Tuesday, November 14, 2023

Conceptions of innovation in the DMA

 S. Makris, Video here

Read also Where EU Competition Law and DMA Meet: Innovation Competition – Part I, here

FTC v. Amazon

 Explained by a *customer*, Video  here

Trying to make sense of how all the new chapters in the EU’s digital rulebook

 EDPS, here

Techtonic: The artist suing AI giants

 Article 19, Podcast here

Internet Fatta a Pezzi

 Video qui

Oversight of the Department of Justice Antitrust Division

 Memo, here

Digital Markets Act: Opportunity engine for startups [Hosted by DG Connect - European Commission]

 Web Summit, here

Web Summit 2023: Discussing AI right away (an the AI Act)

 Here (at 41:20). 

Apple Set to Challenge DMA's designations

 Bloomberg, here

Apple says it ‘expects to make’ App Store policy changes due to EU DMA

 TechCrunch, here

FS2/23 – Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

 Bank of England, here

Digital Market Act designations: the interoperability of Google Android

 F. Scott Morton, here

Licensing high-risk artificial intelligence: Toward ex ante justification for a disruptive technology

 G. Malgieri, F. Pasquale, here

The extraterritorial implications of the Digital Services Act

 DSA Observatory, here

Data Impact: LES USAGES DES DONNÉES AU SERVICE DE LA TRANSITION ÉCOLOGIQUE

Etude, ici; Inventaire des cas d'usage, ici

What Antitrust Experts Want You to Know About the Amazon Trial

 ProMarket, here

The FTC Lawsuit Against Amazon Is the Biggest Antitrust Fight of Our Time

 The Nation, here

Lina Khan in the Lions' Den

Federalist Society, Video, here

New Vision – the DMA, Goals of Antitrust, Compliance

 Olivier Guersent chez Oles, here

Big Tech on Trial: Is Google’s Reckoning Finally Here?

 M. Stoller, here

A Deeper Look into the EU AI Act Trilogues: Fundamental Rights Impact Assessments, Generative AI and a European AI Office

 Kluwer Competition Law Blog, here

Epic v. Google: everything we’re learning live in Fortnite court

 The Verge, here

Wednesday, November 08, 2023

Artificial Intelligence Summit

 Video, here

FTC Approves Final Order Resolving Antitrust Concerns Surrounding ICE, Black Knight Deal

 Here

Google turns to regulators to make Apple open up iMessage

 The Verge, here

G7 Competition Authorities and Policymakers’ Summit Digital Competition Communiqué: Commitment to Address Competition Concerns Arising from Emerging Technologies


 Here

Compendium of approaches to improving competition in digital markets, here

Inventory of ex-ante rules, here

Analytical note on the inventory, here

Governance of foundation models in EU’s AI law starts to take shape

 Luca "Magnus," here

The FTC on copyright and Generative AI

 Here.

"We can't wait for the DMA obligations to be complied with!"

 30 price comparison websites, here




FTC Chair Lina Khan on AI regulation, startup acquisitions, and more

 Y Combinator, here

Monday, November 06, 2023

Is Antitrust policy good for innovation? Yes, amazingly so.

 Lina Khan, Video here

AN EFFECTIVE CHOICE SCREEN UNDER THE DIGITAL MARKETS ACT

 BEUC, here

The Rise of Ecosystem Theories: Where are we after Microsoft/Activision and Booking/etraveli?

 Video, here

Booking / eTraveli: assessing envelopment strategies and mixing up market power thresholds

 D. Mandrescu, here

The EU’s sense for the metaverse

 Euractiv, Podcast here

AI’s proxy war heats up as Google reportedly backs Anthropic with $2B

 TechCrunch, here

U.S. and Plaintiff States v. Google LLC [2020] - Never Stop Giving Trial Exhibits

 Here

OMI on Artificial Intelligence and Copyright

Here.  

16th Annual FTC Microeconomics Conference

 Videos here

FTC v. Amazon, unredacted

Here.  

Meta and Amazon settle UK antitrust probes over use of third-party data to benefit marketplaces

 TechCrunch, here

14 big landlords used software to collude on rent prices, DC lawsuit says

 ArsTechnica, here. Complaint here

Letter From Chair Khan to Rep. Tiffany Regarding Merger Challenges

 Here

Monday, October 16, 2023

The Repressive Power of Artificial Intelligence

 Freedom House, here

8th CUTS-CIRC Biennial Conference on Competition, Regulation and Development

Day one; two.  

