Thursday, July 07, 2016

Microsoft to Acquire LinkedIn: Overview for Investors

Microsoft, here

Assessing Mergers on Innovative Markets: Do we Need Innovation-Specific Methods of Analysis?

W. Kerber, Presentation here

Why is Apple so stingy about opening up the NFC API?

Reddit.com, here.


EC Commission accepts commitments by container liner shipping companies on price transparency

Pree Release, here

ReLIRE : la numérisation des livres indisponibles considérée illégale par l'Europe

ActuaLitté, ici.
Conclusions de l'AG ici.

4 Important Lessons You Can Learn Now That 3-D Printing Is Dying

Inc., here

Oracle says it is 'committed' to Java EE 8 – amid claims it quietly axed future development

TheRegister, here

Une plainte est déposée en Suisse contre Apple Pay pour abus de position dominante

LeTemps, ici.
Stiftung für Konsumentenschutz SKS hier.
NZZ, hier.
CapGemini Presentation here.
"Der Verzicht auf die Erhebung von Kundendaten werde durch höhere Umsätze ausgeglichen. Eine repräsentative Studie gibt es dazu allerdings nicht"
"Fürs Bezahlen in Anwendungen kann man auch ein iPad Pro, Air 2, mini 3 oder 4 benutzen. Wie viele davon in der Schweiz im Umlauf sind, das hätten auch Apples Partner vor dem Start gern erfahren. Doch das Unternehmen hat es ihnen nicht verraten."

"Near Field Communication (NFC) is an international standard (ISO/IEC 18092) that specifies an interface and protocol for simple wireless interconnection of closely coupled devices operating at 13.56 MHz (see http://members.nfc-forum.org/specs/spec_list/).

"Apple-Pay-Chefin Jennifer Bailey machte Twint und Co im Gespräch auch wenig Hoffnung: «Wir werden NFC nicht für Drittanbieter von Bezahldiensten öffnen – aus Sicherheits- und BedienkomfortgründenFinews Kfür Konsumentenschutzonsumentenschutz

Researchers build a smart privacy app to keep you safe

TechCrunch, here

Wednesday, July 06, 2016

Scientific Proof That Buying Things Can Actually Lead To Happiness (Sometimes)

FastCompany, here.

Rebate for IoT thermostat requires that you give permission to your utility to read "all data"

BoingBoing, here.

UK Competition Law after Brexit

B. McGrath, here.

Federal Trade Commission Privacy Law and Policy - Chapter 6 Online Privacy

C. Hoofnagle, here.

How “consumer choice” can unify the fields of competition and consumer protection law

N. Averitt, here.

“Freedom of choice”: the emergence of a powerful concept in European competition law

P. Nihoul, here.

Motion pictures, markets, and copylocks

J. Hughes. here.

The 'Frightful Five' in the Market for Digital Assistants

CheatSheet, here.

EU citizens might get a ‘right to explanation’ about the decisions algorithms make

Fusion.net, here.

The Data Spectrum

ODI, here.

Comment la vente en ligne rebat les cartes de la concurrence traditionnelle

LesEchos, ici.

Online Tracking

FTC, here.

Can I block online tracking?

Consumers can learn about tracker-blocking browser plugins which block the flow of information from a computer to tracking companies and allow consumers to block ads. They prevent companies from using cookies or fingerprinting to track your internet behavior.

To find tracker-blocking plugins, type “tracker blocker” in your search engine. Then, compare features to decide which tracker blocker is best for you. For example, some of them block tracking by default, while others require you to customize when you’ll block tracking.
Remember that websites that rely on third party tracking companies for measurement or advertising revenue may prevent you from using their site if you have blocking software installed. However, you can still open those sites in a separate browser that doesn’t have blocking enabled, or you can disable blocking on those sites.

Brexit: Stay Calm - Effects on Antitrust Expected to be Limited

K & L Gates, here.

MasterCard facing £19bn damages claim over inflated card charges

TheGuardian, here.

Tuesday, July 05, 2016

Comcast will let customers get Netflix on its set-top box (which is a very big deal)

Recode, here.

Why Bigness Became a Bipartisan Cause on Capitol Hill

Time, here.

National privacy research strategy

The White House, here.

Smart Contracts, Bitcoin, and Blockchain Technology

Legaltalknetwork, Beach Podcast here.

How eBay Survived While Other Disruptive Markets Disappeared

Fortune, here.

'Learning platforms': vendors learning how to effectively collude?

