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Showing results for:  “digital markets act”

Online Privacy Regulation: A Tale of Two U.S. Agencies (and Some Foreign Bureaucrats)

In recent years much ink has been spilled on the problem of online privacy breaches, involving the unauthorized use of personal information transmitted over the Internet.  Internet privacy concerns are warranted.  According to a 2016 National Telecommunications and Information Administration survey of Internet-using households, 19 percent of such households (representing nearly 19 million households) reported ... Online Privacy Regulation: A Tale of Two U.S. Agencies (and Some Foreign Bureaucrats)

Majoras Responds to Conyers Regarding Leegin

There’s just so much paper going back and forth on Leegin that it’s hard to keep up. In addition to various briefs and commentaries and Commissioner Harbour’s de facto brief (also discussed here), there has been some interesting correspondence between Rep. Conyers, Chair of the House Committee on the Judiciary, and Deborah Platt Majoras, Chair ... Majoras Responds to Conyers Regarding Leegin

Fracking, the Separation of Powers, Economic Welfare, and the Role of the Public (Or Mirabile Dictu! An Obama-Appointed Federal Judge Who Believes in the Separation of Powers)

An interesting thing happened on June 21st.  Scott Skavdahl, a federal district court judge appointed by President Barack Obama, invalidated the “Fracking Rule” adopted by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM).  Even more interesting, however, was the fact that, in so holding, the judge relied heavily on a rather dusty, moth-eaten eighteenth century ... Fracking, the Separation of Powers, Economic Welfare, and the Role of the Public (Or Mirabile Dictu! An Obama-Appointed Federal Judge Who Believes in the Separation of Powers)

Section 2 Symposium: Thom Lambert on Defining and Identifying Exclusionary Conduct

There’s a fundamental problem with Section 2 of the Sherman Act: nobody really knows what it means. More specifically, we don’t have a very precise definition for “exclusionary conduct,” the second element of a Section 2 claim. The classic definition from the Supreme Court’s Grinnell decision — “the willful acquisition or maintenance of [monopoly] power ... Section 2 Symposium: Thom Lambert on Defining and Identifying Exclusionary Conduct

Reflections on the International Competition Network (ICN) at 15: Steady Progress and Major Long-Term Challenges

Introduction In my role as a “non-governmental advisor” (NGA), I was privileged to attend and participate actively in the 15th Annual ICN Conference, held in Singapore from April 26-29.  (I have blogged previously on ICN annual conferences and policy initiatives, see here, here, and here.)  As a virtual network of national competition law agencies (“national ... Reflections on the International Competition Network (ICN) at 15: Steady Progress and Major Long-Term Challenges

Making a statement under 10b-5

Janus Investment Fund’s (JIF) prospectus included a misstatement about market timing.  Its investment adviser and administrator is Janus Capital Management (JCM).  Plaintiff shareholders in the parent company, Janus Capital Group (JCG) argue in the Supreme Court that JCM should be liable as JIF’s manager for “mak[ing] an[] untrue statement of a material fact” in violation ... Making a statement under 10b-5

The FCC distorted market realities to scuttle the Comcast-TWC merger

Last week, FCC General Counsel Jonathan Sallet pulled back the curtain on the FCC staff’s analysis behind its decision to block Comcast’s acquisition of Time Warner Cable. As the FCC staff sets out on its reported Rainbow Tour to reassure regulated companies that it’s not “hostile to the industries it regulates,” Sallet’s remarks suggest it will ... The FCC distorted market realities to scuttle the Comcast-TWC merger

Read Marc Hodak

His short post is here.  The theme is, in essence, Bastiat’s “What is Seen and What is Not Seen.”  Government (and, oh, I don’t know . . . antitrust regulators in particular) thrive on the unseen–as Marc puts it, on the unfortunate reality that “invisible opportunity costs stay[] that way.”  As I argued at some ... Read Marc Hodak

Biweekly FTC Roundup: But Wait, There’s More Edition

More, and not just about noncompetes, but first, yes (mea culpa/s’lach lanu), more about noncompetes. Yesterday on Truth on the Market, I provided an overview of comments filed by the International Center for Law & Economics on the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) proposed noncompete rule. In addition to ICLE’s Geoffrey Manne, Dirk Auer, Brian Albrecht, Gus Hurwitz, and ... Biweekly FTC Roundup: But Wait, There’s More Edition

FCC Should Not Regulate Broadband Providers’ Privacy Policies and Instead Defer to the FTC

Earlier this month, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler released a “fact sheet” describing his proposal to have the FCC regulate the privacy policies of broadband Internet service providers (ISPs).  Chairman Wheeler’s detailed proposal will be embodied in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that the FCC may take up as early as March ... FCC Should Not Regulate Broadband Providers’ Privacy Policies and Instead Defer to the FTC

One is not a partnership

Bob Hillman and Don Weidner have a nice little paper in the form of a dialog about what you have when a partner withdraws leaving only one “partner”: Partners Without Partners: The Legal Status of Single Person Partnerships.  Here’s part of the abstract: Although we have differing views on whether a single person partnership is ... One is not a partnership

Abuse of Plaintiff Win Rates as Evidence that Antitrust Law Is Too Lenient

I was recently reading Dean Chemerinsky (Irvine Law) on the Roberts Court at Age 3. One of Chemerinsky’s standard takes when he talks about the Roberts Court is that the Court’s pro-business stance is one of its defining characteristics. Readers of the blog will know that I’ve been critical of Chemerinsky for his superficial antitrust ... Abuse of Plaintiff Win Rates as Evidence that Antitrust Law Is Too Lenient