Blog o’ Blogs April 2014

Is the FTC Changing Its Intellectual Property Rights Policy?

Commissioner Josh Wright of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission certainly is the gift that keeps on giving to antitrust commentators.

Steven J. Cernak (AntitrustConnect Blog)

Credit Card Issuers Defeat Claims They Conspired to Use Arbitration to Block Class Actions

The district court concluded last week that plaintiffs failed “by a slender reed” to meet their burden of showing an antitrust conspiracy.

Owen Glist (Antitrust Today)

The fix is (not) in: lessons from the Ardagh case

The case is noteworthy because of the parties’ attempt to “litigate the fix” by restructuring the deal after the Commission challenged the acquisition in court.

Angelike Andrinopoulos Mina & Jim Abell (FTC’s Competition Matters)

Cartel Enforcement: In Europe, Like Canada, Cat & Mouse Game

There is bit of an axiom in the competition/antitrust law world that homogeneous, commodity, declining or other similar industries are most susceptible to price-fixing and other cartel conduct among competitors. Not so…

Steve Szentesi (Kluwer Competition Law Blog)

Executives Beware: The Long-Arm of the U.S. Government Strikes Again

The Antitrust Division will routinely seek U.S. prison terms for conduct that occurred not merely partially or largely outside the U.S., but indeed was wholly undertaken on foreign soil.

Jeremy Evans & Andreas Stargard (African Antitrust and Competition Law)

The hypocrisy of big-time college sports

In any other industry, this system would have been condemned long ago as a per se illegal price-fixing conspiracy.

Gordon Schnell & David Scupp (CNN Opinion)

Cartels: Just one more fix

These ambiguities mean it can be difficult for firms accused of collusion to decide whether to settle or fight.

(The Economist)

The ‘failing firm’ defence: competition authorities becoming more sympathetic?

Despite the stringent criteria, it is possible for the failing firm defence to succeed, as is shown by the recent Optimax Clinics/Ultralase transaction.

Joosje Hamilton (International Law Office)

The Spanish Google tax, or (twice the perfect cartel)

If private collusion does not work, turn to the State to enforce an official cartel or to (bluntly) eliminate competition from other players.

Pablo Ibañez Colomo (Chillin’ Competition)

How Should the Antitrust Laws Analyze Loyalty Discounts and Bundled Rebates?

Antitrust is not merely an economic exercise, but a blend of “policy, economic, and prudential concerns.”

Jarod Bona (The Antitrust Attorney Blog)

Pay TV: Court of Appeal sends message to the CAT

The Court adopted a wide construction of the words “in the provision of”…

Jason Pobjoy (Competition Bulletin)

Preserving competition among hometown hospitals

This is the first time since 1997 that the Commission has entered into a consent agreement to settle charges that a general acute care hospital merger was anticompetitive.

Alexis Gilman (FTC’s Competition Matters)

Dealer protectionism in New Jersey

It would be absurd to equate monopoly power in an economic sense with the exclusive legal right to control something. 

Dan Crane (Truth on the Market)