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Showing results for:  “Dr. Miles”

Timothy Muris Wins FTC's Kirkpatrick Award

Congratulations to Former Chairman and current George Mason Professor Muris for taking home the Federal Trade Commission’s prestigious Miles W. Kirkpatrick Award for Lifetime FTC Achievement.   As Chairman Leibowitz notes in the press release, “Tim Muris provided inspired service to the Federal Trade Commission and to the American public.   He understood the value of combining ... Timothy Muris Wins FTC's Kirkpatrick Award

My Top Ten Antitrust Publications of the Year

Danny Sokol posted his blog’s list of top antitrust publications for the year.  The big winners were Einer Elhauge, Bundled Discounts, and the Death of the Single Monopoly Profit Theory, 123 Harvard Law Review 397 (2009), and Nathan Miller, Strategic Leniency and Cartel Enforcement, American Economic Review.  In the holiday rush,  I forget to send ... My Top Ten Antitrust Publications of the Year

RPM Workshop Testimony

I’ll be testifying tomorrow at the Federal Trade Commission hearings on Resale Price Maintenance.   My panel will focus on rule of reason analysis of RPM Post-Leegin.  There is a bit of awkwardness testifying about different modes of rule of reason analysis with legislation that would restore the Dr. Miles per se rule pending, but it ... RPM Workshop Testimony

Section 2 Symposium: Alden Abbott on the International Perspective

As I indicated in my prior blog entry, U.S. competition policy vis-à-vis single firm conduct (“SFC”) is best viewed not in isolation, but, rather, in the context of other jurisdictions’ SFC enforcement philosophies, and efforts to promote greater SFC policy convergence worldwide.  Given the proliferation of competition law regimes, firms that do business in multiple ... Section 2 Symposium: Alden Abbott on the International Perspective

Maryland Adopts New Per Se Rule for Minimum RPM

A new law in Maryland will take effect on October 1 and will re-instate the Dr. Miles rule for minimum RPM. The Wall Street Journal reports that it is a “move that could lead to lower prices for consumers across the country.” I doubt it. There are quite a few reasons to believe that shifts ... Maryland Adopts New Per Se Rule for Minimum RPM

Professor Carrier’s Response

First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Josh Wright. Only because of Josh’s creativity and tireless, flawless execution did this blog symposium come about and run so smoothly. I also would like to thank Dennis Crouch, who has generously cross-posted the symposium at PatentlyO. And I am grateful for the ... Professor Carrier’s Response

Competitive Resale Price Maintenance in the Absence of Free-Riding

I want to second Josh’s commendation of Ben Klein’s submission to the recent FTC Hearings on Resale Price Maintenance. Klein’s paper, which bears the same title as this post, is lucidly written (blissfully free of equations, Greek letters, etc.) and makes a point that, at this juncture in antitrust’s history, is absolutely crucial. In the ... Competitive Resale Price Maintenance in the Absence of Free-Riding

What's the Empirical Evidence on RPM?

I’ve been reading the papers for the FTC RPM Workshops, though I cannot attend.  On the procompetitive side, I especially recommend Ben Klein’s explanation of how RPM facilitates the supply of promotional services in the absence of dealer free-riding.  Critics of RPM, in my view, generally do not understand the fundamental economic point that retailer ... What's the Empirical Evidence on RPM?

To Whom It May Concern: Please Stop Calling RPM Agreements Cartels (or Price-Fixing)

The headline of this Bloomberg story on the Swiss Competition Authority’s complaint against Bayer, Pfizer and Lilly announces that the firms operated an “Erection Drug Cartel.” I read a bit further to learn something about what I suspected, from the title of the story, would be a horizontal agreement between the firms — that is ... To Whom It May Concern: Please Stop Calling RPM Agreements Cartels (or Price-Fixing)

What Influence Will the Section 2 Report Have? The Role of Political Ideology

There has been a great deal of speculation and discussion in this blog and around the antitrust community regarding what will happen with the DOJ Section 2 Report.  Rightly so.  It is a document with the potential to influence both agency monopolization enforcement decisions, international antitrust enforcement, and U.S. doctrine itself in federal court.  What ... What Influence Will the Section 2 Report Have? The Role of Political Ideology

Antitrust, The Bailout, and the Coming Boom in Monopolization Enforcement

From the WSJ comes an editorial from Martin Neal Baily and Matthew Slaughter describe a forthcoming report from the Private Equity Council making the link between product market competition and productivity: A central theme of this report is the critical role that competitive product markets play in spurring productivity growth and boosting standards of living. ... Antitrust, The Bailout, and the Coming Boom in Monopolization Enforcement

Antitrust under President Obama: "I will direct my administration to reinvigorate antitrust enforcement"

Danny Sokol makes some predictions about Post-Obama antitrust, and about my disappointment in what he perceives to be the likely direction of antitrust policy in the Obama administration: 1. increased challenges of mergers and monopolization cases, especially at DOJ 2. more consumer protection work at the FTC with a push to more expansive consumer rights ... Antitrust under President Obama: "I will direct my administration to reinvigorate antitrust enforcement"