Monday, November 24, 2014

A Nobel Laureate, Darth Vader© and Access to Health: Balancing IP and Competition in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Giovanni Napolitano
World Intellectual Property Organization 

4th December, 2014, 2 p.m.

DEM - Conference Room
Trento University 

How the UN is using open data to tackle Ebola

Futuregov.asia, here. 

Virgin Media sets the cat among the pigeons – Ofcom examines Premier League football

Brian Cave, here.

Google settles Internet trolling court case

TheGuardian.com, here. 

Suède : Les éditeurs lèvent les restrictions sur le prêt numérique

ActuaLitte.com, ici.

Structural Remedies in the Google Case?

I-Comp, here.

Why Textbooks Count: A Policy Paper

T. Oates, here. 

Brief of Amici Curiae Antitrust Law Professors in O'Bannon v. NCAA

Google launches 'Contributor' payment service

Independent.co.uk, here. 

Update on Trademark-Related Aspects of the Domain Name System

WIPO Secretariat, here. 

Europeans Have Authority To Seek Google Break Up Though Unlikely To Do So

SearchEngineLand, here. 

RBS apologises for 'incorrect' evidence to MPs' committee

BBC.com, here. 

Where Creativity Thrives: BitTorrent 2014 User Study

Blog.bittorrent.com, here.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Court: Google Can Arrange Search Results Any Way It Damn Pleases

Gizmodo.com, here. 

The Uncertain Scope of the Public Performance Right After American Broadcasting Companies v. Aereo, Inc.

M. Sag, here. 

Privatisation

UK House of Commons Library Research Paper, here. 

The Competitive Effects of Across-Platform Parity Agreements

Paolo Buccirossi
LEAR, Rome

Friday, 28th November, 2014 – 1.45 p.m.

Room 2B
Department of Economics and Management
Trento University, Italy

Airbnb and Hotels: What to Do About the Sharing Economy?

Wired.com, here.

Autorité de la concurrence saisie sur les relations contractuelles entre les hôteliers et les centrales de réservation sur internet

Reuters, ici.

Silicon Valley Antitrust: Syllabus

H. Kaiser, here.

Confessions of a price fixer

AutoNews.com, here.

The Ladies Vanish

Thenewinquiry.com, here. 

High-Cost Generic Drugs — Implications for Patients and Policymakers

J. Alpern, W. Stauffer, and A. Kesselheim, here. 

Au ministère de la Culture, inquiétudes autour du marché de l’occasion numérique

NextImpact, ici.

Est-ce que les juges européens seront moins frileux et plus imaginatifs que la plupart des politiciens nationaux? De toute façon, bon sujet à débattre dans le cadre de la Concertation nationale sur le numérique.

Internet of Things – Top 10 privacy and data protection concerns

JDSupra, here.

Federal Circuit: Novelty in Implementation of an Abstract Idea Insufficient to Overcome Alice

Patentlyo, here.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Google v. Oracle ~ Brief of Amici Curiae Intellectual Property Professors

Here. 

In Twist, Publishers Appeal Their ‘Win’ in GSU Copyright Case

Publishersweekly.com, here. 

Big Data and the Underground Railroad

Slate.com, here.

Re-Balancing Copyright: Insights from the EU Consultation

L. Dobusch, here.

Justice Department Probes Generic Companies After Price Hike Reports

Blogs.wsj.com, here. 

Competition Law Risk: A Short Guide

IRM and CMA, here.

Germany and Britain agree on closing 'patent box' loophole: officials

Reuters, here.
Statement here.

The 18 Companies Going After Airbnb Internationally

CBInsights, here. 

European Union Approves Directive on Antitrust Damages Actions

JonesDay, here. 

Rate Parity: Challenging the Authority of Competition Authorities

Dorian Harris, Skoosh.

4th December, 2014
10.30 a.m.

Trento University
DEM - Conference Room
Via Inama, 5
Trento, Italy


Australian Smokers Now Support Plain Packaging Of Tobacco

Businessinsider.com.au, here. 

Copyleft and the GNU General Public License: A Comprehensive Tutorial and Guide

Copyleft.org, here.

Sony Developing New DRM to Make Used eBooks Viable

GoodEReader, here.

Thursday, November 06, 2014

Retail banking: Current concern

TheEconomist, here.

Android Investigation

S. Ashall and T. Soames, Presentation here. 

BGH-Urteil: Die „kostenlose Zweitbrille“ ist jetzt verboten

Faz.net, hier. 

FTC Settlement Bars Patent Assertion Entity From Using Deceptive Tactics

FTC, here.

Statement by European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager on tax state aid investigations

European Commission, here.

(Pronunciation reminder here).

