Google's Amicus Curiae in a BitTorrent search engine case

Here. 

JRR Tolkien Estate Threatens Lawsuit Over Book Featuring Tolkien As Character

Here (from hollywoodreporter.com).

Kreativität und Urheberrecht in der Netzökonomie

W.Schulz, T.Büchner, hier. 

Russian Supreme Arbitration Court upholds finding of Gazprom Neft's abuse of dominant position

ФАС России press release, in English and Russian. 

An Economic Defense of Flexibility in IPR Licensing: Contracting Around 'First Sale' in Multilevel Production Settings

A.Layne-Ferrar, here.

Open Attribute, a simple way to attribute Creative Commons licensed works on the web

A.Neill, here.

Internet Rights and Wrongs: Choices & Challenges in a Networked World

H.Clinton, here.

Statut d’hébergeur de fuzz.fr aussi confirmé par par la Cour de cassation

Arrêt n° 164 du 17 février 2011 (09-13.202) - Cour de cassation - Première chambre civile

Das Plagiat im Wandel der Zeit

A.Schneider, hier. S. auch http://de.guttenplag.wikia.com/wiki/Plagiate

Has the European Commission Become More Severe in Punishing Cartels? Effects of the 2006 Guidelines

J.Connors, here.

AN EXAMINATION OF THE ANTITRUST ISSUES POSED BY GOOGLE’S ACQUISITION OF ITA

R.Stutz, here.

On Horizontal and Vertical "Price Fixing" in Poland

Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, here. 

Dailymotion: statut d’hébergeur confirmé par la Cour de cassation

Arrêt n° 165 du 17 février 2011 (09-67.896) - Cour de cassation - Première chambre civile

World Copyright Law through the lenses of the International Intellectual Property Association

IIPA 2011 Special 301 Submission.

Verlegerverbände bewerten die Aussagen Apples zum neuen Abo-Model

Hier.

EU General Court on letting a Member State, in certain circumstances, prohibit the exclusive broadcast on pay television of sport events

Cases T-385/07, T-55/08 and T-68/08 FIFA and UEFA v Commission, Press Release.

Open Source Software to Legally Circumvent Gene Mutations Patents?

Here. See also ifrOSS' take on this.

"Revue du web" et exception de "courtes citations"

TGI de Nancy, jugement du 6 décembre 2010, dijonscope.com (Legalis.net)

Suche nach Plagiaten: Google schlägt Spezial-Software

Heise Online, hier.

Verlage gegen Commentarist: "FAZ" und "SZ" wollen nicht zitiert werden

Spiegel Online, hier.

Pulling a Fast One?: Who Is Really Hurt By C-32's Missing Fair Dealing Circumvention Exception

M.Geist, here. 

Loi sur le prix unique du livre numérique adoptée en France par l'Assemblée Nationale

Ici. Lire aussi l'Avis de l'Autorité de la concurrence, son Communiqué de presse e le Rapport d'information du Sénat " La politique du livre face au défi du numérique ". 

Parliament gives go-ahead for a common EU patent system to be created using the enhanced cooperation procedure enhanced cooperation

Press release.

Avis de l'Autorité de la concurrence relatif à la contractualisation de la filière ovine

Ici.

ABUSE OF DOMINANCE BY HIGH TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISES: A COMPARISON OF U.S. AND E.C. APPROACHES

F.Scherer, here.

Italian Competition Authority's Newest Report on Italy's Political Conflict of Interest

Here, in Italian.

Australian Competition Authority Issues Annual Airport Monitoring Report

Here.

Taking stock and looking forward: a year at the helm of EU competition

J.Almunia, here.

Modeling a Paradigm Shift: From Producer Innovation to User and Open Collaborative Innovation

C.Baldwin, E. Von Hippel, here.

Schadensersatzanspruch bei Lesser General Public License-Verletzung

LG Bochum,  Teilurteil vom 20.01.2011 (Az. I-8 O 293/09)

Some Thoughts on the Role of Intellectual Property in Innovation Market Cases and Refusals to License

T.Rosch, here. 

Hotfile: Complaint for Copyright Infringement

Here. Read also MOTION PICTURE STUDIOS' press release. 

Eye on the Ball: Medicine regulation – not IP enforcement – can best deliver quality medicines

143 Oxfam Briefing Paper.

Chairman of the Australian Competition Commission: First Criminal Case Looming

Here. From the interview: "Every day, every minute, even while you sleep, everything you do will be oversighted by the ACCC"

Vertical Restraints under EU Competition Law: Conceptual Foundations and Practical Framework

N.Petit, D.Henry, here. 

FTC finds that Carolina Dental Board's Conduct is Not Protected by the State Action Doctrine

Here.

Executives of Iowa-Ready Mix Concrete Companies Sentenced to Serve Prison Sentences for Price Fixing and Bid Rigging

Here.

2010 US Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Annual Report on Intellectual Property Enforcement

V.Espinel, here.

Analysis of the FTC's Decision Not to Block Google’s Acquisition of AdMob

R.Stutz, R.Brunell, here.

Ofcom to review net blocking

DCMS' press release.

Submission by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada regarding Bill C-32

Here. 

An Estimate of Infringing Use of the Internet

Envisional's Study commissioned by NBC 

Towards a Coherent European Approach to Collective Redress (?)

EU COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT

UK Ofcom's proposal on ex ante competition check in respect of trades of mobile spectrum

Notice of proposals to make  900 MHz, 1800 MHz & 2100 MHz  public wireless network licences tradable, here. 

Free Music Can Pay as Well as Paid Music, YouTube Says

Here, from wired. 

Gebrauchtsoftwarehandel: Fragen zur Auslegung der Software-Richtlinie dem EuGH zur Vorabentscheidung vorgelegt

 Pressemitteilung (BGH)

EU Advocate General Kokott on exclusive broadcasting rights

Cases C‑403/08 and C‑429/08 Football Association Premier League Ltd and Others v QC Leisure and Others and Karen Murphy v Media Protection Services Ltd, here. Guardian report here.

Sixth Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy Building Respect for IP: Sustainable Solutions to a Global Problem

Final program.

Canadian Federation of Students' position paper on Bill C-32

Here.

Bargaining in the Shadow of the European Settlement Procedure for Cartels

M.Schinkel, here.

OFT launches investigation into E-Book pricing

Here.  

Bill: Patent Reform Act of 2011

Here.

South African Competition Authority invites construction firms to apply for fast-track settlement

Here.

Open Access the Slovak Way? Compulsory licence for PhD thesis and "Habilitation" works

Here, from http://husovec.blogspot.com/

An Overview and the Evolution of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)

M.Kaminski, here.

Entente de partage de clientèle dans le secteur maritime: la court d'appel de Paris réforme la décision de l'Autorité de la concurrence

Décision du 15 avril 2010 relative à des pratiques mises en œuvre dans le secteur de la manutention pour le transport de conteneurs au port du Havre et Arrêt de la Cour d'appel de Paris du 20 janvier 2011.

Does Antitrust Enforcement In High Tech Markets Benefit Consumers? Stock Price Evidence from FTC V. Intel

J.Wright, here. 

Antitrust and Vertical Integration in “New Economy” Industries

B.Owen, here. 

OFT on inefficiencies in the equity capital market

Equity underwriting and associated services

EU Commission blocks proposed merger between Aegean Airlines and Olympic Air

Press release.

