Friday, September 30, 2016

Boehringer ordered to turn over documents in antitrust probe

Reuters, here.

55 percent of online shoppers start their product searches on Amazon

Recode, here. 

Movie Piracy and Displaced Sales in Europe: Evidence from Six Countries

B. Herz, K. Kiljański, here. 

Schär­fere Fusi­ons­kon­trolle für Internet-Unter­nehmen geplant

LTO.de, hier. 

Wer im Netz Milliarden mit unseren Daten macht

FutureZone.at, hier. 

A robot could get you the cheapest energy deal - forever

Aol, here. 

REALITY CHECK: THE REGULATORY LANDSCAPE FOR VIRTUAL AND AUGMENTED REALITY

A. Hobson, here. 

Cartel bosses must be prosecuted

Iol.co.za, here. 

Networks of Control: A Report on Corporate Surveillance, Digital Tracking, Big Data & Privacy

W. Christl, S. Spiekermann, here. 

Facebook’s privacy head attacks ‘negative’ views around its use of WhatsApp data

MarketingWeek, here. 

Geo-blocking: BEUC Position Paper

Wer haftet, wenn selbstfahrende Autos Unfälle bauen?

FAZ, hier. 

Commissioner: UK 'must avoid data protection Brexit'

BBC, here.

Can a competition policy Brexit be avoided?

HP issues non-apology for blocking third-party ink cartridges

TechCrunch, here. 

Novel But a Long Time Coming: The Bundeskartellamt Takes on Facebook

R. McLeod, here. 

Vestager says EU may review small but data-rich M&A deals

Reuters, here. 

An Algorithm Gives This 3D-Printed Table Countless Permutations

FastCompany, here. 

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Why almost everyone who tries to build an MSP business fails

R. Schmalensee, Audio here. 

Salesforce Is Said to Question Microsoft-LinkedIn Deal in Europe

NYTimes, here.

Learning to trust artificial intelligence systems

IBM, here.

Connect Peers

Deloitte, here. 

'Partnership on AI' formed by Google, Facebook, Amazon, IBM and Microsoft

TheGuardian, here. 

What Facebook Knows About You

ProPublica, here. 

Opinion on coherent enforcement of fundamental rights in the age of big data

EDPS, here. 

Big Data individual rights and enforcement

G. Buttarelli, here.

Pokémon Go menacé par les sculpteurs et architectes

Numerama, ici.

Tech Giants Team Up To Devise An Ethics Of Artificial Intelligence

FastCompany, here.

Principal syndicat professionnel du secteur du mannequinat et 37 agences: entente

Autorité de la concurrence, Décision ici.

EU’s Vestager ‘Exploring’ Need to Probe Deals With Valuable Data

Bloomberg, here.

Big Data and Competition

M. Vestager, here.

CMA launches study into digital comparison tools

CMA, here. Statement of scope, here.

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Market Definition in Online Markets: Mission Impossible?

P. Akman, Presentation here. 

Vertical Restraints and e-Commerce: The Divergence of Economic Analysis and Competition Enforcement

K.-U. Kuehn, here. 

Uber, competition and regulation

D. Geradin, Presentation here. 

The European Commission extends its settlement procedure to abuse of dominance cases under Article 102 TFEU

White & Case, here. 

Why data is the new coal

TheGuardian, here. 

Fintech: The Regulatory Risks & Opportunities

Mlexmarketinsight.com, here, 

Neuer Ordnungsrahmen für den Wettbewerb in einer digitalisierten Welt

bmwi.de, hier,

How I Changed My Mind on Intellectual Property

FEE.org, here. 

Taxi and private hire regulation: CMA letter to City of Sheffield

CMA, here.

Using Behavioral Economics and Field Experiments To Make The World A Better Place

Vienna Behavioral Economics Network, here. 

Facebook and Google: most powerful and secretive empires we've ever known

TheGuardian, here.   

Italian Privacy watchdog probing WhatsApp

Ansa, here.

The Global Competitiveness Report 2016-2017

WEF, here.

Facebook darf WhatsApp-Daten nicht nutzen

Tagesspiegel, hier.

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Amazon Says It Puts Customers First. But Its Pricing Algorithm Doesn’t.

ProPublica, here. 

Consolidation and Competition in the U.S. Seed and Agrochemical Industry

US Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing, written testimonies here.

U.S. – E.U. Convergence: Can We Bridge the Atlantic?

M. Ohlhausen, here. 

Competition as Fair Process – the shared language of popular and expert antitrust

R. Hesse, here. 

Federalberghi: Booking "vìola palesemente le regole"

Corrierecomunicazioni.it, qui.

Competition for a Fairer Society

M. Vestager, here.

"Here in the United States, the Council of Economic Advisors has warned about the risks of markets that are increasingly dominated by a few large companies".

Commissioner Vestager on Recode Decode

Podcast, here.



Monopolkommission: Hauptgutachten XXI - Wettbewerb 2016

Hier.

Zentralvermarktung in der Fußball-Bundesliga S. 80 ff.
Digitale Märkte: Sharing Economy und FinTechs S. 363 ff.

Libre installation des notaires

Autorité de la concurrence, ici. 

Google Steps Up Travel Presence With Trip-Planning App

Bloomberg, here. 

Monopolkommission: Airbnb und Fintechs nicht überregulieren

FAZ, hier. 

Commission fines ARA €6 million for hindering competition on Austrian waste management market

EC, here. 

