The Archives

Everything written by Joshua D. Wright on law, economics, and more

Free to Choose: Day 1 Wrapup

I’ve compiled links to the excellent posts from day 1 in here, or you can go to the Free to Choose Symposium tab at the top of the blog. Tomorrow’s lineup should be more of the same, including posts from Claire Hill, Erin O’Hara, Todd Henderson, Tom Brown, Kevin McCabe, Steve Bainbridge, Christopher Sprigman & ... Free to Choose: Day 1 Wrapup

Casino Games and Antitrust — UPDATED

UPDATE: Link to opinion below. A federal district court judge recently decided an interesting antitrust/ IP case involving “wheel game” slot machines.  IGT sued Bally’s in 2004 for allegedly infringing a number of patents on a “wheel game” slot machine.  Bally’s initially prevailed, winning a pair of summary judgment rulings on the validity of IGT’s ... Casino Games and Antitrust — UPDATED

Horizontal Mergers: What to Expect from Regulators and Judges Under New Federal Guidelines

Washington Legal Foundation is hosting a free webinar Friday, December 3rd at 10 am (EST) the New HMGs featuring John Thorne (Verizon) and Janet McDavid (Hogan Lovells).  Details on how to register and view online are available here.  

2010 ABA Journal Blawg 100

As Larry mentioned, TOTM has been nominated as one of the best legal blogs as selected by the ABA’s editors.  Readers can vote here (after registering with the ABA site) — you can find TOTM in the “Law Prof Plus” category.  

Decision Trees

Nobel Laureate economist Gary Becker’s decision tree (HT: Freakonomics, from the new illustrated SuperFreakonomics):

Congratulations to the GMU Law and Economic Center’s Samantha Zyontz: Samsung-Stanford Patent Prize Competition Winner

Congratulations to Samantha Zyontz, a Senior Research Associate at the Searle Civil Justice Institute here at George Mason.   Samantha and two co-authors, Michael Mazzeo (Kellogg) and Jonathan Hillel (Northwestern), are one of several recipients of the Inaugural Samsung-Stanford Patent Prize for their paper Are Patent Infringement Awards Excessive?: The Data Behind the Patent Reform Debate.  ... Congratulations to the GMU Law and Economic Center’s Samantha Zyontz: Samsung-Stanford Patent Prize Competition Winner

What’s An Internet Monopolist? A Reply to Professor Wu

We’ve been reading with interest a bit of an blog squabble between Tim Wu and Adam Thierer ( see here and here) set off by Professor Wu’s WSJ column: “In the Grip of the New Monopolists.”  Wu’s column makes some remarkable claims, and, like Adam, we find it extremely troubling. Wu starts off with some ... What’s An Internet Monopolist? A Reply to Professor Wu

Free to Choose? A Symposium on Behavioral Law and Economics

Mark your calendars!  Truth on the Market will be holding a two day symposium on behavioral law and economics and its implications on December 6th and 7th.  We’ve got a great lineup of participants confirmed — and several invitations pending.  We’ll have more announcements as we get closer to the date.    Stay tuned. Free ... Free to Choose? A Symposium on Behavioral Law and Economics

Carl Shapiro on BCBS and the New Merger Guidelines

?Carl Shapiro’s (DOJ) speech at the ABA Fall Forum contains (at least) two interesting tidbits worth highlighting for TOTM readers.  The first is a discussion of the DOJ’s case against Blue Cross Blue Shield, which as discussed here, turns on an economic analysis of the use of most-favored nations clauses in contractual arrangements with hospitals: ... Carl Shapiro on BCBS and the New Merger Guidelines

Fair Search’s Google-ITA Video

A link to the video is available here. The video has all of the standard ingredients of a competitor complaint:  (1) a slogan (“Stand with Bob”), (2) anti-corporate rhetoric (“Freedom not Google Profit!”), and (3) appeals to provocative statements from a CEO.   Meanwhile, Google rivals have also turned their attention to Congress.  I suppose the ... Fair Search’s Google-ITA Video

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?

When Cartels Unravel, Judicial Clerkship Market Edition

The National Law Journal reports (HT: Rick Hills): Are the Wild West days of federal clerk hiring back? That’s what some law school administrators and judges fear. They worry that the voluntary system whereby federal judges wait until September of the 3L year to hire clerks is teetering. Judges are choosing clerks earlier in the ... When Cartels Unravel, Judicial Clerkship Market Edition