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Showing results for:  “Leegin”

Some Thoughts on the Spring Meeting: Bummed About RPM, Happy About the FTC’s Future

I’ve spent the last few days in DC at the ABA Antitrust Section’s Spring Meeting. The Spring Meeting is the extravaganza of the year for antitrust lawyers, bringing together leading antitrust practitioners, enforcers, and academics for in-depth discussions about developments in the law. It’s really a terrific event. I was honored this year to have ... Some Thoughts on the Spring Meeting: Bummed About RPM, Happy About the FTC’s Future

Meese on Bork (and the AALS)

William & Mary’s Alan Meese has posted a terrific tribute to Robert Bork, who passed away this week.  Most of the major obituaries, Alan observes, have largely ignored the key role Bork played in rationalizing antitrust, a body of law that veered sharply off course in the middle of the last century.  Indeed, Bork began his 1978 ... Meese on Bork (and the AALS)

It’s Settled Then!

You pronounce the petitioners name in Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc.: lee-j?n. That and other SCOTUS pronunciation debates resolved here (courtesy of the Green Bag and the Yale Law Library).

The folly of the FTC’s Section Five case against Google

In the past weeks, the chatter surrounding a possible FTC antitrust case against Google has risen in volume, thanks largely to the FTC’s hiring of litigator Beth Wilkinson.  The question remains, however, what this aggressive move portends and, more importantly, why the FTC is taking it. It is worth noting at the outset that, as ... The folly of the FTC’s Section Five case against Google

AAI’s Antitrust Jury Instruction Project: A good idea in theory, but…

The American Antitrust Institute has announced plans to draft a comprehensive set of jury instructions for antitrust trials.  According to AAI president Bert Foer: In Sherman Act Section 1 and Section 2 civil cases, judges tend to gravitate towards the ABA Model Instructions as the gold standard for impartial instructions. … The AAI believes the ABA model ... AAI’s Antitrust Jury Instruction Project: A good idea in theory, but…

Brantley and its Implications for the Proposed Consumer Choice Antitrust Standard

Thom‘s excellent post highlights the Ninth Circuit’s recent decision in Brantley and describes its implications both in terms of rejecting Professor Elhauge’s claim that metering ties and mere surplus extraction amount to competitive harm for the purposes of antitrust and also for the future of the quasi-per se rule of tying.   Thom, in my view ... Brantley and its Implications for the Proposed Consumer Choice Antitrust Standard

Ninth Circuit Moves Tying Doctrine in the Right Direction. Will SCOTUS Follow?

The Ninth Circuit recently issued a decision that pushes the doctrine governing tying in the right direction.  If appealed, the decision could provide the Roberts Court with an opportunity to do for tying what its Leegin decision did for resale price maintenance:  reduce error costs by bringing an overly prohibitory liability rule in line with economic learning.  First, some ... Ninth Circuit Moves Tying Doctrine in the Right Direction. Will SCOTUS Follow?

SCOTUS Denies Cert in Leegin II

From the WSJ: The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to take another look at its controversial 2007 antitrust ruling that allowed manufacturers to set retail prices for their products.  The court, without comment, rejected an appeal by the Texas boutique retailer that was on the losing end of the court’s 5-4 decision nearly four ... SCOTUS Denies Cert in Leegin II

Please Stop Calling RPM Price-Fixing, Part 3

The next installment in a seemingly never-ending series (see here for earlier offenders). This time, its the California Attorney General Kamala Harris in a press release announcing a settlement with Bioelements, Inc., a Colorado-based company which sells skin care products in salons and online.  The relevant allegation, from the Complaint (Para. 10) is the following: ... Please Stop Calling RPM Price-Fixing, Part 3

Against Consumer Choice as an Antitrust Standard (Some Preliminary Thoughts)

The “consumer choice” approach to antitrust is increasingly discussed in a variety of settings, and endorsed by regulators and in scholarship, especially but not exclusively in the Section 5 context.  The fundamental idea is that the “conventional” efficiency approach embedded in the total and/or consumer welfare standards is too cramped and does not measure the ... Against Consumer Choice as an Antitrust Standard (Some Preliminary Thoughts)

Judd Stone on Misbehavioral Economics: The Misguided Imposition of Behavioral Economics on Antitrust

Behavioral law and economics has arisen to international prominence; between Cass Sunstein’s appointment to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs the United Kingdom’s appointment of a “nudge” bureau, behavioralism has enjoyed a meteoric impact on policymakers.  Thus far, behavioral economists have almost exclusively focused on the myriad foibles or purported cognitive errors which ... Judd Stone on Misbehavioral Economics: The Misguided Imposition of Behavioral Economics on Antitrust

Will Leegin Return to the SCOTUS?

See Update Below. The Supreme Court’s ruling in PSKS v. Leegin Creative Leather Products, which reversed Dr. Miles and ended the per se rule for minimum resale price maintenance, remanded the case to the district court to consider claims under the new rule of reason analysis.  On remand, PSKS filed a second amended complaint alleging ... Will Leegin Return to the SCOTUS?