Foundation Models Supply Chain

 A recap: 

On compute here;

on accountability here;

on market concentration here


Intelligence artificielle : la CNIL dévoile ses premières réponses pour une IA innovante et respectueuse de la vie privée

 Ici

Exercising workers’ rights in algorithmic management systems

 ETUI, here

The future of digital mergers in a post-DMA world

 V. Robertson, here

Slingshot on the Amazon FTC Complait

 Podcast here

Green Agreements Guidance

 CMA, here

AN ANTIMONOPOLY APPROACH TO GOVERNING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

 T. Narechania, G. Sitaraman, here

Microsoft concession a gamechanger that will promote competition

 CMA, here

Connected Conversation: Collective data rights: do we need them and what should they look like?

 Connected by data, here

EDPS Opinion 42/2023 on the Proposal for two Directives on AI liability rules

 Here

Government of Canada launches consultation on the implications of generative artificial intelligence for copyright

 Here

Ubisoft and Activision Blizzard’s deal for cloud gaming rights, explained

 The Verge, here

French Copyright framework for artificial intelligence: a half-hearted attempt

 The IPKat, here

Charting a Course for Global AI Governance: Options and Lessons from Nuclear History

 D. Backovsky, J. Bryson, here

Rising Above Liability: The Digital Services Act as a Blueprint for the Second Generation of Global Internet Rules

 M. Husovec, here

Sustainability and Competition: From Hot Topic to Business As Usual?

 Kluwer Competition Law Blog, here

Global AI Regulation Tracker

 Techie_ray, here

We’re in a new Gilded Age. What did we learn from the last one?

 Vox, here

Monday, October 09, 2023

Contributions to the consultation on the compliance report template published

 Here.

New DMA templates

 EC, here

App developers’ #DMAwishes

 Coalition for App Fairness & Others, here.

The Price-Fixing Economy

 M. Stoller, here

Will AI hamper our ability to crawl the web for useful data?

 Lost Boy, here

Generative AI: the US class action against Google Bard (and other AI tools) for web scraping

Kluwer Copyright Blog, here.  

Trust-busters come for AI’s building blocks

 Politico.com, here

US v. Google: A Primer

 Brookings, here

EU leadership in trustworthy AI: Guardrails, Innovation & Governance

 T. Breton, here

Getty Images CEO Craig Peters has a plan to defend photography from AI

 The Verge, here

Artists across industries are strategizing together around AI concerns

 TechCrunch, here

Antitrust Enforcement in the Crosshairs

 D. Bush at al., here

BBC Will Block ChatGPT AI From Scraping Its Content

 Deadline, here

Concorrenza, mercati digitali, investimenti. Il ruolo guida dell'Europa (Prima giornata)

 Video qui

Industrial Policy with Conditionalities: A Taxonomy and Sample Cases

 M. Mazzucato, D. Rodrik, here

Google’s Commitments under Section 19a of the German Competition Act

 Kluwer Competition Law Blog, here

Wednesday, October 04, 2023

Competition authorities in the 21st century: Adapting to a new economic landscape

M. Bokkerink (CMA), here.

Nach Millionenstrafe gegen Apple: Niederländische Regulierer fordern Öffnung

 Heise.de, hier

Meta planning ad-free subscription or tracking ads ‘choice’ in EU, per WSJ — in latest bid to keep snooping

 #NatashaTheGreat, here

Meta CJEU Judgment – When Competition Meets Privacy

 DMRH (aka as Chez Oles), Video here

Lawsuit Highlights Why Meat Has Been Overpriced for 40 Years

 Prospect, here

DOES EUROPE'S PAYMENTS STRATEGY ADD UP?

 CER, here

France set to regulate cloud market more than EU

 Euractiv, here

When you need to talk to your Students about search advertising - directly from the DOJ v. Google Trial (Exhibit)

 Google, here

Gaming without Frontiers: Copyright and Competition in the Changing Video Game Sector

 CREATe, here

Let's Talk Competition: DMA

 EC, Video here

The EU AI Act Enters Final Negotiations

 Tech Policy Press Podcast, here

Amazon Used Secret ‘Project Nessie’ Algorithm to Raise Prices

 


WSJ here (and here). Listen also to Tech News Briefing, here

Neue Bankdienste von Apple zeigen sich in Großbritannien

 Heise.de, hier

UK IaaS market: Deeper probe by competition regulator lands soon

 The Register, here

Monday, October 02, 2023

The New Law of the European Data Market: Demystifying the European Data Strategy

 B. Botero Arcila, T. Groza, here.

Market concentration implications of foundation models: The Invisible Hand of ChatGPT

 Brookings, here.