Google Search and the Law on Dominance in the EU. An Assessment of the Compatibility of Current Methodology with Multi-Sided Platforms in Online Search

M. Herz, here. 

How To Measure Success: Agency Design and the FTC at 100

M. Ohlhausen, here. 

Is Expedia playing hardball on hotel rate parity with Hyatt, Starwood?

Tnooz.com, here. 

Open Research Data

Epsiplatform.eu, here. 

Defining the internet of things - time to focus on the data

TheGuardian, here. 

Standards: Competition and Innovation?

J. Pierce, M. Medzmariashvili, ici.


Google, Amazon and Apple less transparent than Gazprom, says report

Euractiv.com, here. 

¿Qué opinas sobre la economía colaborativa? Consulta pública (I)

CNMCblog.es, aquì. 

PCAs and banking services to SMEs: final decision on market investigation reference

CMA, here, 

Invalid But Infringed? An Analysis of Germany's Bifurcated Patent Litigation System

K. Cremers, F. Gaessler, D. Harhoff, C. Helmers, here.



Qualcomm Discloses FTC Probe of Business Practices

Nasdaq.com, here.

Tuesday, November 04, 2014

Innovation and Antitrust

J. Pecman, here.

CMA decides not to progress interchange fee investigations at the present time

CMA, here. 

Google's 'Right to be forgotten' roadshow is just a 'distraction' – EU digital rights group

TheRegister, here. 

Mobile is eating the world

B. Evans, Presentation here. 

MasterCard teste le rythme cardiaque pour identifier les acheteurs

Numerama, ici. 

Leniency (Amnesty) Plus: A Building Block or a Trojan Horse?


M. Martyniszyn, here. 

Bestwater: CJEU embeds decision on framed content in order

B. Schuetze, here. 

In praise of the economics of regulation

Oxera, here. 

Cyberlaw Clinic files Petition on Behalf of Medical Device Researchers at the Copyright Office

Cyberlawclinic.berkman.harvard.edu, here. 

Stay Tuned: Whether Cloud-Based Service Providers Can Have Their Copyrighted Cake and Eat It Too

A. Asaro, here. 

Tobacco firms win legal right to challenge EU rules

Bbc.com, here. 

Marrakesh Treaty Options for Implementation Discussion Paper

Australian Government, here. 

Sunday, November 02, 2014

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Verlage knicken beim Leistungsschutzrecht ein

Golem.de, hier.

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?

The Fondue Conspiracy

Sepp Barmettler, the Cheese Rebel
NPR: Planet Money, Podcast here.

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.


BGH decision "Yellow dictionary" colour trade mark dispute

IPKat, here.

Big Data and the Future for Privacy

N. Richards, J. King, here. 

Oeuvres transformatives : faut-il faire de YouTube le « Seigneur des Mashups » ?

Scinfolex.com, ici. 

The Technology Transfer Block Exemption

Out-law.com, here. 

Case C-470/14, EGEDA – will a state-financed ‘private copy’ scheme deliver fair compensation?

Eulawradar, here. 

Inter Partes Review: An Early Look at the Numbers

B. Love, S. Ambwani, here. 

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.  

Google Penguin 3.0: Worldwide Rollout Still In Process, Impacting 1% Of English Queries

SearchEngineLand, here.

Honeywell Gets EU Complaint With DuPont Over Car Coolant

Bloomberg.com, here.

E-Book-Preise: Amazon einigt sich mit Bonnier

Heise.de, hier. 

Big, bad Amazon

TheEconomist, here. 

"Why are you searching here for your lost keys? Because there is light here": Reflections on Competition Policy in Europe

J. Fingleton, Video here. Speech notes here. 

European Commission settles cartel on bid-ask spreads charged on Swiss Franc interest rate derivatives; fines four major banks € 32.3 million

Press Release, here. 

Competition Enforcement: A Practical Perspective

A. Mundt, Video here.

"The ECN is a unique success, and a model for other areas of law."

The role of competition authorities in fostering growth and consumer welfare

P. Roth, Presentation here; Video here. 

Banks: Too Big to Manage Ethically?

Dealbook.nytimes.com, here.

Amazon: it’s not the power, it’s the lost focus

J. Gans, here. 

European Commission proposes ratification of Marrakesh Treaty to facilitate access to books for visually impaired persons

Press Release, here. 

Uber Economics: There is no such thing as bad publicity

Bruegel.org, here. 

82 Things Publishers Do (2014 Edition)

The scholarly kitchen, here. 

Brussels Antitrust Seminar Demonstrates Shifting European Landscape For Competition Enforcement In Wake Of ECJ MasterCard Judgment

Antitrusttoday.com, here. 