Online freedom is a 'human right' that must be protected, says UN

Wired, here.

Still in celebration mood, despite the EU: my 2014 musings on the WIPO Marrakesh Treaty and the three-step test

The Quiet Old Lady Who Whispers "Fair Use"

Planet Money, Beach Podcast here.

Beschränkung von Online-Bezahldiensten durch die deutsche Kreditwirtschaft verstößt gegen das Kartellrecht

Bundeskartellamt, hier.

Car hire comparison websites issued transparency warning

TravelWeekly, here.

Kartellamt ermittelt gegen mehrere Autobauer

FAZ, hier.
"An average car contains around 900kg of steel" FT.

Call for £2 a pint cartel in town centre

.scunthorpetelegraph.co.uk, here.

Monday, July 04, 2016

South Africa: Competition complaint against Uber 'unlikely to succeed' says expert

ITWebAfrica, here.

The world’s most popular computer programs are becoming less boring

The Economist, here.

Google and Facebook also looked at buying LinkedIn

Recode, here.

EU regulations on algorithmic decision-making and a "right to explanation"


B. Goodman, S. Flaxman, here.

Visa, MasterCard $7.25 billion settlement with retailers is thrown out

Reuters, here.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution: Challenges for Enterprises and their Stakeholders

IndustryWeek, here.

Tirole's Industrial Regulation and Organization Legacy in Economics

D. Fudenberg, here.

Digital voice assistants: Apps-Be-Gone!

DailyTrust, here.

Partage !

LINC, Ici.

EU competition policy in action

EC, here.

Market Power and Media Revenue Allocation in Professional Sports: The Case of Formula One

O. Budzinski, A. Müller, here

Licensed to Fail

EIFL, here.

Sunday, July 03, 2016

Neue Waffen gegen Google, Facebook und Co

FAZ, hier.
Referentenentwurf hier.

Two Really Great News Lately, Despite Brexit

HathiTrust at U-M, NFB to make 14M+ books accessible to blind and print-disabled users.

Canada’s Accession to Marrakesh Treaty Brings Treaty into Force

And the EU should do the only possible decent thing, also not bad for its image in these troubled times: 

RATIFY THE TREATY IMMEDIATELY!

‘Big data is people!’

Aeon, here.

How Oracle’s business as usual is threatening to kill Java

ArsTechnica, here.

Spotify accuses Apple of blocking app and using store as 'weapon to harm competitors'

BBC, here.
Apple's response here.

The big data explosion sets us profound challenges - how can we keep up?

TheGuardian, here.

My rather messy ASCOLA presentation

Here.
As correctly pointed out by @mclucey, my handwriting is just appalling, sorry!

Market Definition and Market Power in Data: The Case of Online Platforms

I. Graef, here.

Access barriers to BIG data


M. Gal, D. Rubinfeld, Presentation here.

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

A vocabulary for conversing about entrepreneurship, innovation, and antitrust

A. Foer, here.

First Draft! Online Platforms, Rate Parity, and the Free Riding Defence

S. Vezzoso (this blog's author), here.

Abstract: A two-sided platform business is a new type of intermediary to be found in a growing number of economic sectors. As to the hospitability industry in particular, recent innovations in the field of digital technologies prompted the rise of so called Online Travel Agents (OTAs) and the demise of the traditional merchant model.
Recently national competition authorities (NCAs) in the EU investigated so called rate parity clauses in the contracts between the three largest OTAs and their hotel partners. These are contract clauses laying down the hotelier’s obligation to display the same room prices across sales channels. The parallel investigations conducted by the NCAs revealed an array of serious anticompetitive effects stemming from rate parity obligations. While the German NCA concluded that there was insufficient evidence of the efficiency gains of these clauses, and therefore decided to prohibit them, the French, Italian and Swedish NCAs implicitly recognised that some level of protection against free-riding was necessary, and accepted commitments to reduce the scope of the rate parity obligation.
The hotel online booking cases were closely followed in the EU and beyond, since they could help clarify a number of key assessment issues concerning a category of commercial practices already widely spread in online markets. In-depth analyses of the NCAs’ findings are now needed, especially in view of the promotion of an effective antitrust-based platform regulation. In particular, this article explores some of the challenges related to the application of the traditional free-riding defence to rate parity obligations.

Yandex vs Google: Decision on Fines

FAS, here

L’Open Internet Project veut canaliser Google via la loi numérique

ITEspresso, ici.