RPM's hard life in California: Bioelements

Final Judgment.

Exchange of information on the pricing of loan products sanctioned in the UK

Here.

Italian "class" action against Microsoft for bundling and refusal to reimburse Windows

Techrights, here. Here the writ of summons filed (in Italian)

FCC’s Net Neutrality Rules and Implications for Research Libraries

Association of Research Libraries, here.

Lessons from the Financial Crisis

M.Stucke, here.

Österreich: Spediteure anerkennenTeilnahme an Kartellen vor Kartellgericht

Hier. S. auch die Bestätigung, dass die Kommission "dawn raids" bereits durchgeführt hat.

Central banks and competition authorities: institutional comparisons and new concerns

J.Vickers, here.

OPINION OF SOME DISTINGUISHED EUROPEAN ACADEMICS ON ANTI-COUNTERFEITING TRADE AGREEMENT

Here. Read also this post related to a meeting with European ACTA negotiators, dismissing the concerns raised.

OSI and FSF jointly ask US Department of Justice to investigate CPTN transaction

Here.

New Agency, New Authority: What You Need to Know About the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

J.Villafranco and K. McPartland, here.

OECD: ROUNDTABLE ON CROSS-BORDER MERGER CONTROL - CHALLENGES FOR DEVELOPING AND EMERGING ECONOMIES

Background Note. Read also UNCTAD's contribution.

Italian Competition Authority accepts Google's commitments related to Google News Italia and urges Italian Parliament to revise copyright legislation

Here.

Commission launches second monitoring exercise of patent settlements in pharma sector

Here.

Antitrust in High-Tech Industries

R. Crandall, C. Jackson, here.

Why There Might Not Be Many Damage Claims Arising from the Spanish Property Insurance Cartel?

F.Marcos, here.

Free Software in Contemporary Civil Society

Sociology Faculty at Trento University.
Speakers: Karsten Gerloff, Carlo Piana, Tiziano Sartori, Patrick Ohnewein, Fabio Ropelato, Program (in Italian).

The Coming Extinction of Homo Economicus and the Eclipse of the Chicago School of Antitrust: Applying Evolutionary Biology and Ethics to Structural and Behavioral Antitrust Analyses

T.Horton, here.

Economic background of the Microsoft/Yahoo! case

A. Amelio and D.Magos, here.

The Microsoft/Yahoo! Search Business case

T.Vecchi, J.Vidal and V. Fallenius, here.

Oracle/Sun Microsystems: The challenge of reviewing a merger involving open source software

C.-C. Buhr, S.Crome, A. Lübbert, V.Pozzato, Y.Simon, R.Thomas, here.

Antitrust 2025

M.Stucke, here.

Bundeskartellamt: Sektoruntersuchung Stromerzeugung/Stromgroßhandel

Hier.

Information exchange: Motor insurers offer formal commitments to the OFT

Here.

Judge Posner on the interpretation of the pleading standard set forth in Twombly

IN RE: TEXT MESSAGING ANTITRUST LITIGATION. Appeal of: Verizon Wireless, et al., Defendants, No. 10-8037, here.

The Open Source Initiative's concerns regarding the recipient of Novell’s patent portfolio

Letter sent to the German Competition Authority (Bundeskartellamt). See also the letter sent by the FSFE, in German (original ) and English.

E-Learning: Intranet-Klausel ( § 52a Urheberrechtsgesetz) vor Gericht

Alfred Kröner Verlag gegen Fernuniversität in Hagen, Klageschrift.

Règles du code de procédure civile et pratiques anticoncurrentielles

Cour de cassation française, 7 janvier 2011 Société Philips France – Arrêt n° 587

"Comité des Sages" on bringing Europe's cultural heritage online presents its report "The new Renaissance"

Here. See also  the Summary Record of the public hearing of the Comité des Sages on "Bringing Europe's cultural heritage online".

IBM's Patent Application for an "Intellectual Property Component Business Model for Client Services"

Here.

WIPO Seminar Series on “The Economics of Intellectual Property”: Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Intellectual Property and Litigation

Christine Greenhalgh, January 12, 2011 paper here.

A Brief Introduction to Competition Concerns in 'Pay-for-Delay' Settlement Agreements Between Brand-Name and Generic Drug Companies

R.Peritz, here.

The Capper-Volstead Act, Agricultural Cooperatives, and Antitrust Immunity

C.Varney, here.

Counterfactual Tests in Competition Law

C.Veljanovski, here.

Solving the Drug Settlement Problem: The Legislative Approach

M.A.Carrier, here.

Standards, Innovation Incentives, and the Formation of Patent Pools

K.M.Schmidt, here.

Politiques européennes de concurrence et économie sociale de marché

F.Marty, ici.

First evaluation of the impact of the Directive 2004/48/EC on the enforcement of intellectual property rights

Here.

La 'ley antidescargas' fracasa en el Congreso

El Pais, aqui.

Institutional Innovation or Institutional Imitation? The Impacts of TRIPs on Indiaʼs Patent Law and Practice

B. Sampat, here.

L'Autorité de la concurrence sanctionne des sous-traitants de Renault et Peugeot pour entente sur les prix mais pondère significativement les amendes en raison de leurs difficultés financières

Communiqué de presse et décision.

ANTITRUST AVVIA ISTRUTTORIA NEI CONFRONTI DI FS E RFI PER ABUSO DI POSIZIONE DOMINANTE NEL MERCATO DELL’ACCESSO ALL’INFRASTRUTTURA FERROVIARIA NAZIONALE

Qui.

The Antitrust/Intellectual Property Interface: Thoughts on How To Best Wade Through the Thicket in the Pharmaceutical Context

J.Rosch, here.

Copying an Entire Article and Fair Use

RIGHTHAVEN LLC  v. CENTER FOR INTERCULTURAL
ORGANIZING, CASE NO.: 2:10-cv-01322-JCM-LRL, BRIEF OF AMICUS CURIAE
PROFESSOR JASON SCHULTZ

Changing International Landscape of Innovation and Intellectual Property

F.Gurry, here.

US Ambassador: Over-Focus On Development “Will Kill” WIPO

W.New, here. Official Transcript of Ambassador King’s December 16, 2010 Press Conference

Large-Scale Open Innovation: Open Source vs. Patent Pools

T.Raynay, L.Striukova, here.

Deutsche Bahn verklagt Karbon-Kartell

FAZ, hier.

EU weitet Verfahren gegen Google aus

Wirtschaftswoche, hier.

L’INSTITUT NATIONAL DE L'AUDIOVISUEL (INA) C/ La Société YOUTUBE

TRIBUNAL DE GRANDE INSTANCE DE CRETEIL, Jugement du 14 Décembre 2010, DOSSIER : N° 06/1281, ici. 

European Interoperability Framework (EIF) for European public services

Here.

Microsoft-Organized Consortium Buying Novell Patents Are Apple, Oracle, MS, and EMC

Groklaw, here.

Bank Competition and Stability: Reconciling Conflicting Empirical Evidence

T. Beck, O. De Jonghe, G. Schepens, here.

Exchanges of Information and the New Horizontal Guidelines: Barolo or Beaujolais?

S.Grassani, here.

Brussels on the phone: the iPhone and competition policy

J.Padilla, here.

European Competition Network Brief

No. 5/2010 and Special Issue December 2010 - A look inside the ECN: its members and its work

EU Commission: Guidelines on the labelling of foodstuffs using protected designations of origin (PDOs) or protected geographical indications (PGIs) as ingredients

Here.