The FTC’s landmark case against Amazon tackles the central issue of e-commerce market power

 Geradin Partners, here.

Leitlinien zu Artikel 102 AEUV – Neue Maßstäbe für die Missbrauchsaufsicht?

 Bundeskartellamt, Arbeitspapier hier

Nvidia’s French Offices Raided in Cloud-Computing Antitrust Inquiry

 WSJ, here (and here). 

Big Tech's Role in Contactless Payments: Analysis of Mobile Device Operating Systems and Tap-to-Pay Practices

 CFBP, here

Digital Platform Regulators Forum joint submission to Department of Industry, Science and Resources – Safe and responsible AI in Australia discussion paper

 Australian Goverment, here

WhatsApp beta for Android 2.23.19.8: what’s new?

 Webatinfo, here

The AI Act and General Purpose AI: Key Recommendations to inform EU's AI Act Negotiations regarding General Purpose AI

 Algorithmic Watch, here

6 REFLECTIONS ON THE RECENT DESIGNATION OF GATEKEEPERS UNDER THE DMA

 Copenhagen Economics, here

Q&A: Tim Wu on the U.S. v. Google Trial

 The American Prospect, here

Draft Merger Guidelines: Recommendations to Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission

 Open Markets  & Co., here

U.S. and Plaintiff States v. Google LLC [2020] - Trial Exhibits

 DOJ, here

Google Says Switching Away From Its Search Engine Is Easy. It’s Not.

 NYTimes, here

DIGITAL PLATFORM ECONOMICS: ESSAYS ON INNOVATION EFFECTS, ASSESSMENT OF MARKET POWER, AND POLICY APPROACHES TO PROMOTE COMPETITION

 T. Sousa Prado, here

What Should Merger Guidelines Do?

 Rethinking Antitrust, Podcast here

European Data Protection Supervisor, Wojciech Wiewiórowski, on GDPR 2.0 and the future of AI regulation

Global Counsel Podcast, here.  

EU Competition policy: Plus ça change…

 EC, here

Microsoft: I feel really good about our competitive position

 Semafor, here

White House could force cloud companies to disclose AI customers

 Semafor, here

The Tragedy of Google Search

 The Atlantic, here

Artificial Intelligence: Transparency

 AEPD, here

Mapping the landscape of data intermediaries

 JRC, here

Sustainability related aspects in EU merger control

 EC, here

Remarks by Commissioner Reynders on the Commission decision to prohibit the proposed acquisition of eTraveli by Booking

EC, here

FTC v. Amazon (I)


 Complaint, here

H7T @antitrustmemes 

Computational Power and AI

AINOW, here

Revising the Merger Guidelines To Return Antitrust to a Sound Economic and Legal Foundation

 J. Kwoka, here

Art. 102 AEUV und die Rolle der Ökonomie

 T. Rohner, hier

Order: Very large online platforms under the DSA (Amazon)

 General Court, here

The age of AI is a time for antitrust

 L. Lowe, here

Regulating the Risks of AI

 M. Kaminski, here

General Purpose AI Systems in the AI Act: trying to fit a square peg into a round hole

 C. Boine, D. Rolnick, here

Geoblocking of videogames and competition law: General Court confirms that Steam and videogame publishers breached Article 101 TFEU

 IPKitten, here

Monday, September 04, 2023

«When AI systems are used, they are usually used for surveillance»

 Schweizermonat.ch, here

Innovation Misunderstood

 A. Ezrachi, M. Stucke, here

What the E.U.’s sweeping rules for Big Tech mean for your life online

 Washington Post, here

The governance of artificial intelligence: interim report

UK House of Commons, here and here.

More tools to combat market power, please

 M. Snoep, here

A market study exploring the level of competition in the segment for online payment transactions in the making

 EC, here

Generative AI: the US Copyright class action against OpenAI

 G. Campus, here

Setapp Planning to Launch Alternative App Store for iOS in Europe

 MacRumors, here

Competition Act: Final report and decision of online intermediation platforms market inquiry to be conducted

 CC South Africa, here

Regulator notifies Google of punishment for unfair practices in app market

The Korea Times, here.  

