Friday, October 03, 2014

L'impression 3D, nouveau défi du droit de la propriété intellectuelle ?

M. Berguig, ici.

Understanding and Maximizing America's Evolutionary Economy

R. Atkinson, here.

Commission approves acquisition of WhatsApp by Facebook

Press Release, here.
"Although WhatsApp is not active in online advertising, the Commission examined whether the transaction could strengthen Facebook's position in that market and hamper competition. In particular, the Commission examined the possibility that Facebook could (i) introduce advertising on WhatsApp, and/or (ii) use WhatsApp as a potential source of user data for improving the targeting of Facebook's advertisements. The Commission concluded that, regardless of whether Facebook would introduce advertising on WhatsApp and/or start collecting WhatsApp user data, the transaction would not raise competition concerns. This is because after the merger, there will continue to be a sufficient number of alternative providers to Facebook for the supply of targeted advertising, and a large amount of internet user data that are valuable for advertising purposes are not within Facebook's exclusive control."

The Right to be Forgotten: Not an Easy Question

F. Pasquale, here.

Kartellamt greift vorerst nicht in Streit Google/Verlage ein

Reuters.com, hier

Antitrust Nominee in Europe Promises Eye on Big Tech Companies

Bits.blogs.nytimes.com, here

Regolamento Agcom a tutela del diritto d'autore online: il TAR Lazio conferma la legittimità dell'impianto regolamentare del provvedimento, ma rinvia alla Corte Costituzionale

Dirittodautore.it, qui.

Ordinanza qui.

Las demandas colectivas chocan con el sistema judicial español

Expansiòn, aquì.

Thursday, October 02, 2014

Finally, a Big 5 publisher raises digital royalties (but there’s a catch)

GigaOm, here.

Exercising choice: some reflections on competition enforcement in online markets

P. Marsden, here.

How big data could help stop the Ebola outbreak

CNBC, here.

German publishers accuse Google of “blackmail” as search firm axes News snippets

GigaOm, here

Big US tech companies face major patent losses in the post-Alice world

Iam-magazine.com, here

The Devil is in the Retail

A. Italiener, here.

{Of course, with less concentration on both the supplier and retailer sides of the market we could've had, possibly, higher levels of innovation and better choice for consumers. How do you measure that?}

Russian Retailers Bet on E-Books Before Amazon Entry

Bloomberg.com, here

The ballad of Google Spain

Paul Bernal's Blog, here

The Horizon Report Europe: 2014 Schools Edition

The economic impact of modern retail on choice and innovation in the EU food sector

European Commission, Final Report, here. Press Release, here

How The Proposed Payments Legislation Will Restrain Competition Among Payment Card Schemes And Harm Consumers In The European Union

D. Evans, here

UK Treasury Plans to Criminalise All Benchmark Fixing LIBOR-Led by Example

ForexMagnates.com, here.

What an Economist Brings to a Business Strategy

Blogs.hbr.org, here

WIPO General Assembly Fails to Draw any Conclusions on Exceptions and Limitations

IFLA.org, here.



(For transparency's sake: this blog's author was part of the team representing IFLA at WIPO GA). 

Google : comment mettre en œuvre le droit à l’oubli ?

Méta-Media, ici.

Authors Guild Met With DoJ to Seek Investigation Into Amazon's Practices Guild Says Retailer Is Abusing Its Market Power in Hachette Dispute

WSJ, here.

To Avoid Liability, Google Limits German News Content To Headlines

SearchEngineLand, here.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Tratamiento jurisprudencial de los sitios web que proporcionan enlaces a obras y prestaciones protegidas

M. Peguera Poch, aquì.

EU Antitrust Endgame Looking More Murky, Risky For Google

SearchEngineLand, here.

It Takes Two to Tango: Two-Sided Markets and the Appeals in Cartes Bancaires and MasterCard

EuropeanLawBlog.eu, here.


Müssen wir Google zerschlagen?

Heise.de, hier.

FOSS Governance And Collaboration: From A Good Idea To Coherent Market Approach

S. Coughlan,  here.

Opinion 8/2014 on the on Recent Developments on the Internet of Things

WP29, here.

CMA finalises changes for car insurance

Press Release, here.

288-page Final Report here.

Et voilà: "The measures include a ban on agreements between price comparison websites and insurers which stop insurers from making their products available more cheaply on other online platforms"

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Rigged Markets?