Wikimedia Deutschland will Creative Commons-Musterklagen unterstützen

Hier.

Recent Changes in the Regulation of Motor Vehicle Distribution in Europe – Questioning the Logic of Sector-Specific Rules for the Car Industry

S.Colino, here.

Enhanced cooperation mechanism's proposal for a unitary patent protection in the EU

Press release.

L'Autorité de la concurrence estime que Google est en position dominante sur le marché de la publicité liée aux moteurs de recherche

Avis n° 10-A-29 du 14 décembre 2010 sur le fonctionnement concurrentiel de la publicité en ligne.

EU Commission adopts revised competition rules on horizontal co-operation agreements

Press Release, Horizontal Guidelines, Block exemption regulations applicable to specialisation agreements and research and development agreements

OFT publishes new mergers guidance on exceptions to the duty to refer and remedies

Here.

Concerted Refusals to License Intellectual Property Right

C.Bohannan, H.Hovenkamp, here.

Information Exchanges among Competitors

Antonio CAPOBIANCO, OECD Competition Division, Exchange of Information among Competitors: Antitrust Challenges (Presentation)
Monday December 13, 2010 - 2 pm
Conference Room, Economics Faculty - Trento University
Via Inama, 5 TRENTO

Contrats d’affiliation de magasins indépendants et modalités d’acquisition de foncier commercial dans le secteur de la distribution alimentaire

Avis n° 10-A-26 du 7 décembre 2010 de l'Autorité de la Concurrence.

Have national competition authorities the power to take a decision stating that Article 102 TFEU is not applicable to the practices of an undertaking?

OPINION OF ADVOCATE GENERAL MAZÁK.

Broccoli Breeding Patent to Be Invalidated

IP Frontline, here.

The European Patent Office and Google collaborate on machine translation

Here.

Unilateral Competitive Effects of Mergers Between Firms with High Profit Margins

E. B A I L E Y , G. L E O N A R D , A N D L.W U, here.

The Commission rules against the Ordre national des pharmaciens for restrictions on competition in the French clinical analysis market

Press release.

Protecting consumers online

OFT, here.

Fantasy and Reality in Intellectual Property Policy

J.Boyle, here.

On facilitating downloading from an illegal source in The Netherlands

FTD v Eyeworks, English translation here.

Theories of Harm in the Intel Case

P.DeGraba, J.Simpson, here.

U.S. copyright pressure on Canada: Wikileaks simply to confirm it?

M. Geist, here.

ACTA: The Final Text Following Legal Verification

Here.

Viacom v. YouTube: Viacom's Appellate Brief

Here, with a comment from Groklaw.

EE UU ejecutó un plan para conseguir una ley antidescargas

El Pais, aquí.

Patent Rights and Economic Growth: Evidence from Cross-Country Panels of Manufacturing Industries

Ivan P.L. Png, WIPO SEMINAR SERIES ON  “THE ECONOMICS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY”. Paper, Video.

Making CAMR Work: Streamlining Canada’s Access to Medicines Regime

Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, here.

Apertura de un expediente sancionador contra SGAE por posibles conductas restrictivas de la competencia,

Comisión Nacional de la Competencia, aqui

On social networking technology and regulation

E.Moglen, here.

Antitrust in Italy: Twenty Years' Experience

L.Fiorentino, AGCM, here (in Italian)

Converging paths in unilateral conduct

J. Amunia, here.

EU Commission confirms unannounced inspections in pharmaceutical sector

Here.

Competition and Innovation: ICT- and non-ICT-enabled Product and Process Innovations

D.Nepelski, here.

BGH zur Zulässigkeit der Verwertung von sogenannten Abstracts

Urteil vom 1. Dezember 2010 – I ZR 12/08 – Perlentaucher, s. die Pressemitteilung und das Urteil

EU Commission to probe allegations of antitrust violations by Google

Press Release, here.

US Supreme Court to Decide Standard for Proving Invalidity of a Patent

EFF, here.

More than a game

IP Colloquium, here.

Beyond Fair Use

Phil Weiser, Gideon Parchomovsky, here.

"Ohne Urheber keine kulturelle Vielfalt" - Zwölf-Punkte-Papier zum Schutz des geistigen Eigentums im digitalen Zeitalter

Kulturstaatsminister Bernd Neumann, hier.

YouTube et les auteurs français signent un accord déterminant

SACD, ici.

Kann der freie Zugang zu einem gewichtigen Teil des kulturellen Erbes, zu den verwaisten Werken und damit zu einem gewichtigen Teil des Commons, in Europa bald Wirklichkeit werden? Vielleicht, aber …

R.Kuhlen, hier.

MEDITERRANEAN COMPETITION BULLETIN

N.2, November 2010.

The Second Decade of the International Competition Network: Challenges Ahead?

Oliver BUDZINSKI, University of Southern Denmark, "The Governance of Global Competition:  Challenges for the Second Decade of the ICN"

Alessandra TONAZZI, Italian Competition Authority, "The Governance of Global Competition: ICN’s Next Decade"

Friday November 26, 2010 8:30 am
Trento Economics Faculty, Law Department
Room 3
via Verdi 53
Trento - Italy

ICN 2010 UNILATERAL CONDUCT WORKSHOP: LIVE WEBCAST

Agenda, Webcast.

Certification of a claim as a consumer class action following a bread price fixing cartel in South Africa dismissed

Here.

Senate's Inquiry into the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Franklins decision

Here (from Australian Competition Law)

AG Hamburg zu Urheberrechtsverletzungen durch RSS-Feeds

A. Schneider, hier.

The U.S. International Trade Commission to investigate on alleged smartphone-related patent infringements

Here.

Smart Wars - Um Smartphone-Technologien ist ein regelrechter Patentkrieg entbrannt

F.Müller, hier.

Current Issues in Competition and Consumer Protection Enforcement in the Retail Sector

J.T.Rosch, FTC, here.

Italian Mastercard Competition Decision Partly Annulled

TAR Lazio, here.

Entflechtung als Instrument des Kartellrechts

Sitzung des Arbeitskreises Kartellrecht, Pressemeldung und Arbeitspapier

Google on information flows and international trade law

Enabling Trade in the Era of Information Technologies: Breaking Down Barriers to the Free Flow of Information

BOLETÍN LATINOAMERICANO DE COMPETENCIA N. 27

Aquí.

UK Court of Appeal Closes the Door on “Opt-Out” Class Actions

White & Case, here.

Pratiques mises en oeuvre dans le secteur de la télévision payante

Autorité de la concurrence, Décision du 16 novembre 2010

TRANSATLANTIC AIRLINE ALLIANCES: COMPETITIVE ISSUES AND REGULATORY APPROACHES

A report by the European Commission and the United States Department of Transportation

ON THE EFFECT OF ECONOMIC CRISES ON ANTITRUST POLICY

M.Lao, here.

Indian Policy on Open Standards for e-Governance

Here

Healthy competition is good environmental policy

Competition Policy and Green Growth, Report from the Nordic competition authorities.

ACTA: Negotiations Concluded

See the final version and the joint statement from all the negotiating partners of the agreement

Dynamic Efficiencies and Technological Progress in EC Merger Control

C.Allmendinger, here.

