Nannyism consists of imposing paternalistic rules designed to protect the governed — e.g., rules against smoking, drinking, over-eating, and engaging ... Who’s Your Nanny?

Reducing Duplicative Patent Challenges in the Drug Industry

On March 14, the Federal Circuit will hear oral arguments in the case of BTG International v. Amneal Pharmaceuticals that could dramatically influence the future of duplicative patent litigation in the pharmaceutical industry.  The court will determine whether the America Invents Act (AIA) bars patent challengers that succeed in invalidating patents in inter partes review ... Reducing Duplicative Patent Challenges in the Drug Industry

Boom, bust, and collusion: Does it really matter?

A recent working paper by Hashmat Khan and Matthew Strathearn attempts to empirically link anticompetitive collusion to the boom and bust cycles of the economy. The level of collusion is higher during a boom relative to a recession as collusion occurs more frequently when demand is increasing (entering into a collusive arrangement is more profitable ... Boom, bust, and collusion: Does it really matter?

What’s next for the pharmaceutical industry?

On November 9, pharmaceutical stocks soared as Donald Trump’s election victory eased concerns about government intervention in drug pricing. Shares of Pfizer rose 8.5%, Allergan PLC was up 8%, and biotech Celgene jumped 10.4%. Drug distributors also gained, with McKesson up 6.4% and Express Scripts climbing 3.4%. Throughout the campaign, Clinton had vowed to take on ... What’s next for the pharmaceutical industry?

The Hatch-Waxman Integrity Act of 2018—Reestablishing Balance in the Drug Industry

Last week, Senator Orrin Hatch, Senator Thom Tillis, and Representative Bill Flores introduced the Hatch-Waxman Integrity Act of 2018 (HWIA) in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.  If enacted, the HWIA would help to ensure that the unbalanced inter partes review (IPR) process does not stifle innovation in the drug industry and jeopardize ... The Hatch-Waxman Integrity Act of 2018—Reestablishing Balance in the Drug Industry

Why Antitrust?

As the start of the new academic year inches closer, and students are deciding what courses to take, I thought I’d give a little plug to antitrust law. I’ve seen enrollment in antitrust courses vary dramatically over the past 10 years or so since I was a student and now as a professor. I certainly ... Why Antitrust?

TradeComet.com v. Google (UPDATED: With Complaint)

Anybody want to share a copy of the complaint?  (Email: jwrightg at gmu dot edu). UPDATE: Here’s a copy of the TradeComet Complaint. Thanks to an anonymous reader. Some brief comments on the highlights of the Complaint.  Per Thom’s comment below, it looks like the thrust of the complaint is not the price hike which ... TradeComet.com v. Google (UPDATED: With Complaint)