Showing results for: “Google shopping manne”
Antitrust and FCC Oversight Are Needed to Promote Broadband Deployment in the Tennessee Valley
In late June, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) sent a letter to Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter arguing that the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) needs to investigate the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and its local power companies (LPCs) on grounds that abuses of the pole-attachment process appear to be slowing broadband deployment. Given that Congress has prioritized subsidizing broadband access ... Antitrust and FCC Oversight Are Needed to Promote Broadband Deployment in the Tennessee Valley
Does ‘Open Finance’ Promote Competition or Facilitate Free Riding?
Financial technology, or so-called “fintech,” is disrupting the financial sector, and that’s a good thing. Fintech services are making finance more digital and more user-friendly. This, in turn, has led to reduced transactions costs and increased levels of competition, innovation, and financial inclusion. Alas, the emergence of fintech has also been accompanied by a rising ... Does ‘Open Finance’ Promote Competition or Facilitate Free Riding?
Uber and the Mill of Sanssouci
Freedom of enterprise is considered a second-class freedom in Spain, rather than a fundamental right. It is clear that this has been the view not only of successive Spanish governments since the current Constitution was promulgated in 1978, but also of the judges of the Supreme Court of Spain (Tribunal Supremo) and the Constitutional Court ... Uber and the Mill of Sanssouci
Antitrust at the Agencies Roundup: The Joint FTC/DOJ Guidelines to Nowhere (or Nowhere Good) Edition
The FTC and DOJ have done it: on July 19 they released the long awaited (or dreaded) draft merger guidelines, which . . . well, could have been worse, given current agency leadership, but could have been better (as demonstrated by the certainly imperfect, but still better, 2010 guidelines they replaced). Jumping on the agencies’ ... Antitrust at the Agencies Roundup: The Joint FTC/DOJ Guidelines to Nowhere (or Nowhere Good) Edition
Note to the FTC: Punishing Efficiency Means Destroying Competition
Yesterday, Lina Khan’s FTC released their long-awaited draft merger guidelines for public comment. Regrettably yet not unsurprisingly, the new guidelines are a radical departure from established case law and antitrust thinking. They’re marked by a failure to account for the role of efficiencies in the competitive process, and a failure to distinguish between the implications of generally ... Note to the FTC: Punishing Efficiency Means Destroying Competition
The CJEU’s Decision in Meta’s Competition Case: Sensitive Data and Privacy Enforcement by Competition Authorities (Part 2)
Yesterday, I delved into the recent judgment in the Meta case (Case C-252/21) from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). I gave a preliminary analysis of the court’s view on some of the complexities surrounding the processing of personal data for personalized advertising under the GDPR, focusing on three lawful bases for ... The CJEU’s Decision in Meta’s Competition Case: Sensitive Data and Privacy Enforcement by Competition Authorities (Part 2)
Enforcing the DMA is Easier Said Than Done: Evidence From the Commission’s Draft Template for DMA Compliance Reports
The European Commission early last month published its draft template for DMA-compliance reports. This is the document that gatekeepers will periodically need to fill out, and which subsequently will be used to determine whether they comply with the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). The draft template is a missed opportunity to clarify some of ... Enforcing the DMA is Easier Said Than Done: Evidence From the Commission’s Draft Template for DMA Compliance Reports
Antitrust at the Agencies Roundup: You Will Absolutely Work in This Town Again Edition
I mean, Alvaro. I know it was you, Alvaro. Readers might recall my recent discussion of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) new Bureau of Let’s Sue Meta, in which I covered, among other things, the commission’s proposal to modify its 2020 Decision and Order In the Matter of Facebook Inc. (now Meta). The 2020 order ... Antitrust at the Agencies Roundup: You Will Absolutely Work in This Town Again Edition
How the Facebook Claim’s Intellectual Foundations Doomed Its Argument
The UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) recently handed down a judgment refusing to allow “the Facebook Claim”—among the more well-known UK competition-law class-action cases—to proceed to trial. While the case failed to receive the necessary certification, it may yet fight another day, provided that it undergoes, as the CAT put it, a “root and branch ... How the Facebook Claim’s Intellectual Foundations Doomed Its Argument
Two FCC Commissioners Walk Into a Bar
Former FCC Commissioners Have Some Thoughts Writing with Kirk Arner in RealClearMarkets, Harold Furchtgott-Roth—formerly of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)—comments on the Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act, recently passed out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Arner and Furchtgott-Roth note that reauthorizing spectrum auctions is a “good and necessary idea,” but take issue with the “$23 billion Ponzi ... Two FCC Commissioners Walk Into a Bar
FTC v Amgen: The Economics of Bundled Discounts, Part One
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently announced that it would seek to block Amgen’s proposed $27.8 billion acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics. The move was the culmination of several years’ worth of increased scrutiny from both Congress and the FTC into antitrust issues in the biopharmaceutical industry. While the FTC’s move didn’t elicit much public comment, ... FTC v Amgen: The Economics of Bundled Discounts, Part One
The Robinson-Patman Act: The Anti-Consumer Welfare Statute
Consistent with the neo-Brandeisian penchant for downplaying (some would say ignoring) consumer-welfare concerns, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently touted its interest in “reinvigorating” enforcement of the Robinson-Patman Act (RPA). This would stand sensible antitrust-enforcement policy on its head, by devoting resources to actions that predictably would tend to diminish consumer welfare. In the hope ... The Robinson-Patman Act: The Anti-Consumer Welfare Statute