Entwicklung des Urheberrechts in der digitalen Gesellschaft

29. November 2010, öffentliche Expertenanhörung veranstaltet von der Enquete-Kommission Internet und digitale Gesellschaft. Video  und Stellungsnahmen zur Anhörung hier.. 

BT and TalkTalk win Digital Economy Act review

Here (Marketing Week).

Linksetzung, technisch unwirksame Schutzmaßnahme und Urheberrechtsverletzung

Bundesgerichtshof (BGH), Urteil des I. Zivilsenats vom 29.4.2010 - I ZR 39/08

Deins, meins, unseres. Kulturen des Urheberrechts

Vortrag von Reto Hilty auf dem Netzpolitischen Kongress der Grünen live gebloggt

The 2010 Merger Guidelines: Do We Need Them? Are They All We Need?

G.Leonard, here.

Italian Competition Authority to Investigate Sky's World Cup Sport Rights Exclusivity

Press release (in Italian only), from the Authority's website.

Validité d'une licence CC reconnue en Belgique

Tribunal de première instance de Nivelles, ici.

On promoting cultural diversity and content adapted to the digital age

Neelie Kroes, here.

Including Exclusion in the 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines

D.Hoffman, D. Francis, here.

WIPO SCCR/21

Closed captioning (stream text) at the following link: http://streamtext.net/text.aspx?event=WIPO (pw: wipo4me). Final Conclusions (from KEI)

A comprehensive approach on personal data protection in the European Union

European Commission, here.

Judicial Review in European Union Competition Law: A Quantitative and Qualitative Assessment

D. Geradin, N. Petit, here.

Ofcom: Guidance note for public interest test on the anticipated acquisition of British Sky Broadcasting plc by News Corporation

Here.

Of Omissions and Commissions: India's Competition Laws

A.Bhattacharjea, here.

ICN Unilateral Conduct Working Group's teleseminar on unilateral conduct in the pharmaceutical industry

Recording of the program and accompanying slide deck.

2010 Merger Guidelines: Empirical Analysis

J.Hausman, here.

Oracle raises price of an entry-level MySQL subscription significantly

Computerworld, here.

Cameron on reviewing IP laws to make them fit for the digital age

From the speech:
"The founders of Google have said they could never have started their company in Britain.

The service they provide depends on taking a snapshot of all the content on the internet at any one time and they feel our copyright system is not as friendly to this sort of innovation as it is in the United States.

Over there, they have what are called ‘fair-use’ provisions, which some people believe gives companies more breathing space to create new products and services.

So I can announce today that we are reviewing our IP laws, to see if we can make them fit for the internet age."
See also the IPO's press release on the scope of the review.

Review of barriers to entry, expansion and exit in retail banking in the UK

OFT, here.

Canadian Bill C-32: digital burning in education debated

Here.

"It's the ad-text stupid" - Erkenntnisse und Fragen aus den Google France Entscheidungen

M. Schubert, hier.

Kein wettbewerbsrechtlicher Leistungsschutz für Amateurfußballspiele

"www.hartplatzhelden.de", Urteil des I. Zivilsenats vom 28.10.2010 - I ZR 60/09 (noch nicht veröffentlicht, nur Pressemitteilung).

Vince Cable on Competition Policy in the UK

From the Speech given to the Confederation of British Industry - 25 October 2010:

"What business does however need to know to promote growth is that there are clear, consistent rules to govern business behaviour. Which brings me on to competition policy. Competition is one of the great drivers of growth, keeping prices low for consumers, driving innovation, experimentation and investment.

When I used my party conference speech to suggest the need for a more active competition policy, this was interpreted as some kind of modern Marxism. Far from it – this is a defence of capitalism, not an assault.

And the UK’s competition regime is regarded as one of the best in the world – particularly because of its independence and the transparency of decision making. And the EU regime on top of it – including the system of state aid rules that helps to prevent subsidy wars - is one of the Community’s most successful activities.

But there is scope for improvement. In particular, there are difficulties in successfully prosecuting anti-trust cases and a paucity of market investigation cases. I would also like to question whether our current system of sector-specific regulation is ideal, or could we achieve something better through cross sector regulation.

A system that is too slow imposes unacceptable costs on the regulated, and is an insufficient deterrent for would-be abusers of a dominant position. Competition Act cases have taken on average three and a half years between the investigation to a final decision. This is too slow – hardly the “efficient and timely processes” that the CBI has called for.

I also want to ask if we are making enough investigations. Our rate of three or four a year looks odd compared to 15 in France and even more in Germany.

In the New Year, the Government will consult on proposals to deliver more streamlined and consistent processes - including bringing the Competition Commission and the competition functions of the Office of Fair Trading together to form a single competition authority, which I hope will be more proactive in addressing problems."

The real thing? Coke sues Pepsi over bottle shape mark

Class 99, here.

Competition policy for an open and fair digital economy

J.Almunia, here.

Apple faces legal action over iPad name

FT.com, here.

Google s'engage à rendre plus transparentes et plus prévisibles pour les annonceurs les règles appliquées par son service de publicité en ligne AdWords

Autorité de la concurrence, ici

India's Intervention to the WTO TRIPS Council Concerning ACTA

Here, from KEI.

Compliance and Competition policy

J.Almunia, here.

Leniency programs for multimarket firms: The effect of Amnesty Plus on cartel formation

Y. LEFOUILI and C. ROUX, here

The 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines: A Static Compass in a DynamicWorld?

J.Ezrielev and J. Ordover, here.

Is IP Good or Evil? A Vatican's Perspective

Statement by H.E. Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi, Permanent Representative of the Holy See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva (from KEI)

Facts and Figures on Copyright Three-Strike Rule in South Korea

Heesob Nam, here.

Stellungnahme des Bundeskartellamtes zum Energiekonzept der Bundesregierung

Hier.

2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines: The View from the Technology Industry

S.Creighton, here.

KEI Letter to the European Parliament regarding ACTA, October 25, 2010

Here. See also the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure's analysis

Stakeholders’ Platform Launches Project to Facilitate Access by VIPs to Published Works

WIPO's press release

IPKat Patent Limerick Competition

The winner has been announced, here. My pick:
A crafty inventor called Fred
Built an aircraft entirely from lead
When they cried "Why Fred Why?"
"You know it won't fly!"
"Not obvious for patent" he said.

Chris Torrero

ICN 2010 Cartel Worshop

Materials becoming available here.

ECJ on "fair compensation" in Article 5(2)(b) of Directive 2001/29 (the Information Society Directive)

Padawan SL v Sociedad General de Autores y Editores de España (SGAE),  Case C‑467/08.

Director General of the Swedish Competition Authority on the resolution of cartel cases

Here.

The Economics of Collective Brands

A. Fishman, A. Simhon, I. Finkelshtain, Nira Yacouel, here

The Federal Court of Canada on "1-Click Patent"

Here.

The European Antitrust Review 2011

Here.

3 Fragen zum Datenschutz in Social Bookmarking-Diensten

F.Pierer, hier.

In praise of copying

M.Boon, here.

Google Books: Wonder or Threat in the Digital Age?

LawTech Seminars 2010, University of Trento, Law Department, Program here (in Italian). My presentation here.

Revision of the EIF: FSFE responds to BSA's claims re standardisation, patent licensing

Here.

DG Competition publishes the results of a comprehensive stakeholder survey about its activities

Here.

Pub sector in the UK working well for consumers

CAMRA super-complaint – OFT final decision

EU Consultation on Audit Policy

Here.

