Showing archive for: “Judicial Remedies”
Carding the Internet Still Isn’t Constitutional
After the U.S. Supreme Court decided Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton last year, I wrote that the “broader war over age verification and parental consent online isn’t over.” As we head into 2026, that prediction looks right. The fight has shifted. Lawmakers have moved their focus from social-media platforms to app stores. But the basic ... Carding the Internet Still Isn’t Constitutional
Antitrust at the Agencies: The Business We Have Chosen Edition
These are interesting times and competition policy—let alone Federal Trade Commission (FTC) style consumer protection—may not top most people’s list of urgent concerns. But as a certain film character put it, this is the business we have chosen. So with that: Happy New Year! A Good Day at the Bureau of Competition The FTC’s Bureau ... Antitrust at the Agencies: The Business We Have Chosen Edition
‘Property Rules, Liability Rules, and Inalienability: One View of the Cathedral,’ by Guido Calabresi & A. Douglas Melamed
Guido Calabresi and Doug Melamed’s 1972 classic “One View of the Cathedral” sets up a framework that is now standard fare for first-year law students. First-years spend their early months trying to figure out what they are doing and why they shuffle from property class to torts class. They hear terminology utterly new to them ... ‘Property Rules, Liability Rules, and Inalienability: One View of the Cathedral,’ by Guido Calabresi & A. Douglas Melamed
Antitrust at the Agencies: Meta Analysis Edition
The memorandum and order in FTC v. Meta Platforms Inc. that U.S. District Court Judge James E. Boasberg filed Nov. 18, ruling in favor of Meta, has now been followed by a Dec. 2 revised order that contained fewer redactions. The memorandum doesn’t exactly provide the law & economics analysis I would have produced, had ... Antitrust at the Agencies: Meta Analysis Edition
Legal Challenges to Algorithmic Pricing May Undermine Market-Process Improvements
Recent private and government antitrust challenges to individual firms’ use of “algorithmic pricing” may discourage the use of algorithms, and thereby reduce market efficiency, to the ultimate detriment of producers and consumers. A proposed U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) settlement with RealPage—a provider of commercial revenue-management software and services for the conventional multifamily rental-housing industry—is an ... Legal Challenges to Algorithmic Pricing May Undermine Market-Process Improvements
Metrics, Markets, and Merger Scrutiny: A Netflix-WBD Combination
This morning’s announced merger between Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) would create a global media company of unprecedented scale. The transaction will also almost certainly attract scrutiny from antitrust regulators—most likely the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) Antitrust Division, rather than the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The deal would offer a direct test of the ... Metrics, Markets, and Merger Scrutiny: A Netflix-WBD Combination
The Government Enters the Data-Sharing Game
The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) recently announced a proposed settlement with RealPage Inc. that would strictly prohibit the company from using competitors’ nonpublic data in its rental-pricing software. Curiously, that remedy is nearly the precise opposite of the September order from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in a suit the DOJ ... The Government Enters the Data-Sharing Game
My Fellow Americans, Our Long National Nightmare/Recent 43-Day Congressional Dysfunction Is Over
I’m not sure I’ve quoted Gerald Ford here before, but never mind that. The big news at the agencies—not least the antitrust agencies, but in this case, all of them—is that we the people of the United States of America are once more, as a polity, back in “business.” The federal government is now funded ... My Fellow Americans, Our Long National Nightmare/Recent 43-Day Congressional Dysfunction Is Over
Antitrust Takes on High Realtor Commissions
Recent private and government antitrust suits have been directed at stamping out a variety of allegedly anticompetitive real-estate industry practices. A 2024 settlement between private plaintiffs and the National Association of Realtors sought to reduce brokerage commissions by promoting transparency and competition among realtors. Sound antitrust enforcement, though no panacea, may over time prove to ... Antitrust Takes on High Realtor Commissions
FTC’s Three-Pronged Zillow/Redfin Complaint Contends Semantics Don’t Erase Collusion
The details laid out in a recent complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against internet listing services (ILS) Zillow and Redfin may conjure a sense of déjà vu for antitrust watchers: a nine-figure payment, a rival’s quiet retreat, and a contract that calls itself a “partnership” while disclaiming the name. Strip away the ... FTC’s Three-Pronged Zillow/Redfin Complaint Contends Semantics Don’t Erase Collusion
Antitrust at the Agencies: Happy New Year 5786 Edition
It’s the beginning of a new year for some of us, so let me wish all of you a good year, and a sweet year, even if you don’t know what I’m talking about. Private Anticompetitive Censorship Continued? Turning back to the agency beat: in a Sept. 7 guest essay in The New York Times, ... Antitrust at the Agencies: Happy New Year 5786 Edition
Complaint Claims Meta Is a Porn Pirate: Will Strike 3 Strike Out?
A company that has filed more than 6,000 copyright lawsuits against individual defendants—quickly settling most for amounts carefully calculated below the cost of defense—has now set its sights on Meta, a corporation worth more than $1 trillion. Strike 3 Holdings’ recent lawsuit against the tech giant alleging widespread piracy for training of artificial intelligence represents ... Complaint Claims Meta Is a Porn Pirate: Will Strike 3 Strike Out?
