Showing archive for: “EU”
O competition, we stand on guard for thee
Today’s Canadian Competition Bureau (CCB) Google decision marks yet another regulator joining the chorus of competition agencies around the world that have already dismissed similar complaints relating to Google’s Search or Android businesses (including the US FTC, the Korea FTC, the Taiwan FTC, and AG offices in Texas and Ohio). A number of courts around ... O competition, we stand on guard for thee
Outstanding New Global Antitrust Institute Filing on Indian Discussion Paper Regarding Standard Essential Patents
Over the past year, the Global Antitrust Institute (GAI) at George Mason University School of Law has released some of the most thoughtful critiques of foreign governments’ proposed new guidance documents on competition law. The GAI’s March 31 comments (see here) in response to the India Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion’s Discussion Paper on ... Outstanding New Global Antitrust Institute Filing on Indian Discussion Paper Regarding Standard Essential Patents
The FCC, Privacy, and Authority Over the Edge: Forborn, not Forbidden
The FCC doesn’t have authority over the edge and doesn’t want authority over the edge. Well, that is until it finds itself with no choice but to regulate the edge as a result of its own policies. As the FCC begins to explore its new authority to regulate privacy under the Open Internet Order (“OIO”), ... The FCC, Privacy, and Authority Over the Edge: Forborn, not Forbidden
The Ball-Rexam merger: The case for a competitive can market
A number of blockbuster mergers have received (often negative) attention from media and competition authorities in recent months. From the recently challenged Staples-Office Depot merger to the abandoned Comcast-Time Warner merger to the heavily scrutinized Aetna-Humana merger (among many others), there has been a wave of potential mega-mergers throughout the economy—many of them met with ... The Ball-Rexam merger: The case for a competitive can market
Ignoring Decision Theory, the European Commission Continues to Waste Competition Enforcement Resources on Investigations of (Almost Certainly) Efficient Conduct
This blurb published yesterday by Competition Policy International nicely illustrates the problem with the growing focus on unilateral conduct investigations by the European Commission (EC) and other leading competition agencies: “EU: Qualcomm to face antitrust complaint on predatory pricing Dec 03, 2015 The European Union is preparing an antitrust complaint against Qualcomm Inc. over suspected ... Ignoring Decision Theory, the European Commission Continues to Waste Competition Enforcement Resources on Investigations of (Almost Certainly) Efficient Conduct
Competition Among Competition Regimes: Recent Developments in Europe and Welfare Implications
A basic premise of antitrust law (also called competition law) is that competition among private entities enhances economic welfare by reducing costs, increasing efficiency, and spurring innovation. Government competition agencies around the world also compete, by devising different substantive and procedural rules to constrain private conduct in the name of promoting competition. The welfare implications ... Competition Among Competition Regimes: Recent Developments in Europe and Welfare Implications
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
New Paper: The Problems and Perils of Bootstrapping Privacy and Data into an Antitrust Framework
The CPI Antitrust Chronicle published Geoffrey Manne’s and my recent paper, The Problems and Perils of Bootstrapping Privacy and Data into an Antitrust Framework as part of a symposium on Big Data in the May 2015 issue. All of the papers are worth reading and pondering, but of course ours is the best ;). In it, ... New Paper: The Problems and Perils of Bootstrapping Privacy and Data into an Antitrust Framework
Microsoft’s mobile innovation today undercuts arguments built on yesterday’s Microsoft antitrust case
Last year, Microsoft’s new CEO, Satya Nadella, seemed to break with the company’s longstanding “complain instead of compete” strategy to acknowledge that: We’re going to innovate with a challenger mindset…. We’re not coming at this as some incumbent. Among the first items on his agenda? Treating competing platforms like opportunities for innovation and expansion rather ... Microsoft’s mobile innovation today undercuts arguments built on yesterday’s Microsoft antitrust case
The European Commission, Google, and the Limits of Antitrust
The precise details underlying the European Commission’s (EC) April 15 Statement of Objections (SO), the EC’s equivalent of an antitrust complaint, against Google, centered on the company’s promotion of its comparison shopping service (CSS), “Google Shopping,” have not yet been made public. Nevertheless, the EC’s fact sheet describing the theory of the case is most ... The European Commission, Google, and the Limits of Antitrust
Transatlantic Trade Negotiations: Keeping Regulation in Check
Last week, the George Washington University Center for Regulatory Studies convened a Conference (GW Conference) on the Status of Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) Negotiations between the European Union (EU) and the United States (U.S.), which were launched in 2013 and will continue for an indefinite period of time. In launching TTIP, the Obama ... Transatlantic Trade Negotiations: Keeping Regulation in Check
Antitrust Enforcers’ Stealth Undermining of Patent Rights – Shedding Light on a Recent and Troubling Phenomenon
In recent years, antitrust enforcers in Europe and the United States have made public pronouncements and pursued enforcement initiatives that undermine the ability of patentees to earn maximum profits through the unilateral exercise of rights within the scope of their patents, as discussed in separate recent articles by me and by Professor Nicolas Petit of ... Antitrust Enforcers’ Stealth Undermining of Patent Rights – Shedding Light on a Recent and Troubling Phenomenon