Exclusions from Patentability and Exceptions and Limitations to Patentees’ Rights

L.Bently et al., Experts' Study on Exclusions from Patentable Subject Matter and Exceptions and Limitations to the Rights. The WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Patents agreed to include a number of key substantive issues relating to patent law and practice in its future work.

Common standards for group claims across the EU

Joaquín Almunia, here

Deutsche Telekom's Margin Squeeze Confirmed by the ECJ

C-280/08 P Deutsche Telekom v Commission 

Revising the Horizontal Merger Guidelines: Lessons from the E.U. and the U.S.

Richard J. Gilbert and Daniel L. Rubinfeld, here

A Single UK Competition and Markets Authority.

The Competition Commission (CC) and the competition functions of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) will possibly merge.

Aides d'État: la Commission donne son feu vert à la «carte musique» française pour encourager les téléchargements légaux de musique

Ici.

OLG Düsseldorf: Zum Verhältnis der GPL zu Markenrechten - xtCommerce

OLG Düsseldorf, Urteil v. 28.09.2010, Az. I-20 U 41/09, Telemedicus und ifrOSS ausführlich zum Fall.

The Size and the Value of the EU Public Domain

R.Pollock, P.Stepan (here), and R.Pollock, P.Stepan, M.Välimäki (here) respectively.

Gates Foundation announces $20M for Next Generation Learning Challenges; CC BY required for grant materials

Here.

When the Going Gets Tight: Institutional Solutions When Antitrust Enforcement Resources are Scarce

Michal Gal, here.

A Library Without Walls - A US National Digital Library?

Robert Darnton, The New York Review of Books, here.

Network Neutrality: What a Non-Discrimination Rule Should Look Like

Barbara Van Schewick, here.

Un signe qui identifie un site et non une marque n’est pas une contrefaçon

Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris 3ème chambre, 2ème section Jugement du 01 octobre 2010
Place des Tendances / Promod, (Legalis.net)

European Antritrust Deal With Microsoft Barely Affects Browser Market

NYT, here.

Expertenanhörung zum Thema "Netzneutralität - Kapazitätsengpässe, Differenzierung, Netzwerkmanagement"

Bericht.

From "Radical Extremism" to "Balanced Copyright": Canadian Copyright and the Digital Agenda

Michael Geist, Introduction. From October 14th the book will be available in both paper and as a Creative Commons licenced download.

Kompendium Internetrecht aktualisiert

Prof. Thomas Hoeren, hier.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has authorised Liquor Stax Australia to collectively bargain with a range of wholesale suppliers

Final detemination.

US Department of Transportation Proposes to Approve Antitrust Immunity for U.S.-Japan Aviation Alliances

Here.

Heizstrom – Marktüberblick und Verfahren

Bundeskartellamt, s. Bericht.

Der dritte Korb im Interesse von Bildung und Wissenschaft

NEUREGELUNG DES URHEBERRECHTS: ANLIEGEN UND DESIDERATE FÜR EINEN DRITTEN KORB (Wissenschaftsallianz) und Stellungnahme  des Börsenvereins. Heise online berichtet über ein lebhaftes Fachgespräch der SPD-Bundestagsfraktion insbesondere zum formatgleichen Zweitveröffentlichungsrecht.

Council of Europe: Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on network neutrality

Here.

La BNF préfère Microsoft à Google

Le Figaro, ici.

The Prizewinners of the Plagiarius-Competition 2010

Here.

17 producers of prestressing steel fined a total of € 458 410 750 in the EU for two-decades long price-fixing and market-sharing cartel

Press release, here.

Public Policy and Market Competition: How the Master Settlement Agreement Changed the Cigarette Industry

Ciliberto, Federico and Kumino , Nicolai, here.

Copyright Futures?

James Boyle et al, here.

ACTA Draft Released/2

• October 2, here.

Netzneutralität: Ich weiß nicht, was soll es bedeuten ..

Thomas Hoeren, hier.

Oracle v. Google

See this groklaw's post

Misbehavioral Economics: The Case Against Behavioral Antitrust

Joshua Wright, Judd Stone, here.

US Department of Justice to Litigate Against American Express

Here and here.

WIPO Symposium on Intellectual Property and Competition Policy

Enforcing Antitrust Law with Reference to Intellectual Property Assets: New Developments and Perspectives, October, 25, Geneva. Program.

Digitale Medien in Wien Online verliehen

Virtuelle Bücherei Wien, hier.

IP Rights and Competition

Italian Competition Authority's 20th Anniversary Celebratory Event, Rome October 8, 2010, Program. My presentation on Google Books (in Italian).

Red Hat's reading of Bilski submitted to the US PTO

Here.

The First Decade: Challenges Facing New Competition Agencies

William Kovacic, U.S. Federal Trade Commission, here.

JOINT STATEMENT FROM ALL THE NEGOCIATING PARTIES TO ACTA

Here. Read also ECIS' position paper on ACTA.

Text of H.R. 3101: Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009

Here

WIPO's Medium Term Strategic Plan 2010-15

Here.
Concerning the SCCR, strategies include:

–               "continuing to support the work of Member States on copyright limitations and exceptions, with a particular focus on improving access for visually impaired and other persons with print disabilities, while accelerating work with respect to access for persons with other disabilities, educational institutions, libraries and archives;

–                continuing to support the work of Member States on the protection of audiovisual performances and on the protection of broadcasting organizations;

–                exploring the scope for discussion of new issues with important global consequences, such as orphan works or the need for increased cooperation between copyright owners and Internet intermediaries in the making available of legitimate creative content, and encouraging consideration of self-regulatory, as well as formal solutions".

Using Competition Law to Promote Access to Knowledge

Sean Flynn, here.

Making the Grade? A Year at the FTC

Jon Leibowitz, here.

Video game piracy: Is it good for business?

CNN tech, here.

Online "catch-up" TV and advertising: EU Commission refers planned online joint venture between ProSiebenSat.1 and RTL to German and Austrian competition authorities

Here.

(American) Football, Copyright, and Innovation

NYT, here.

Copyright law needs a digital-age upgrade

Pamela Samuelson, here, and by the same author et al.  THE COPYRIGHT PRINCIPLES PROJECT: DIRECTIONS FOR REFORM

Derechos de retransmisión de acontecimientos futbolísticos en España

Apertura de un expediente sancionador por posibles prácticas restrictivas de la competencia, por vincular la reventa de derechos de retransmisión de acontecimientos futbolísticos a la contratación de los servicios de producción y transporte de la señal de partidos de fútbol, Comunicado de Prensa.

Competition for High Tech Employees

US JUSTICE DEPARTMENT REQUIRES SIX HIGH TECH COMPANIES TO STOP
ENTERING INTO ANTICOMPETITIVE EMPLOYEE
SOLICITATION AGREEMENTS, Press Release.

Koexistenz, keine Konkurrenz: Gedruckte Bücher und E-Books ergänzen sich

Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, hier.

EU Commission's Statement on Apple's iPhone policy changes

Google Suggest : le directeur de la publication condamné pour diffamation

TGI de Paris, 8 septembre 2010, ici. 

WIPO's IP Case Studies

IP Advantage

Gemeinsame Erklärung zum Vorhaben eines „Leistungsschutzrechts für Presseverleger“

Der Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie (BDI) zusammen mit anderen Verbänden, hier. 