The Gig Economy

OECD Development Centre, here

Net Neutrality Rules Will Make Winners and Losers Out of Businesses

S. Greenstein, M. Peitz, T. Valletti, here.

Hillary Clinton’s Initiative on Technology & Innovation

HillaryClinton.com, here

Google bittet Sie um mehr persönliche Daten

Heise.de, hier.

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Supreme Court agrees to review ATM fee antitrust lawsuit

Bloomberg, Here.

Digital Markets, Data, and Privacy: Competition Law, Consumer Law, and Data Protection

W. Kerber, Here.

The Economics of Mergers and Innovation: The Challenge for Competition Policy with Application to Pharmaceuticals

J. Kwoka, here

Innovation as a Parameter of Competition and its Implications for Competition Law Application

J. Drexl, here

Brexit Leads U.K. Lawyers to Seek Solace in Irish Bar

Bloomberg, here

South Korea antitrust regulator says investigating Apple on 'some matters'

Reuters, here

The ultimate Brexit Song

"It Doesn't Have To Be", Erasure, Video here.

You are one side
And I am on the other
Are we divided?

You are one side
I am on the other
Are we divided?
Why can't we live together
There are no rights
This isn't your decision
We need to talk of changing things
But no one wants to listen
It doesn't have to be like that
It doesn't have to be like that
It doesn't have to be like that

A heart on the inside
The same as any other
Are we divided?
Someone always has to suffer
We are broken
There's no one left to change it
Is that the way it has to be?
Why can't we rearrange it?
It doesn't have to be like that (One against one)
It doesn't have to be like that (One against one)
It doesn't have to be like that

Alava mo ja na me me limbaniango limbaniago
Zimbabwe abo naga na me me limbaniango limbaniago
Alava mo ja na me me limbaniango limbaniago
Zimbabwe abo naga na me me limbaniango limbaniago

What is the secret
In calling me a brother?
Are we divided?
Always one against the other
We are strong now
Put down the ammunition
For what we know is right
Is gonna breakdown this division
It doesn't have to be like that (One against one)
It doesn't have to be like that (One against one)
It doesn't have to be like that (One against one)
(One against one)
It doesn't have to be like that (One against one)
(One against one)
It doesn't have to be like that

You are one side
And I am on the other
Are we divided?

OECD Ministerial Declaration on the Digital Economy (”Cancún Declaration”)

Here

Friday, June 17, 2016

Data May Be Key in Microsoft-LinkedIn Probe, EU’s Vestager Says

Bloomberg, here

How to boost FinTech’s contribution to competition

ACM, here

FinTech’s Bright Future Marred by Hype

D. Evans and R. Schmalensee, here

Efficiency Claims: What’s New?

Symposium, here

Regulatory Challenges in Digital Markets: Privacy

BCCP Conference and Policy Forum 2016, Programme here; Livestream here

Data portability among online platforms

B. Engels, here

Guns, Limbs, and Toys: What Future for 3D Printing?

A. Thierer, A. Marcus, here

New data on what connected cars are tracking

FiaRegion1, here

Journalism is getting personal: latest trends from the digital front line

Polis, here

Secrets of the Sharing Economy

Bloomberg, here

AG Szpunar says that time-limited e-lending is allowed under EU law and interpretation of copyright norms must evolve with technology

IPKat, here

The Antitrust and Intellectual Property Intersection in European Union Law

N. Petit, here

Competition is Messy: Merger Challenges

B. Baer, here

Competition, innovation, and legal services

FTC, here

Publishers in the copyright value chain

European Copyright Society, here.

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Applying blockchain technology in global data infrastructure

ODI, here

Intesa anticoncorrenziale fra operatori di vending (distributori automatici)

AGCM, qui.

Court upholds Obama-backed net neutrality rules

Politico, here.
Here.

Why Microsoft bought LinkedIn for $26 billion, in one word: Cortana

PCWorld, here

Going gets tough for GoCompare the SuperMeerkat

FT, here

Liber on the role of publishers in the copyright value chain and on the 'panorama exception

Competencia y regulación eficiente en las universidades españolas

CNMC, aquì

Apple’s response to the chatbot craze doesn’t involve any chatbots

VentureBeat, here.

Apple's differential privacy

Wired, here.

Monday, June 13, 2016

Stealing Books in the Age of Self-Publishing

ThrAtlantic, here.

Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn

Microsoft, here and here

Antitrust settlements: the culture of consent

D. Ginsburg and J. Wright, here

Fidelity rebates - summary of the contributions

OECD, here

Public interest considerations in merger control

OECD Background Note, here

Protecting and promoting competition in response to "disruptive" innovations in legal services

OECD Background Note, here

Summary of Discussion of the Hearing on Across-Platforms Parity Agreements

OECD, here

Ein europäisches Leistungsschutzrecht für Verlagemacht keinen Sinn – eher Anreize für innovative Mehrwertleistungen schaffen

R. Kuhlen, hier

The New Economics of Multi-Sided Platforms: A Guide to the Vocabulary

D. Evans, R. Schmalensee, here

La competencia de la economía colaborativa

ElPais.com, aquì.

The sharing economy and new models of service delivery

OECD Insights, here.

Thursday, June 09, 2016

Marktmacht von Plattformen und Netzwerken

Bundeskartellamt (6. Beschlussabteilung / Think Tank Internet), Arbeitspapier, hier (148 Seiten).

Einstweilige Verfügung für Euroleague Basketball

Gleiss Lutz, hier.
Beschluss hier.

Lufthansa hits back after being reported to US regulator over surcharge discussion

Tnooz, here

Informe económico sobre las restricciones a la competencia incluidas en materia de vehículos de alquiler con conductor

CNMC, aquì

On Human Dignity as a Foundation for the Right to Privacy

L. Floridi, here

Regulation on Interchange Fees

EC, here

Grünbuch Digitale Platformen

BMWi, hier

Behavioral Economics in the Classroom

D. Laibson and J. List, here.

The CMA alleges that Ping has breached UK and EU competition law by operating an online sales ban

Press Release, here.
"Bans on internet trading can be a problem if they seek to prevent retailers reaching a significant proportion of customers. We will now consider any justifications put forward by Ping for the alleged conduct".

Fair compensation cannot be financed by a budgetary scheme such as that established in Spain

Case C-470/14, EGEDA. Press Release here

International Antitrust Enforcement: China and Beyond

T. Horton, here

Google is offering app developers the same revenue sharing terms Apple just announced — with one big advantage

Recode, here.

Expedia’s first bot is for booking hotels

VentureBeat, here.

Wednesday, June 08, 2016

Oracle v. Google

Order, here.

The role of economics in merger analysis: what can John Oliver teach us?

D. Gelfand (US DoJ), here

El TSJM tumba el decreto ‘anti-Airbnb’ de la Comunidad de Madrid

Sabemos, aquì.

Our public institutions need fair use laws

Smh.com.au, here

Freedom of expression and the private sector in the digital age

UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression to the Human Rights Council, here (Word).
List of submissions, here

The API Industry Supply Value Chain

APIDays, here

Copyright Office Opens Inquiry on Digital Rights for Libraries

Copyrightandtechnology.com, here

Stop the Bots From Killing Broadway

NYTimes, here.
See also here.

A complete list of all the ride-hail, auto and tech companies that have joined forces

Recode, here.

Voici à quoi ressemble l'ensemble des trajets européens de BlaBlaCar en une journée

LeFigaro,  Ici.

Taxi Messenger: Taxi-Bestellung jetzt auch über den Facebook Messenger

Heise.de, hier.

How 16 Companies are Dominating the World’s Google Search Results

ViperChill, here.

IAB Crumbles on legality of AdBlock Detection

Privacy-news, here.

Artificial Intelligence and the Law

BBC Radio 4, Podcast here.

Tuesday, June 07, 2016

Uber fait le plein d’annonces pour séduire ses chauffeurs

Numerama, ici

Who Owns Blockchain-Based Assets? An English Legal Analysis

M. Lavy and D. Khoo, here

Gestione collettiva dei diritti d’autore e dei diritti connessi e concessione di licenze multiterritoriali per i diritti su opere musicali per l’uso online nel mercato interno

AGCM, qui.

"L’Autorità ritiene che, in un contesto economico caratterizzato da profondi cambiamenti tecnologici, la mancata apertura del mercato nazionale della gestione dei diritti d’autore limita la libertà d’iniziativa economica degli operatori e la libertà di scelta degli utilizzatori. A suo parere, il mantenimento del monopolio legale appare in contrasto con l’obiettivo di rendere effettiva la libertà dei titolari del diritto di effettuare una scelta tra una pluralità di operatori in grado di competere con l’incumbent senza discriminazioni." 

Mobile Advertising: Economics, Evolution and Policy

D. Evans, here

Hyper-Reality

K. Matsuda, Video here

Digital Matching Firms: A New Definition in the “Sharing Economy” Space

ESA, here.