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California Dreamin’: California Public Utility Commission must resist extreme regulatory overreach in the recently proposed conditions in Comcast-TWC merger

On February 13 an administrative law judge (ALJ) at the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) issued a proposed decision regarding the Comcast/Time Warner Cable (TWC) merger. The proposed decision recommends that the CPUC approve the merger with conditions. It’s laudable that the ALJ acknowledges at least some of the competitive merits of the proposed deal. ... California Dreamin’: California Public Utility Commission must resist extreme regulatory overreach in the recently proposed conditions in Comcast-TWC merger

Microsoft’s mobile innovation today undercuts arguments built on yesterday’s Microsoft antitrust case

Last year, Microsoft’s new CEO, Satya Nadella, seemed to break with the company’s longstanding “complain instead of compete” strategy to acknowledge that: We’re going to innovate with a challenger mindset…. We’re not coming at this as some incumbent. Among the first items on his agenda? Treating competing platforms like opportunities for innovation and expansion rather ... Microsoft’s mobile innovation today undercuts arguments built on yesterday’s Microsoft antitrust case

One Step Forward: The Supremes Add Some Bite to Environmental Cost-Benefit Analysis

Today, in Michigan v. EPA, a five-Justice Supreme Court majority (Antonin Scalia, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito, with Thomas issuing a separate concurrence) held that the Clean Air Act requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to consider costs, including the cost of compliance, when deciding ... One Step Forward: The Supremes Add Some Bite to Environmental Cost-Benefit Analysis

Keith Hylton on Joshua Wright

When I first heard that Josh had resigned from the FTC, I wondered if the news would cause a stock market sell-off. I checked later that day, and the Dow closed slightly up, plus .39 percent. This suggests several possible explanations. One is that the stock market had already priced in Josh’s departure. Another is ... Keith Hylton on Joshua Wright

Heritage Antitrust Conference Highlights Domestic and International Policy Challenges for the Next Administration

On January 26 the Heritage Foundation hosted a one-day conference on “Antitrust Policy for a New Administration.”  Featured speakers included three former heads of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (DOJ) (D.C. Circuit Senior Judge Douglas Ginsburg, James Rill, and Thomas Barnett) and a former Chairman of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (keynote ... Heritage Antitrust Conference Highlights Domestic and International Policy Challenges for the Next Administration

Time To Make The Donuts: Self-Help Agreements and ICANN Accountability

It seems like debates that involve the ability to access the Internet fall into absolutism very quickly. One could almost construct a corollary of Godwin’s law: As the length of a policy discussion involving the Internet increases, the probability of someone claiming a nefarious plot to destroy the Internet approaches 1. Should there be zero-rated ... Time To Make The Donuts: Self-Help Agreements and ICANN Accountability

O competition, we stand on guard for thee

Today’s Canadian Competition Bureau (CCB) Google decision marks yet another regulator joining the chorus of competition agencies around the world that have already dismissed similar complaints relating to Google’s Search or Android businesses (including the US FTC, the Korea FTC, the Taiwan FTC, and AG offices in Texas and Ohio). A number of courts around ... O competition, we stand on guard for thee

Robust Patent and Copyright Systems Promote a Strong U.S. Economy – and Are Consistent with Originalist Understandings of the Constitution

In a Heritage Foundation Legal Memorandum released today, I explore both the “constitutionalist” as well as utilitarian, economic-welfare-oriented justifications for robust U.S. patent and copyright systems.  The Memorandum explains: Intellectual property (IP) is increasingly important to the American private economy, and a discussion of the appropriate public policy toward IP is timely, particularly given the ... Robust Patent and Copyright Systems Promote a Strong U.S. Economy – and Are Consistent with Originalist Understandings of the Constitution

Welcome TOTM Guest Blogger Adam Mossoff

My GMU colleague Adam Mossoff has been on and around the blogs this week — or at least, other people have been writing about him and particularly about his new paper  The Trespass Fallacy in Patent Law.  For example, here are a few reactions at Prawfsblawg and Patently-O.  I’ve been trying to get Professor Mossoff on ... Welcome TOTM Guest Blogger Adam Mossoff

Amit Singhal on the Past, Present, and Future of Search

Pretty interesting interview with Google’s Senior VP Amit Singhal on where search technology is headed.  In the article, Singhal describes the shift from a content-based, keyword index  to incorporating links and other signals to improve query results.  The most interesting part of the interview is about what is next. Google now wants to transform words that ... Amit Singhal on the Past, Present, and Future of Search

Nocera on the uncorporation and the financial crisis

The Glom’s having a book club on McLean & Nocera’s All the Devils Are Here. I haven’t read the book (it takes a lot to get me to read a book by business journalists).  But I have read David Zaring’s interview with his “favorite Times columnist.  One of the questions and answers naturally piqued my ... Nocera on the uncorporation and the financial crisis

New on SSRN: Kobayashi and Ribstein on private lawmaking

The paper, with Kobayashi, is Law As A Byproduct: Theories Of Private Law Production.  Here’s the abstract: Public lawmakers lack incentives to engage in a socially optimal amount of legal innovation. Private lawmaking is a potential solution to this problem. However, private lawmaking faces a dilemma: In order to be effective privately produced laws need ... New on SSRN: Kobayashi and Ribstein on private lawmaking