Privacy Commissioner of Canada: Facebook investigation follow-up complete

Here.

Fernsehmitschnitte und Urheberrechtsschranken für Bildung und Wissenschaft

Vernichtungsanordnung als vorauseilender Gehorsam, Aktionsbündnis Urheberrecht für Bildung und Wissenschaft e.V.

Spain Court Dismisses Telecinco Copyright Charges Vs YouTube

The Wall Street Journal, here. A quick French perspective here. Spanish press news here. Unofficial English translation of the decision here. See also E.Bonadio, D.Mula, Madrid court confirms YouTube's host status

International Cooperation: Preparing for the Future

Christine Varney, here.

New Zealand: Guidelines for Trade Associations Released

Sammelklagen nach US-Vorbild in Brüssel "nicht mehr auf der Tagesordnung"?

FTD Interview mit Viviane Reding. 

Fair Use and Fairness on Campus

Deborah R. Gerhardt, Madelyn F. Wessel, here.

VIACOM V. YOUTUBE: A PROVING GROUND FOR DMCA SAFE HARBORS AGAINST SECONDARY LIABILITY

Brett White, here.

Entry and Incumbent Innovation

Philipp Weinschenk, here.

WIPO Assemblies: Stevie Wonder Calls for International Action to Enhance Accessibility for Visually Impaired Persons

WIPO Press Release, here. Video from YouTube. A song we don't want to hear? Stevie Wonder on what the WIPO didn't do...

Antitrust Karma, the Microsoft-Google Wars, and a Question for Rick Rule

Josh Wright, here.

Canadian universities and copyright: "Significant new costs loom for students"

Michael Geist, here.

Antitrust in the Digital Age: How Enduring Competition Principles Enforced by the Federal Trade Commission Apply to Today’s Dynamic Marketplace

Richard Feinstein, FTC, here.

Open Source and Merger Policy: Insights from the EU Oracle/Sun Decision

Simonetta Vezzoso (this blog's author), here. International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law (IIC), Forthcoming.

Abstract:

In Europe the merger between Oracle and Sun raised a series of substantial competition concerns, especially related to the acquisition by Oracle of MySQL, an open source business, and its impact on the database market. In the end, the acquisition was unconditionally cleared by the Commission. The open source nature of MySQL played a decisive role in the competition assessment of the merger conducted by the European competition authority according to the "significant impediment to effective competition" legal test. In this Article we will review the Commission’s decision with the specific aim of determining to what extent the open source nature of MySQL’s business model actually affected the scrutiny of Sun’s acquisition by Oracle under the relevant test. In particular, it will be questioned whether Oracle’s public announcement concerning its future behaviour on the database and related markets can be expected to duly address the concerns voiced by the Commission in the course of the merger proceedings. We will conclude that Judge Easterbrook’s much quoted conclusion that «[t]he GPL and open-source software have nothing to fear from the antitrust laws» may possibly need some qualification.


Content:

I. Introduction
II. The EU Oracle/Sun Merger Decision
1. The legal background
2. The SIEC test in the context of the Oracle/Sun case
3. The SIEC test and MySQL’s open source nature
III. The competition assessment of open source in the context of merger policy: in search of a
balanced approach
IV. Conclusion

EU Stakeholders Dialogue Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on access to works by people with print disabilities

Here. See also the EU Commission's press release (thanks to Antonella De Robbio for pointing it to me).

UK Joint Merger Assessment Guidelines Released

From the Press Release: "The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and Competition Commission (CC) have today for the first time published joint Merger Assessment Guidelines (...) The publication revises and expands guidance previously contained in several publications issued separately by the two Authorities after the introduction of the Enterprise Act 2002".

When Do Generics Challenge Drug Patents?

C. Scott Hemphill and Bhaven N. Sampat, here.

Competition in the Evolving Digital Marketplace

US House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Courts and Competition Policy, Thursday 9/16/2010.


Written testimonies:
Richard Feinstein (Federal Trade Commission), here.
Geoffrey A. Manne (LEWIS & CLARK LAW SCHOOL),  here. 
Edward J. Black (Computer and Communications Industry Association), here.
Mark Cooper (Consumer Federation of America), here
Morgan Reed (Association for Competitive Technology), here
Scott Cleland (Precursor LLC), here.

The Rise of the News Aggregator: Legal Implications and Best Practices

Kimberley Isbell , here.

On Great Inventions (and Bad IP?): Plumpy'nut

The Peanut Solution, NYT.

Facilitating Access to Culture in the Digital Age - WIPO Global Meeting on Emerging Copyright Licensing Modalities

November 4 and 5, 2010 – WIPO, 34, chemin des Colombettes, Geneva. Audio recording  of the meeting now available.

Industry-Specific Antitrust Policy for Innovation

Mark Lemley, here.

Access to Knowledge, a Guide for Everyone

Consumers International, here.

A Dynamic Analysis of Resale Price Maintenance: Inefficient Brand Promotion, Higher Margins, Distorted Choices, and Retarded Retailer Innovation

Warren Grimes, here.

Antitrust and the Close Look: Transaction Cost Economics in Competition Policy

Herbert Hovenkamp, here.

On establishing the leader of a cartel

General Court, T-29/05 Deltafina / Commission, in particular paras 332-336

Software licenses and first sale doctrine

US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Vernor v. Autodesk. See also this comprehensive post on Groklaw.

The web's new walls

The Economist, here.

On Copyright in Headlines

Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd v Reed International Books Australia Pty Ltd [2010] FCA 984 (7 September 2010), Federal Court of Australia.

ACTA's draft agreement (reflecting August 2010 changes)

From KEI, here.

Antitrust Formalism is Dead! Long Live Antitrust Formalism!: Some Implications of American Needle v. NFL

Judd E. Stone II, Joshua D. Wright, here.

WIPO Seminar Series on “The Economics of Intellectual Property”: Hal Varian (Google) on Copyright and Transaction Costs

Program, Geneva, September 14, 2010. Presentation and Video of the Seminar.

Thwack!! Take That, User-Generated Content!: Marvel Enterprises v. NCSoft

Carl Michael Szabo, here.

Revenue Streams and Safe Harbors: How Water Law Suggests a Solution to Copyright's Orphan Works Problem

Joel Sage, here.

A Peek Behind the Curtain of the Texas Antitrust Complaints against Google

Groklaw, here.

Rachat par la coopérative agricole Sodiaal du groupe Entremont autorisé

D'après le Communiqué "Avec l'acquisition du groupe Entremont, Sodiaal deviendra le numéro 2 sur le marché de la collecte de lait en France, derrière le groupe Lactalis. Les fournisseurs auxquels cette coopérative fera face sur ce marché seront cependant ses propres adhérents et l'Autorité a rappelé que ce contexte assurait un équilibre des relations entre vendeurs et acheteur, les éleveurs bénéficiant de leur position de sociétaires et de la sécurisation de leurs débouchés."

Movies on Pay TV: Statement of Issues

UK Competition Commission, here.

Price fixing in the air transportation industry

From the US Department of Justice Press Release: "Polar Air Cargo LLC has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $17.4 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices in the air transportation industry".

AT&T on “paid prioritization” of Internet traffic and Internet standards

Open letter to the FCC.

Advocate General Ján Mazák on (the absence of) margin squeeze

Opinion, Case C-52/09, Konkurrensverket v TeliaSonera AB.