BBC Radio 4, File on 4, here.

Intel and the fight for the soul of EU competition law

Chillingcompetition.com, here.

Translation and intellectual property rights

Bird&Bird for the European Commission (DG Translation), here.

Patent Litigation Settlement Agreements: A Canadian Perspective

Competition Bureau, here.

See also J. Pecman, Remarks here.

EU's Almunia says readying antitrust charges against Gazprom

Reuters.com, here.

Champion European innovation to challenge Google

E. Morozov, here.

Gli affitti brevi (ai turisti) che fanno litigare

Corriere.it, qui.

Market for commercial use of public information: CMA seeks views

Here.

Internet der Dinge: Die Zahnbürste als Gefahr

Heise.de, hier.

Monday, September 22, 2014

Google, Kayak, Hipmunk, Skyscanner, Travelzoo, and TripAdvisor attack DOT’s proposed rule

Tnooz.com, here.

The impact of the development of big data on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of their personal data in the EU

WP29, here.

Bill Introduced in Congress to Let You Actually Own Things, Even if They Contain Software

EFF.org,  here.

The judgment of the EU General Court in Intel and the so-called 'more economic approach' to abuse of dominance

W. Wils, here.

Embracing a new digital era in Europe

E. Schmidt, here.

{"Everything needs to change, so everything can stay the same"}

WIPO Director General Outlines Second Mandate Priorities

WIPO, here.

Innenminister will Persönlichkeitsprofile im Internet verbieten

Heise.de, hier.

[Kommt es auf die Definition von Nutzerprofilen an?]


Amazon kommt Buchverlagen entgegen

DerSpiegel, hier.

S. auch hier

Sharing Economy Faces Patchwork of Guidelines in European Countries

NYTimes, here.

EU's Gazprom antitrust probe suspended, but case not closed

Reuters.com, here.

New smartphone app gives sight to the blind

Reuters.com, here.

Harper Competition Review Draft Report

Here.

A few selected topics:

Taxi industry and disruptive innovation

P.30: "States and Territories should remove regulations that restrict competition in the taxi industry, including from services that compete with taxis, except where it would not be in the public interest.

If restrictions on numbers of taxi licences are to be retained, the number to be issued should be determined by independent regulators focused on the interests of consumers."

P.  139: "Mobile technologies are emerging that compete with traditional taxi booking services and support the emergence of innovative passenger transport services. Any regulation of such services should be consumer-focused and not inhibit innovation or protect existing business models."

IP and competition policy

P.31: "The Panel recommends that an overarching review of intellectual property be undertaken by an independent body, such as the Productivity Commission. The review should focus on competition policy issues in intellectual property arising from new developments in technology and markets.

The review should also assess the principles and processes followed by the Australian Government when establishing negotiating mandates to incorporate intellectual property provisions in international trade agreements.

Trade negotiations should be informed by an independent and transparent analysis of the costs and benefits to Australia of any proposed IP provisions. Such an analysis should be undertaken and published before negotiations are concluded."

{P. 80-87 are already on my students' mandatory reading list.}

RPM and Retail MFN

P. 46 f.: "The Panel considers that there is not a sufficient case at this time for changing the prohibition of  RPM from a per se prohibition to a competition based test. It would be appropriate, though, to allow business to seek exemption from the prohibition more easily. This could be achieved through allowing RPM to be assessed through the notification process, which is quicker and less expensive for businesses than  authorisation. This change would also have the advantage of allowing the ACCC to assess RPM trading strategies more frequently, and thereby provide better evidence as to the competitive effects of RPM in Australia."

P. 234 f.: "Historically, RPM has been considered in the context of ‘bricks and mortar’ retailers. RPM is now emerging as an issue for new models of digital-based retailing. eBay states, based on annual surveys of its sellers, that around a quarter of sellers are instructed by their suppliers to sell at recommended retail prices (...)
RPM in digital markets also recently received significant international legal attention when Apple was found to have breached EU and US competition laws
by fixing the prices of e-books in collaboration with five publishers."

Big Data, Personal Data Protection and Competition Policy

P.129: "Markets work best when consumers are engaged, empowering them to make informed decisions. There is capacity to enhance Australian consumers’access to data on their own usage of utility services in a usable format to assist consumers to make better informed decisions.
e
-
books
in collaboration with fivepublishers."