Nov. Blog o’ Blogs

Our Nov. Blog o’ Blogs questions the involvement of antitrust in the financial crisis; discusses the durability of internet monopolies; looks at tobacco’s potential last stand in front of the Supreme Court; analyzes the DOJ’s opening salvo against big health insurance; introduces the FTC’s new technology guru; views a newly protectionist Canada nixing a merger, ducks as antitrust and modern art collide, and follows antitrust into the ivory halls of academia. We end with an amusing story taking us to the warm environs of Hawaii.

The Financial Crisis: Three Lessons for Antitrust
Did antitrust, in general, and a “lack of enforcement”, in particular, contribute to the financial crisis? Damien Gerard (Kluwer Competition Law Blog)

How Durable are Information Monopolies on the Internet?

It is possible that we are living with a free market of a very different kind than that envisioned by Adam Smith. Erick Shonfeld, Tim Wu (TechCrunch)

Plea For Supreme Review of Tobacco Pact Passionate, but Likely Futile

The smoking lamp is lit.
Daniel Fisher (Forbes)

DOJ V. BlueCrossBlueShield of Michigan
This looks like the DOJ’s first major “exclusionary” conduct case—despite the fact that it wasn’t brought under Section 2. Joshua Wright (Truth on the Market)

Princeton Prof Named FTC’s First Chief Technologist
The FTC decides it needs someone to interpret the virtual universe. Michele Angermiller (Times of Trenton)

BHP: Love’s Labor’s Lost
Canada’s rejection of the BHP bid, if nothing else, has made it clear to other potential Potash suitors—and other would-be buyers of Canadian companies—that it will not be easy. Heidi Moore (DealBook, New York Times)

Warhol Foundation Kills Antitrust Lawsuit Over Authentication

Would Andy Warhol have even known what antitrust was?
Jason Edward Kaufman (Art Info)

The Competition Implications of Lifting the Cap on University Tuition Fees
Yet many university executives do not know that such conduct is illegal, even when instigated by another institution.
Andreas Stephan (University of Easy Anglia)

The Humorous Side of the Law: “You Did What?”

You probably never want to hear your superior ask, “Did you ever hear of obtaining approval to file a case?” Carl Steinhouse (Naples News)