Social rights and economic objectives: The importance of competition at supra national level

M. Ojo, here.

Behavioral Economics and Abuse of Dominance – A Fresh Look at the Article 102 TFEU Case-Law

N.Petit and N.Neyrinck, here.

Scoring Unilateral Effects with the GUPPI: The Approach of the New Horizontal Merger Guidelines

CRA Competition Memo, here.

Regulating Dynamic Markets: Progress in Theory and Practice

L.Evans and R.Hahn, hier. 

Internet Archive: Over 1 Million Digital Books Available to the Print-Disabled

Those books are available for free, in a format called DAISY, either open or protected. Open DAISYs can be read by anyone in the world on many different devices. Protected DAISYs can only be opened using a key issued by the Library of Congress NLS program.

Estimating the Economic Impact of Mass Digitization Projects on Copyright Holders: Evidence from the Google Book Search Litigation

Hannibal Travis, here.

Netzneutralität aus deutscher Sicht: "Wettbewerb ist Garant für Netzneutralität"

Matthias Kurth, Präsident der Bundesnetzagentur, hier.

ACTA negotiations: joint statement released

Here.

ICN Members' Market Studies

ICN Market Studies Information Store

The OFT consults on a proposal to introduce new guidance on how it conducts investigations

Read the Consultation paper.

Competition and Mergers Among Nonprofits

J.Prufer, here.

2010 US Horizontal Merger Guidelines Released

Here.

Nurturing the Accumulation of Innovations. Lessons from the Internet

Shane Greenstein, here.

Post Oracle-Sun Merger: OpenSolaris' fate revealed (and what about Oracle's public announcement)?

Here.
From the Oracle-Sun merger decision, para 182:
"Although, with the exception of points 1, 2 and 3 (see below paragraph 184), Oracle's
public announcement is not legally binding on Oracle, the Commission considers that
the strong specificities of open source software and the vibrant ecosystem surrounding
MySQL provide for a self-enforcing mechanism ensuring that Oracle would not have
the ability and incentives to deviate from its announced future conduct. Reputation and
trust is of utmost importance for the sponsor of an open source project which depends
on contributions by a large ecosystem of users, developers and customers. After the
merger Oracle will become the sponsor of a number of significant open source projects
of Sun, including Java, MySQL and OpenSolaris, and will as such need to gain and
retain the trust from the open source community. In this respect, it can be expected that
all of the public pledges made by Oracle to reassure MySQL users, developers and
storage engine vendors will be subject to close scrutiny from the open source
community."
Was the EU Commission somehow slightly too optimistic?

Oracle v. Google

See this post by Groklaw. See also this, on en.swpat.org and this from techrights.org. More from zdnet.de. Here also about Google's first reaction. More from FAZ.net. Reactions from  German Java users' groups.

Auf der Suche nach dem Patentrezept

U.Froitzheim, here.

Innovate, Yes, but Make It Practical

NYT, here.

Behavioral Economics: Observations Regarding Issues That Lie Ahead

J.Thomas Rosch, here.

Software Patents Post Bilski: A Look Ahead

Michael A. Spiegel, here.

Online markets: discussion paper

A report for the Office of Fair Trading, Phillipa Marks, Stephen Adshead and Brian Williamson of Plum Consulting, Yali Sassoon of Keplar LLP and Ian Jewitt

Is the European Commission joining the FTC probe into whether Apple's business practices harm competition?

Read this from the New York Post.

Methodologische Grundlagen einer Evaluation von Wettbewerbspolitik,

Kai Hüschelrath, here.

Spiegel: Explosion des Wissens

Hat Deutschland im 19. Jahrhundert einen industriellen Aufstieg erlebt, weil das Land kein Urheberrecht kannte? Hier (Deutsch) and here (English)

Access to Knowledge in Africa: The Role of Copyright

C Armstrong, J De Beer, D Kawooya, A Prabhala, T Schonwetter, here. 

Final report of the 14th session of the Intergovernmental Committee on the Universal Copyright Convention

Here.

Unilateral Refusals to Deal in Intellectual and Other Property

Howard Shelanski, here

On incentives to engage in designing around patents and standards for triggering a summary contempt proceeding

FTC Amicus Brief in U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Matter of TiVo, Inc., vs. EchoStar Corporation (Commissioners William E. Kovacic and Edith Ramirez dissenting)

Transcript of DOJ's Varney's Keynote Address to AAI Annual Conference

Here.

More Competition in the Computer Chip Industry? FTC-Intel Settlement

Press release, Decision and Order,  Analysis of Proposed Consent Order.

Unsurprisingly: Google-Chefjurist Arnd Haller gegen ein Leistungsschutzrecht für Presseverleger

Here.

UK Ofcom asks the Competition Commission to investigate concerns regarding the sale and distribution of subscription premium Pay TV movies

Ofcom press release and Reference Decision

Optimal Antitrust Enforcement, Dynamic Competition, and Changing Economic Conditions

Keith N. Hylton, Haizhen Lin, here

Some Optimism About Fair Use and Copyright Law

Michael J. Madison, here.

The Case for Rebalancing Antitrust and Regulation

Howard Shelanski, here

Anticompetitive e-book deals with Amazon and Apple?

The Connecticut Attorney General investigates.

Voluntary Competition Compliance Code launched in Pakistan

Downloadable from the Competition Commission's website.

Restoring competition in herbicides: FTC and Canadian Competition Bureau's divestment entente

FTC Press Release, 28/07/10,  Competition Bureau Press Release, 28/07/10

Jail time in the US for participating in global price fixing of TFT-LCD panels,

Department of Justice Press Release, 28/07/10

Collective Antitrust Damages Actions in the EU: The Opt-In v. The Opt-Out Model

Charlotte Leskinen, here.

Bilski Guidance?

USPTO's Interim Guidance for Determining Subject Matter Eligibility for Process Claims in view of Bilski v. Kappos.

AdWords: French Competition Authority

Interim measures' decision and Google's proposed commitments.

The Proposed Google Books Settlement: Copyright, Rule 23, and DOJ Section 2 Enforcement

Gregory K. Leonard, here.

Assessing the Economic Impact of Competition

Overseas Development Institute, here.

Consumer benefits from the OFT's work

Here.

Librarian of Congress: New DMCA Rules on Anti-Circumvention Exceptions

Here and here. See also LCA's press release and Groklaw's coverage. Another interesting comment from Opensource.com. The EFF expresses also clear satisfaction.

On the causes for the enforcement problems in merger control and possible solutions

An Institutional Analysis of the Enforcement Problems in Merger Control, Oliver Budzinski

Non-Price Considerations in Merger Policy

Some very inspiring insights by FTC Commissioner J. Thomas Rosch, "The Next Challenges for Antitrust Economists." See also D.S. Tucker, "Seventeen Years Later: Thoughts on Revising the Horizontal Merger Guidelines"

Technology and competition, Contributions in honour of Hanns Ullrich

Technology and competition - Technologie et concurrence. Contributions in honour of / Mélanges en l'honneur de Hanns Ullrich - Laurence Boy, Reto M. Hilty, Josef Drexl, Christine Godt, , Bernard Remiche, Editeur : Larcier, ISBN : 978-2-8044-3521-9, 746 pages

My book review (to be published in Revue Internationale de Droit Economique, 2010/2). 