Monday, September 19, 2016

Daten ohne Schutz: WhatsApp überschreitet rote Linie

vzbv, hier. 

Bundeskartellamt hat keine Einwände gegen App-basiertes Girokonto der Sparkassen

Bundeskartellamt, hier.

"Die gemeinsame Vereinbarung der Sparkassen darüber, die Basisversion des App-Kontos kostenlos anzubieten, könnte eine wettbewerbsbeschränkende Vereinbarung darstellen...Im Rahmen seines Aufgreifermessens hat das Bundeskartellamt entschieden, kein Verfahren gegen die teilnehmenden Sparkassen einzuleiten. Das gemeinsame Vorgehen der Sparkassen erscheint in diesem Fall gerechtfertigt, da so insbesondere auch kleinere Institute die Möglichkeit haben, über die App Neukunden zu gewinnen. Darüber hinaus erscheint es in dem derzeitigen Marktumfeld unumgänglich, die Basisversion eines App-Kontos kostenfrei anzubieten, so dass die Vereinbarung – wenn überhaupt – den Wettbewerb nur geringfügig beschränkt."

Salesforce Einstein delivers artificial intelligence across the Salesforce platform

TechCrunch, here. 

More on Lundbeck v Commission: some comments on the comments #ourreadersask

P. Ibanez Colomo, here. 

Do no harm, don't discriminate: official guidance issued on robot ethics

TheGuardian, here.

Friday, September 16, 2016

Japan report finds Apple, Google hinder app sales competition

Nikkei, here. 

Grenzüberschreitende Nutzung von digitalen Inhalten erleichtern

vzbv, hier. 

La blockchain dans les industries créatives : peut-on accroître la transparence tout en préservant la vie privée des utilisateurs ?

LINC, ici. 

Opérations de visite et saisie inopinées dans le secteur de la fabrication et la distribution des sandwichs

Autorité de la concurrence, ici. 

Experiments in Intellectual Property

C. Buccafusco, C. Sprigman, here.

"Inventing a new pharmaceutical or producing a movie takes years of intellectual effort. The creativity that researchers can study in the laboratory, however, may involve minutes or even seconds".

General Court’s pay for delay judgment in Lundbeck – some guidance, but worries remain

S. Gallasch, here. 

Artificial Intelligence: The Economic and Policy Implications

S. Athey, Video here. 

The Commission’s proposed TDM exception: Who’s to benefit?

M. Caspers, here. 

Data Ownership and Access to Data

Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, Position Statement, here. 

Using Behavioral Science Insights to Better Serve the American People: Implementation Guidance

The White House, here.

Thursday, September 15, 2016

EU court confirms Thomson Reuters coding settlement

...Reuters, here.

T-76/14, here.

An Antitrust Review of a Bayer-Monsanto Merger

A. Grunes, M. Stucke, here.

FTC Approves Final Order Preserving Competition in Markets for 79 Pharmaceutical Products

FTC, here.

Fusion hängt von Bayers Bereitschaft zu Zugeständnissen ab

WiWo, hier. 

Using Behavioral Science Insights to Better Serve the American People

The White House, Executive Order, here.
Also "White House Summit on Behavioral Science Insights", here (live soon)

Anti-Surge Pricing


UN High-Level Panel On Access To Medicines Issues “Landmark” Report

IP-watch, here.

Report of the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel On Access To Medicines

New EU Telco Rules

Arstechnica, here.

Competition and the Digital Single Market

M. Vestager, here.

E-Commerce Sector Inquiry: Preliminary Report

Press Release, here. Fact sheet here. Preliminary Report here.

Digital content:
- "the information provided during the sector inquiry... shows that multiple business models and a great diversity of licensing practices are available and indeed used, which can cater for the needs of both right holders and digital content providers";
-"Little substantive evidence was provided on the importance of pre-sale arrangements to fund new products by respondents, in relation to the products included in the sector inquiry."

E-Commerce Sector Inquiry: Second Batch of Results

EC press conference by Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, 15 September 16.30h, here (not live bc of satellite technical problems...).

"If it is agreements between companies that are restricting e-commerce across Europe’s national borders, then you can expect competition enforcement to follow", speech, 11.09.2015.

My personal "highlights" (from today's press conference):

- investigation into online video games and geo-blocking still ongoing;
- E-commerce sector inquiry and pay-tv case "very, very distant relatives": former much broader (more "generic"), considering also consumer goods where there are ("obviously") the same restrictions but many more (I´d add that, with regard to digital content, restrictions in the licensing agreements well beyond geo-blocking have been identified by the EC);
- E-commerce sector inquiry as a source of information for the legislator (possibly, copyright - and geo-blocking regulation).

Bookatable-Reaktion auf Kartellrechtsbeschwerde

Ahgz.de, hier.

Thursday, September 08, 2016

GC: Lundbeck confirmed

T‑472/13, here.
"The ‘scope of the patent’ test is...based on a subjective assessment, by the applicants, of the scope of their patents and of their validity, whereas a national court or competent authority may have taken a different view" (491).

CJEU GS Media on hyperlinking

C 160/15, here.

AG Øe on art. 9 infoSoc

Case C‑275/15, here.

AG Wahl on EU competence re Marrakech Treaty

Opinion procedure 3/15, here.

Protection des données dès la conception : le cas de la géolocalisation des appareils

Linc, ici.

Allergan CEO disavows 'predatory pricing'

BioPharmaDive, here.

Why Uber Is an Economist’s Dream

Freakeconomics Podcast, here.