A Comprehensive Overview (and Sound Analysis) of the Law and Economics of FRAND Litigation, Here and Abroad
Too much ink has been spilled in an attempt to gin up antitrust controversies regarding efforts by holders of “standard essential patents” (SEPs, patents covering technologies that are adopted as part of technical standards relied upon by manufacturers) to obtain reasonable returns to their property. Antitrust theories typically revolve around claims that SEP owners engage ... A Comprehensive Overview (and Sound Analysis) of the Law and Economics of FRAND Litigation, Here and Abroad
The Present State and Future Prospects of the International Competition Network (ICN)
Introduction The International Competition Network (ICN), a “virtual” organization comprised of most of the world’s competition (antitrust) agencies and expert non-governmental advisors (NGAs), held its Sixteenth Annual Conference in Porto, Portugal from May 10-12. (I attended this Conference as an NGA.) Now that the ICN has turned “sweet sixteen,” a stocktaking is appropriate. The ICN ... The Present State and Future Prospects of the International Competition Network (ICN)
Global Antitrust Institute Points the Way Toward Sounder Japanese Antitrust Guidelines
The indefatigable (and highly talented) scriveners at the Scalia Law School’s Global Antitrust Institute (GAI) once again have offered a trenchant law and economics assessment that, if followed, would greatly improve a foreign jurisdiction’s competition law guidance. This latest assessment, which is compelling and highly persuasive, is embodied in a May 4 GAI Commentary on ... Global Antitrust Institute Points the Way Toward Sounder Japanese Antitrust Guidelines
The European Approach to Standard Essential Patents (SEPs): A Sound Critique by Scalia Law’s Global Antitrust Institute (GAI)
The Scalia Law School’s Global Antitrust Institute (GAI) has once again penned a trenchant law and economics-based critique of a foreign jurisdiction’s competition policy pronouncement. On April 28, the GAI posted a comment (GAI Comment) in response to a “Communication from the [European] Commission (EC) on Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) for a European Digitalised Economy” ... The European Approach to Standard Essential Patents (SEPs): A Sound Critique by Scalia Law’s Global Antitrust Institute (GAI)
Tax Competition, the Burden of Excessive Taxation, and the European Union’s Apple “State Aids” Case
Government subsidies that selectively favor a particular firm or firms may substantially distort competition within an industry, thereby skewing trading terms, reducing efficiency, and harming consumer welfare. To its credit, the European Union (EU) seeks to stamp out distortive state aid, as explained by the EU’s administrative and law enforcement arm, the European Commission (EC): ... Tax Competition, the Burden of Excessive Taxation, and the European Union’s Apple “State Aids” Case
Global Antitrust Institute’s Critique of China’s Latest Antitrust-IP Guidelines is on the Mark
Over the last two years, the Scalia Law School’s Global Antitrust Institute (GAI) has taken a leadership role in promoting sound antitrust analysis of intellectual property rights (IPRs), through its insightful analysis of IP-antitrust guidance proffered by governments around the world (including by the United States antitrust agencies). Key concepts that inform the GAI’s IP ... Global Antitrust Institute’s Critique of China’s Latest Antitrust-IP Guidelines is on the Mark
Bundling and Competition Law in China: Sage Comments by the Scalia Law School’s Global Antitrust Institute
Introduction For nearly two years, the Global Antitrust Institute (GAI) at George Mason University’s Scalia Law School has filed an impressive series of comments on foreign competition laws and regulations. The latest GAI comment, dated March 19 (“March 19 comment”), focuses on proposed revisions to the Anti-Unfair Competition Law (AUCL) of the People’s Republic of ... Bundling and Competition Law in China: Sage Comments by the Scalia Law School’s Global Antitrust Institute
Experts’ Report Proposes Greater Coordination of U.S. Competition Law and Trade Law Policies
On March 14, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce released a report “by an independent group of experts it commissioned to consider U.S. responses to the inappropriate use of antitrust enforcement actions worldwide to achieve industrial policy outcomes.” (See here and here.) I served as rapporteur for the report, which represents the views of the experts ... Experts’ Report Proposes Greater Coordination of U.S. Competition Law and Trade Law Policies
Common Ownership by Institutional Investors: Beware Antitrust Overreach
The antitrust industry never sleeps – it is always hard at work seeking new business practices to scrutinize, eagerly latching on to any novel theory of anticompetitive harm that holds out the prospect of future investigations. In so doing, antitrust entrepreneurs choose, of course, to ignore Nobel Laureate Ronald Coase’s warning that “[i]f an economist ... Common Ownership by Institutional Investors: Beware Antitrust Overreach
Judge Gorsuch’s Distinguished Antitrust Record
Overview A?merica’s antitrust laws have long held a special status in the ?federal statutory hierarchy. The Supreme Court of the United States, for example, famously stated that the “[a]ntitrust laws in general, and the Sherman Act in particular, are the Magna Carta of free enterprise.” Thus, when considering the qualifications of a nominee to the ... Judge Gorsuch’s Distinguished Antitrust Record
Why the Federal Trade Commission (not the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) Should Oversee Consumer Protection in Financial Markets
On February 28, the Heritage Foundation released Prosperity Unleashed: Smarter Financial Regulation, a Report that lays bare the heavy and unnecessary burdens imposed on our economy by defective financial regulations, and proposed market-oriented regulatory reforms that would benefit American producers, consumers, and the overall economy. In a recent Truth on the Market blog commentary, I ... Why the Federal Trade Commission (not the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) Should Oversee Consumer Protection in Financial Markets
Unleashing Prosperity through Smarter Financial Regulation
On February 28, the Heritage Foundation issued a volume of essays by leading scholars on the law and economics of financial services regulatory reform entitled Prosperity Unleashed: Smarter Financial Regulation. This Report, which is well worth a read (in particular, by incoming Trump Administration officials and Members of Congress), is available online. The Report’s 23 ... Unleashing Prosperity through Smarter Financial Regulation