"On ne doute pas que les lecteurs découvriront avec beaucoup de plaisir et d’intérêt le liber amicorum Technology and Competition – Technologie et concurrence, dédié avec admiration et affection à Hanns Ullrich, rédacteur en chef de cette revue,  Professeur au Collège d’Europe, Professeur émérite à l’Université de Munich et à l’Institut Européen de Florence, par des amis, des collègues et des anciens élèves à l’occasion de son 70ème anniversaire. Apparu sous la direction de Josef Drexl, Reto M. Hilty, Laurence Boy, Christine Godt et Bernard Remiche, cet ouvrage riche et passionnant rend un hommage sincère à cet éminent juriste au rayonnement européen et plus vaste encore.

Au cœur de la réflexion scientifique de Hanns Ullrich figurent la promotion du progrès technologique et la sauvegarde de la libre concurrence, deux enjeux juridiques et économiques majeurs annoncés par le titre même des Mélanges qui viennent de lui être offerts. Généralement, c’est le système de propriété intellectuelle, et plus particulièrement de propriété industrielle, qui est censé promouvoir le progrès technologique. La tâche de protéger le jeux de la concurrence dans toutes ces dimensions revient en revanche au droit de la concurrence. Toutefois, comme l’a rappelé dernièrement Hanns Ullrich dans les pages de cette revue, les deux corps de droit sont loin d’être parfaitement indépendants l’un de l’autre. Bien au contraire, l’octroi de droits exclusifs de propriété intellectuelle se doit d’être reconnu et éclairé avant tout par son intégration dans l’ordre concurrentiel de marché.  Il n’est donc pas surprenant que le droit de la concurrence soit régulièrement appelé au secours, dans le but de corriger une insuffisance éventuelle du fonctionnement du système de protection de la propriété intellectuelle, surtout de « surprotection » allégée. Cependant c’est avant tout en formulant des limites intrinsèques à la protection qui soient efficaces et appropriés que le système de propriété intellectuelle est censé assurer sa fonctionnalité et songer à son acceptation.

De toute évidence, la tâche qui revient au droit de la propriété intellectuelle n’est pas facile à accomplir, comme en témoignent plusieurs des contributions rassemblées dans la première partie de l’ouvrage, intitulée «Trop de protection de la propriété intellectuelle?».  Pour ce qui est par exemple du droit des brevets, face à un élargissement excessif de la définition d’invention brevetable, on aurait délaissé l’intérêt général au maintien du domaine public du savoir, c'est-à-dire de la source principale de nouvelles connaissances protégeables et non protégeables. Il en serait pas moins inquiétant pour les critères d’exception à la protection, trop souvent conçus d’une façon insuffisante et interprétés trop rigidement  pour pouvoir offrir un remède efficace aux risques de « surprotection ». Par ailleurs, ainsi que la jurisprudence communautaire en matière de droit des marques l’a maintes fois accompli en s’appuyant sur le concept de « concurrence non faussée », dans plusieurs cas il suffirait probablement d’interpréter et d’appliquer le droit de la propriété intellectuelle dans une véritable perspective de libre concurrence. Mais il est aussi indéniable que depuis quelques années, comme soulignent  plusieurs contributions, les technologies et de leurs besoins de protection changent plus rapidement que dans le passé et qu’il y a eu une transformation non négligeable des modes d’exploitation des droits de la propriété intellectuelles, il suffit de penser à la commercialisation de l’invention en tant que telle et à la exploitation sous forme immatérielle des œuvres protégés, par exemple les programmes d’ordinateurs. En outre, des nouveaux modèles économiques d’innovation ont émergé, voir par exemple le mouvement open source dans l’industrie de l’informatique. Par conséquent, le législateur pourrait être appelé à corriger les déficits systématiques de protection par modification de la réglementation-cadre avec plus de fréquence, mais aussi peut-être moins d’assurance, qu’auparavant.

Les contributions de la deuxième partie, intitulée « Protéger la concurrence », s’accordent pour souligner que le droit de la concurrence non plus n’est épargné par profondes mutations et tensions. D’une part, on assiste à une convergence assez poussée entre régimes nationaux de concurrence au sein de la Communauté Européenne, même si des différences, parfois « regrettables », résistent, par exemple le maintien, si ce n’est accentuation, du caractère politique du contrôle des opérations de concentration en France. De l’autre, on peut douter que l’approche dite  « plus économique » du droit de la concurrence, affichée depuis plus d’une décennie par la Commission européenne,  ait véritablement amené à une analyse des pratiques restrictives plus cohérente, rigoureuse et efficace. Ce qui est évident, en revanche, c’est que la nouvelle approche a servi parfois à légitimer une démarche « pro-active » de politique industrielle en vue d’objectifs préétablis. Or, il n’est pas surprenant de remarquer que parmi les amis et collègues de Hanns Ullrich plusieurs seraient favorables à une renaissance du concept de la « liberté de concurrence », si cher à la doctrine économique dynamique allemande et à l’école autrichienne.

La rencontre annoncée entre droit de la propriété intellectuelle et droit de la concurrence a enfin lieu dans la troisième partie de l’ouvrage (« Propriété intellectuelle et droit de la concurrence »). Traditionnellement, la politique communautaire de la concurrence s’est beaucoup intéressée aux pratiques d’exploitation par contrat des droits de propriété intellectuelle.  Mais c’est surtout l’analyse de l’exercice unilatéral de ces droits au service de la position dominante, notamment pour la défendre ou pour la renforcer, en particulier par des pratiques d’éviction du marché, qui est très controversée de nos jours.  Relativement sous-développée au contraire est l’analyse des enjeux que pose la propriété intellectuelle au contrôle des opérations de concentration. Les contributions réunies dans cette partie de l’ouvrage, s’attachant donc directement au rapport entre droit de la propriété intellectuelles et droit de la concurrence, offrent des éclairages très utiles sur des questions clés, à la fois juridiques et économiques. Or, il se peut que sur ces thèmes les insuffisances de l’approche économique actuelle, enracinée comme elle l’est dans la pensée économique néoclassique, se fassent davantage ressentir, comme on le montre très justement dans l’étude dédié aux restrictions au commerce parallèle des produits pharmaceutiques.

Le miroir scientifique de Hanns Ullrich qui sont ces Mélanges, n’auraient pas pu s’achever sans une partie consacrée au « Droit International », autre thème sur lequel s’est penché ce savant aux talents et aux intérêts multiples. La « protéiforme » mondialisation des pratiques commerciales, comme le savent très bien les lecteurs de cette revue, présente des enjeux aussi difficiles que cruciaux. Les contributions ici regroupées, tout en témoignant de cette complexité, invitent à se ressourcer à la dimension intimement éthique de toute réflexion juridique engagée, ce qui n’est pas le moindre mérite de l’ouvrage".

The UK Competition Commission has published its Annual Report

Here.

Copyright law's impact on teaching and research in the digital age: a survey from the UK

Driving UK Research – Is copyright a help or a hindrance?,  a new report from the research community, compiled by the British Library

IP and refusal to deal: balancing consumer interests

Intellectual Property and Refusal to Deal: 'Ad Hoc' v. 'Categorical' Balancing, Francesco Denozza

Consumer choice approach to competition law

Consumer Choice as the Best Way to Recenter the Mission of Competition Law, Robert H. Lande

ACTA: Privacy Implications

Concerns expressed by the EU Article 29 Data Protection Working Party

Changes in Competition Policy over the Last Two Decades, 2010

20th anniversary of the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, an impressive work.