Showing results for: “digital markets act”
Greek Crisis Underscores the Importance of Regulatory Reform – in Greece and Around the World
The Heritage Foundation continues to do path-breaking work on the burden overregulation imposes on the American economy, and to promote comprehensive reform measures to reduce regulatory costs. Overregulation, unfortunately, is a global problem, and one that is related to the problem of anticompetitive market distortions (ACMDs) – government-supported cronyist restrictions that weaken the competitive process, ... Greek Crisis Underscores the Importance of Regulatory Reform – in Greece and Around the World
A Measured Approach to Patent Reform Legislation
Patent reform legislation is under serious consideration by the Senate and House of Representatives, a mere four years after the America Invents Act of 2011 (AIA) brought about a major overhaul of United States patent law. A primary goal of current legislative efforts is the reining in of “patent trolls” (also called “patent assertion entities”), ... A Measured Approach to Patent Reform Legislation
Leave a Little GUPPI Alone: Why Commissioner Wright is Right to Call for a Low-GUPPI Safe Harbor
FTC Commissioner Josh Wright has some wise thoughts on how to handle a small GUPPI. I don’t mean the fish. Dissenting in part in the Commission’s disposition of the Family Dollar/Dollar Tree merger, Commissioner Wright calls for creating a safe harbor for mergers where the competitive concern is unilateral effects and the merger generates a ... Leave a Little GUPPI Alone: Why Commissioner Wright is Right to Call for a Low-GUPPI Safe Harbor
A Vision of a Class-Free Society – California Suit Against Uber Makes Little Sense
Uber is currently facing a set of plaintiffs who are seeking class certification in the Northern District of California (O’Connor, et. al v. Uber, #CV 13-3826-EMC) on two distinct grounds. First, the plaintiffs allege that Uber systematically deprived them of tips from riders by virtue of how the service is presented to end-users and how ... A Vision of a Class-Free Society – California Suit Against Uber Makes Little Sense
The Second Circuit Misapplies the Per Se Rule in U.S. v. Apple
In its June 30 decision in United States v. Apple Inc., a three-judge Second Circuit panel departed from sound antitrust reasoning in holding that Apple’s e-book distribution agreement with various publishers was illegal per se. Judge Dennis Jacobs’ thoughtful dissent, which substantially informs the following discussion of this case, is worth a close read. In ... The Second Circuit Misapplies the Per Se Rule in U.S. v. Apple
The OECD Provides Further Guidance on Assessing the Anticompetitive Impact of Laws and Regulations
The most welfare-inimical restrictions on competition stem from governmental action, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s newly promulgated “Competition Assessment Toolkit, Volume 3: Operational Manual” (“Toolkit 3,” approved by the OECD in late June 2015) provides useful additional guidance on how to evaluate and tackle such harmful market distortions. Toolkit 3 is a ... The OECD Provides Further Guidance on Assessing the Anticompetitive Impact of Laws and Regulations
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
The Green Shoots of the NYC Taxi Rules on Ridesharing Companies
I am of two minds when it comes to the announcement today that the NYC taxi commission will permit companies like Uber and Lyft to update, when the companies wish, the mobile apps that serve as the front end for the ridesharing platforms. My first instinct is to breathe a sigh of relief that even ... The Green Shoots of the NYC Taxi Rules on Ridesharing Companies
Stare Decisis, Economic Efficiency, and Spider-Man
Today, in Kimble v. Marvel Entertainment, a case involving the technology underlying the Spider-Man Web-Blaster, the Supreme Court invoked stare decisis to uphold an old precedent based on bad economics. In so doing, the Court spun a tangled web of formalism that trapped economic common sense within it, forgetting that, as Spider-Man was warned in ... Stare Decisis, Economic Efficiency, and Spider-Man
Passive Resistance and Contributory Liability
If you haven’t been following the ongoing developments emerging from the demise of Grooveshark, the story has only gotten more interesting. As the RIAA and major record labels have struggled to shut down infringing content on Grooveshark’s site (and now its copycats), groups like EFF would have us believe that the entire Internet was at ... Passive Resistance and Contributory Liability
The Good, Bad, and the Ugly of the EU’s Proposed Data Protection Regulation
Nearly all economists from across the political spectrum agree: free trade is good. Yet free trade agreements are not always the same thing as free trade. Whether we’re talking about the Trans-Pacific Partnership or the European Union’s Digital Single Market (DSM) initiative, the question is always whether the agreement in question is reducing barriers to ... The Good, Bad, and the Ugly of the EU’s Proposed Data Protection Regulation
Commissioner Wright on the inappropriate use of structural presumptions in merger analysis & a great ABA program on the same
The FTC recently required divestitures in two merger investigations (here and here), based largely on the majority’s conclusion that [when] a proposed merger significantly increases concentration in an already highly concentrated market, a presumption of competitive harm is justified under both the Guidelines and well-established case law.” (Emphasis added). Commissioner Wright dissented in both matters ... Commissioner Wright on the inappropriate use of structural presumptions in merger analysis & a great ABA program on the same
