Patentlyo, here.
Wednesday, November 05, 2014
Tuesday, November 04, 2014
Cyberlaw Clinic files Petition on Behalf of Medical Device Researchers at the Copyright Office
Cyberlawclinic.berkman.harvard.edu, here.
Monday, November 03, 2014
Sunday, November 02, 2014
Saturday, November 01, 2014
Friday, October 31, 2014
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Enjoining Injunctions: The Case Against Antitrust Liability for Standard Essential Patent Holders Who Seek Injunctions
D. Ginsburg, T. Owings, and J. Wright, here.
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Monday, October 27, 2014
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Friday, October 24, 2014
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
From the antitrust mailbag: manufacturer-imposed requirements
FTC, here.
Q1: Are the wondering retailers generally satisfied with this type of explanation?
Q2: Does it apply to platforms as well?
Q1: Are the wondering retailers generally satisfied with this type of explanation?
Q2: Does it apply to platforms as well?
The Fondue Conspiracy
Sepp Barmettler, the Cheese Rebel |
More about the Cheese Union (Käseunion) in A. Thier, Schweizerische Kartellrechtstradition und „more economic approach,“ 621, at 640 ff., here.
Update: I tasted the Sbrinz cheese for the first time after listening to the NPR Podcast. Delicious indeed, and already a competition policy scholar's favourite.
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Agency 2.0: Competition Authorities Will Need to Think - Again
Agreements between Amazon and publishers are starting rolling out, see here and here. It is not very hard to predict that these agreements will come to be scrutinized quite closely by competition authorities on both sides of the Atlantic and beyond. While, it seems, conspiracy theories this time round could be safely ruled out, it would be high time to develop comprehensive assessment criteria with regard to vertical restraints triggered by, or in the context of, electronic platforms.
Monday, October 20, 2014
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Friday, October 17, 2014
Alternatives to the Patent System that are used to support R&D efforts
J. Love for the WIPO Secretariat, here.
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Uber wrangling regulations (and setting some hope on the FTC)
Interview with Brian Worth, Uber Public Policy Lead, Harvard Kennedy School Policycast, here.
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Monday, October 13, 2014
Bozza di Dichiarazione dei Diritti in Internet
Camera dei deputati, Commissione per i diritti e doveri in Internet, qui.
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Friday, October 10, 2014
Thursday, October 09, 2014
Wednesday, October 08, 2014
Tuesday, October 07, 2014
Monday, October 06, 2014
Saturday, October 04, 2014
Friday, October 03, 2014
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."
Thursday, October 02, 2014
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?}
{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?}
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).
(For transparency's sake: this blog's author was part of the team representing IFLA at WIPO GA).
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Friday, September 26, 2014
Thursday, September 25, 2014
M. et Mme X et M. Y / Google France
Tribunal de grande instance de Paris, Ordonnance de référé du 16 septembre 2014, ici.
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Translation and intellectual property rights
Bird&Bird for the European Commission (DG Translation), here.
Monday, September 22, 2014
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.
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."
Friday, September 19, 2014
Thursday, September 18, 2014
NewsCorp: Google is a 'platform for piracy'
BBC, here. Letter here.
"Google is commodifying the audience of specialist publishers and limiting their ability to generate advertising revenue. Data aggregators attempt to sell audiences at a steep discount to the original source, for example, access to 75 per cent of The Wall Street Journal demographic at 25 per cent of the price, thus undermining the business model of the content creator. This process is at a relatively early stage and needs constant monitoring to ensure that abuses are halted and that there is a fair return for newspapers, publishers and other investors in original content."
"Google is commodifying the audience of specialist publishers and limiting their ability to generate advertising revenue. Data aggregators attempt to sell audiences at a steep discount to the original source, for example, access to 75 per cent of The Wall Street Journal demographic at 25 per cent of the price, thus undermining the business model of the content creator. This process is at a relatively early stage and needs constant monitoring to ensure that abuses are halted and that there is a fair return for newspapers, publishers and other investors in original content."
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
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Centre for a Digital Society , Video here . These are my very rough talking points on pay or okay in full length (more than I actually had...
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On 24 March 2004 the European Commission fined Microsoft for abuse of dominant position (H/T Lewis Crofts). 18 years (age of maturity) l...
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Report to the California Law Review Commission Antitrust Law: Study B-750, here .
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A. Blankertz, hier .
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CMA, here .
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Organized Money, here .
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InternetLab, here .
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Chalmermagne, here .