Public libraries: the right to digitise and the right of reproduction

S. Yakovleva, here.

Amazon closes a contract with one major book publisher (not that one, though)

Mhpbooks.com, here.  For more speculations see here and here.

More on Android

Chillingcompetition.com, here. 

European Pharmaceutical Antitrust after Groupment des Cartes Bancaires – Time to Rethink the Approach to Pay For Delay Settlements?

S. Gallasch, here. 

Antitrust Analysis of Reverse Payment Settlements After Actavis: Three Questions and Proposed Answers

J. Wright, here. 

In Georgia State University E-Reserves Case, Eleventh Circuit Endorses Flexible Approach to Fair Use

ARL Policy Notes, here.

Why The Justice Department Won't Go After Amazon Even Though Paul Krugman Thinks It's Hurting America

BusinessInsider, here.

Simon & Schuster Strikes Amazon Deal Reviving Agency Ebook Pricing

DigitalBookWorld, 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.

Report says illegal Airbnb apartments made up over a third of the company's NYC revenue

TheVerge, here.

Report from the NY State Attorney General's office here.

New WikiLeaks of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement Intellectual Property Chapter — Analysis of Copyright Provision

Policynotes.arl.org, here. 

Google defends flight search – it’s hard to do it well and industry doesn’t appreciate us

Tnooz.com, here. 

Resolution on enforcement cooperation among data protection authorities

Jean Tirole's (provisional) legacy

Bruegel.org, here. 

Are Google’s search results deceptive, or can consumers identify ads on their own?

Gigaom, here.

Business Benefit from Public Data

Blog.opengroup.org, here. 

Cartel members may argue that damage caused by cartel was passed on to customers

De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, here. 

YouTube has paid $1 billion to rights holders via Content ID since 2007

ArsTechnica, here.

Q. and A. With Jean Tirole, Economics Nobel Winner

NYTimes, here

Whois-Daten werden schleichend zentralisiert

Heise.de, hier.

Monday, October 13, 2014

Wie Nobelpreisträger Jean Tirole auch Deutschland prägte

WSJ, hier.

Google's Chairman Says Amazon — Not Bing — Is Its Biggest Search Competitor

BusinessInsider.com, here. See also E. Schmidt, The New Gründergeist, here. 

Is There a Vatican School for Competition Policy?

T. T'óth, here.

EU Commission congratulates Economics Nobel winner

Press Release, here.

Mr Tirole's research has direct relevance to current policy issues.

TheEconomist, here.

Bozza di Dichiarazione dei Diritti in Internet

Camera dei deputati, Commissione per i diritti e doveri in Internet, qui.

Jean Tirole: Market Power and Regulation


Scientific Background on the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2014,  here.

Popular science background here.

Tirole's 2013 lecture on two-sided markets, part 1 here, and part 2 here.

In essence, a nobel prize to the "more economic approach"...

Google rivals get help with antitrust campaign -- from Google

CNEt, here.

Looking ahead: preparing for the digital economy – view from the new competition regulator

A. Chrisholm, here.

La machine Booking face à la gronde des hôteliers

Lesechos.fr, ici.

Friday, October 03, 2014

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

M. Berguig, ici.

Understanding and Maximizing America's Evolutionary Economy

R. Atkinson, here.

Commission approves acquisition of WhatsApp by Facebook

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

The Right to be Forgotten: Not an Easy Question

F. Pasquale, here.

Kartellamt greift vorerst nicht in Streit Google/Verlage ein

Reuters.com, hier. 

Antitrust Nominee in Europe Promises Eye on Big Tech Companies

Bits.blogs.nytimes.com, here

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

Dirittodautore.it, qui.

Ordinanza qui.

Las demandas colectivas chocan con el sistema judicial español

Expansiòn, aquì.

Thursday, October 02, 2014

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

GigaOm, here.

Exercising choice: some reflections on competition enforcement in online markets

P. Marsden, here.

How big data could help stop the Ebola outbreak

CNBC, here.

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

GigaOm, here. 

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

Iam-magazine.com, here

The Devil is in the Retail

A. Italiener, here.

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

Russian Retailers Bet on E-Books Before Amazon Entry

Bloomberg.com, here. 

The ballad of Google Spain

Paul Bernal's Blog, here. 

The Horizon Report Europe: 2014 Schools Edition

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

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

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

D. Evans, here. 

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

ForexMagnates.com, here.

What an Economist Brings to a Business Strategy

Blogs.hbr.org, here. 

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

IFLA.org, here.



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

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

Méta-Media, ici.

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

WSJ, here.

To Avoid Liability, Google Limits German News Content To Headlines

SearchEngineLand, here.