Thursday, October 02, 2014

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."


Thursday, September 18, 2014

The Right to be Forgotten, or the Right Not to Be Gossiped About

Report, BBC Radio 4, Podcast here.

« La calunnia è un venticello , N.Ghiurov, here.

Right to be de-listed : European DPAs agreed on a common tool box to handle complaints

WP 29, here.

Apparently,  the rules won’t be finalized until November. 

Le secteur des autoroutes après la privatisation des sociétés concessionnaires

Autorité de la concurrence, ici.

Patent right exploitation under antitrust law scrutiny

K. Nejezchleb, T. Kubeša, here.

European Draft Directive on Damages Actions - How to protect leniency incentives without jeopardising the victim's right of compensation

P. Kirst, R. Van den Bergh, here.

The Hidden Costs of Free Goods: Implications for Antitrust Enforcement

M. Gal, D. Rubinfeld, here.

The Internet: Just Another Distribution Channel? EU and U.S. Competition Policy Approaches to E- Commerce


J. Wahl, S. Troost and C. Buts,  here.

Which Patent Systems are Better for Inventors?

J. Bessen, G. Thoma, here.

Analysis of consequences of different VAT scenarios for books

Oslo Economics, Study here. Summary and Conclusions in English here.

Alice is killing the trolls -- but expect patent lawyers to strike back

S. Phipps, here.

El Tribunal Supremo deja en el aire la tramitación de la Ley de Propriedad Intelectual

ABC. es, aquì.

Que faut-il retenir du 80ème congrès de l’IFLA à Lyon ?

Gazette.fr, ici

Bei Axel Springer liest man jetzt Karl Marx

Tagesspiegel.de, hier.

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."

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

10 Comments on the ECJ’s Judgment in Case C-67/13 P, Groupement des Cartes Bancaire

ChillingCompetition, here.

Top EU Court Checks Expansive Approach to Prohibition on Anti - Competitive Agreements But Uncertainties Remain

Sidley.com, here.

Regulation and the sharing economy

Freakonomics, podcast here, transcript here.

South African Competition Commission non - refers Doctors Without Borders complaint

Press Release, here.

The Court of Justice of the EU Judgment on Data Protection and Internet Search Engines: Current Issues and Future Challenges

C. Kuner, here.

Le Conseil d’état veut encadrer l’usage des algorithmes prédictifs

Larevuedudigital.com, ici.

The "right to be forgotten"

UK Commons Library standard note, here.

Müssen wir Angst vor Google haben?

J. Haucap, here.

Smartwatches and Weak Privacy Rules

NYTimes, here.

German Official: Google Should Reveal Its Ranking Algorithm

SearchEngineLand, here.

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Judge overturns Uber ride-sharing ban in Germany

BBC, here.

"By Object” Restrictions of Competition Revisited: European Court of Justice Endorses Narrow Interpretation

LW.com, here.

The Commission Investigation into Pay TV Services: Open Questions

P. Ibáñez Colomo, here.

Groupement des Cartes Bancaires and the resilience of the case law on restrictions by object

Chillingcompetition.com, here.

IP Markets and Enabling Information Ecosystems

UK IPO, here.

'Mr. Confession' and his boss drive China's antitrust crusade

Reuters.com, here.

The Proof of the Pudding is in the Eating: Net Neutrality in Practice, the Dutch Example

N. Van Eijk, here.

Meet Datacoup - the company that wants to help you sell your data

TheGuardian.com, here.

Taking TV and film into the digital age

N. Kroes, here.

Dutch court refers questions to CJEU on e-lending and digital exhaustion, and another Dutch reference on digital resale may be just about to follow

The IPKat, here.

Defining Section 5 of the Ftc Act: The Failure of the Common Law Method and the Need for Formal Agency Guidelines

J. Rybnicek, J. Wright, here.

Apple Watch under scrutiny for privacy by Connecticut attorney general

Pcworld.com, here.

Fünf Theorien, warum Minecraft 2,5 Milliarden wert sein könnte

Blogs.wsj.de, hier.

Friday, September 05, 2014

Tuesday, September 02, 2014

Auditing Algorithms: Research Methods for Detecting Discrimination on Internet Platforms

C. Sandvig, K. Hamilton, K. Karahalios, C. Langbort, here

Value of a Platform to a Seller: Case of American Airlines and Online Travel Agencies

V. Bilotkach, N. Rupp, V. Pai, here

Hoteliers react to sharing-economy competition

HotelNewsNow.com, here

The Folklore of Informationalism: The Case of Search Engine Speech

O. Bracha, here

El cártel de los extintores (I): La CNMC apaga el fuego de la disuasión anti-cartel en España

F. Marcos, aquì

The Role of 'Big Data' in Online Platform Competition

A. Lerner, here

'Piracy sites don't love music - they love money'

MusicWeek.com, here

Taxi-Konkurrenz: Gericht verbietet Uber deutschlandweit

FAZ, hier.

Update: "Uber wird seine Tätigkeit in ganz Deutschland fortführen und wird weiterhin seine Dienste über die Uber App anbieten."

Zuletzt hatte sich auch die Monopolkommission zu den Wettbewerbsverhältnissen auf den Taximärkten  geäussert.

Friday, August 29, 2014

IFLA 2014 : Les bibliothèques et le piège de la stratégie des exceptions

Scinfolex.com, ici

It’s Over: The Rise & Fall Of Google Authorship For Search Results

SearchEngineLand.com, here

Un "principe d'innovation" réclamé à l'Europe par les industriels et FAI

Numerama.com, ici

The ALS Association wants to trademark ‘ice bucket challenge.’ An attorney says that’s ‘shameful.’

Washingtonpost.com, here.

Update here.

Japan publishers lash out at new Amazon rules

Channelnewsasia.com, here

Holidaycheck beschwert sich bei EU-Kommission über Google

Finanznachrichten.de, hier

Smart Watches: Ravishing, and Creepier than Google Glass

Blog.hbr.org, here

July 2014 Author Earnings Report

Authorearnings.com, here

Internet Law:Cases & Problems

J. Grimmelmann, here

Rechtskräftiges Urteil: E-Book-Anbieter dürfen Weiterverkauf der Dateien untersagen

Heise.de, hier

Thursday, August 21, 2014

CADE’s General Superintendence concludes investigation of sham litigation cases

CADE.gov.br, here

Facebook forced to respond to privacy complaints of 25,000 Europeans

Zdnet.com, here. Vienna court's order here.

Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices

US Copyright Office, here.

Vertikale Beschränkungen und offene Online- Marktplätze

A. Beil, I. Hohmann, M. Kullas, hier.

How Canada Shaped the Copyright Rules in the EU Trade Deal

M. Geist, here.

Libraries and archives need an international solution for today’s copyright problems

IABD, here

Google processes 1 million removal requests per day for alleged copyright infringement

Futureofcopyright.com, here

Müssen Google und Facebook gezähmt werden?

FAZ, hier.

"betont das Bundeskartellamt in einem internen Bericht, der dieser Zeitung vorliegt". Gerne der breiteren Öffentlichkeit bekannt machen!

Survey: Half Of Shoppers Don’t Want Their Smartphones Tracked

Siliconbeat.com, here

Digitale Agenda: Bundesregierung legt Pflichtenheft für die digitale Gesellschaft vor

Heise.de, hier. Agenda hier.

"Spezifisch" zum Urheberrecht:

S. 15:
rechtliche Rahmenbedingungen anpassen"; Haftungsprivileg bändigen;  kollektive Rechtewahrnehmung stärken; an der  Überprüfung des europäischen Urheberrechts aktiv
mitwirken.

S. 27:
"Um die Potenziale für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Bildung
voll zu nutzen, werden wir die urheberrechtlich
zulässige Nutzung von geschützten Inhalten zu diesen
Zwecken verbessern. Insbesondere soll eine Bildungs- und
Wissenschaftsschranke eingeführt werden". 

S. 29:
"Wir stellen – soweit urheberrechtlich zulässig – digitalisierte
Kulturgüter und deren Metadaten offen und
möglichst unentgeltlich zur Verfügung."

Zum Kartellrecht:

S. 15:
"Wir werden sicherstellen, dass Innovationen und Wettbewerb
nicht durch missbräuchliches Verhalten marktbeherrschender
Internetkonzerne behindert werden. Wir
setzen uns für eine strikte Anwendung nationaler und
europäischer kartellrechtlicher Vorschriften ein und prüfen,
inwieweit diese unter den sich dynamisch entwickelnden
technologischen und wirtschaftlichen Bedingungen
der globalen Datenökonomie fortzuentwickeln sind. Insbesondere
prüfen wir, wie die Nichtdiskriminierung von
Wettbewerbern durch marktbeherrschende Plattformbetreiber
und ein diskriminierungsfreier, neutraler Zugang
zu Distributionswegen und Inhalten sichergestellt werden
können. Internetspezifische Kartellrechtsfragen werden
durch Fachgutachten aufgearbeitet."


Florida Polytechnic University opens with a bookless library

Latimes.com, here

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Delaware becomes first state to give heirs broad digital assets access

ArsTechnica, here

The Internet's Original Sin

E. Zuckerman, here.

Certification Allows US Trade Negotiators to Rewrite TPP Copyright Rules

EFF.org, here

Octane Fitness May Require a Summary Judgment Motion for an Exceptional Case Findings

Retailpatentlitigation.com, here

Deux décisions relatives à des refus d’accorder des licences dans des conditions équitables, raisonnables et non discriminatoires dans le domaine de la téléphonie mobile

F. Marty, ici (p.8-9).

This Is YouTube Music Key, Google's Upcoming Subscription Service With Offline Support, Background Audio, No Ads, Free Play Music Key

Androidpolice.com, here

The war between Uber and India’s taxi operators is hotting up

Qz.com, here

Patent Trolls: Evidence from Targeted Firms

L. Cohen, U. Gurun, S. Duke Kominers, here

The right to be forgotten and the EU data protection reform: Why we must see through a distorted debate and adopt strong new rules soon

M. Reicherts, here

At the Edge of the License: Where the ODbL Ends and the Community Guidelines Begin

Blog.openstreemap.org, here.