What Signal are the Draft Merger Guidelines Sending to Enforcers Elsewhere?

 C. Caffarra, here

One Act to Rule Them All: What Is At Stake In the AI Act Trilogue?

 Verfassungsblog, here

AI-generated art cannot be copyrighted, rules a US federal judge

 The Verge, here

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard restructure proposed acquisition and notify restructured transaction to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority

 Microsoft, here

The New Merger Guidelines Offer an Important Course Correction on Merger Enforcement

 H. Singer, here

EDPS Opinion 39/2023 on the Proposal for a Regulation on payment services in the internal market and the Proposal for a Directive on payment services and electronic money services in the Internal Market

 EDPS, here

Opinion 38/2023 on the Proposal for a Regulation on a framework for Financial Data Access

 EDPS, here

THE DIGITAL PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION ACT OF INDIA, EXPLAINED

 R. Roy, G. Zanfir-Fortuna, here

Commission boosts data sharing and innovation for a smart, sustainable and resilient EU tourism ecosystem

 EC, here

‘Ecosystem’ theories of harm in digital mergers: New insights from network economics

C. Caffarra et al., here.  

When tech says ‘no’

 B. Evans, here

The Rise of AI

 cirsd, here

Is it time to reboot welfare economics? Overview

 D. Coyle et al., here

Who Learns and Who Profits in the Era of Artificial Intelligence?

 C. Rikap, here

A New Contract for Artists in the Age of Generative AI

 Tech Policy Press, here

Open (For Business): Big Tech, Concentrated Power, and the Political Economy of Open AI

 D. Gray Widder et al., here

Contentious areas in the EU AI Act trilogues

 iapp, here

Google, Amazon, Nvidia, and others put $235 million into Hugging Face

 The Verge, here

FTC Secures Settlement with ICE and Black Knight Resolving Antitrust Concerns in Mortgage Technology Deal

FTC, here.  

Do We Collaborate With What We Design?

K. Evans, here.  

Americans Pay a Price for Corporate Consolidation

 NYTimes, here

OTNS: Is Code still Law? (Interview with Lawrence Lessig)

 The Blockchain Socialist, here

Horizontal intervention, sectoral challenges: Evaluating the data act's impact on agricultural data access puzzle in the emerging digital agriculture sector

 C. Atik, here

Google Chat adding voice messages and interoperability with Slack, Teams

 9To5Google, here. 

Microsoft to Unbundle Teams Software in Europe

 WSJ, here

The Mythology of Horizontal Merger Efficiencies

 M. Glick et al., here

The Digital Economy Is Broken—But It’s Not Too Late

 R. Erumi, A. Gurumurthy, here

Digital Services Act: Application of the risk management framework to Russian disinformation campaigns

 EC, here

Going Nuclear?

 D. Backovsky, J. Bryson, here

Carl Shapiro: How Would These Draft Guidelines Work in Practice?

 C. Shapiro, here

The Dynamic Competition Paradigm: Insights and Implications

 D. Teece, here

UK digital regulators discuss interagency enforcement, AI governance coordination

 iapp, here

ANTITRUST ENFORCEMENT INCREASES ECONOMIC ACTIVITY

 T. Babina et al., here

OpenAI on copyright and Gen AI

 Here

Saturday, August 12, 2023

ONDC's Quick Takeoff Expected

 Video here

Position Statement of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition of 2 May 2023 on the Implementation of the Digital Markets Act (DMA)

 Here

What Are the Thoughts Behind the Changes? Draft DOJ-FTC Merger Guidelines Explained by DOJ DAAGs

 Our Curious Amalgam, here

Meta pledges to ask EU users for consent before showing behavioural ads

 noyb, here

Art 102 TFEU & Exclusionary Conduct – The Reform: Anne Witt, Gönenç Gürkaynak, Massimiliano Kadar

 Chez Oles, here

Although the New Merger Guidelines Should Be Applauded, There Is Still Room for Improvement

 D. Bush et al., here

Zero Trust AI Governance

 AINow, here

We Need Smart Intellectual Property Laws for Artificial Intelligence

 ScientificAmerican, here

Good Governance Is a Bad Idea

 K. Pistor, here

Exploring Antitrust and Platform Power in Generative AI

 K. Kollnig, Q. Li, here

Who Learns and Who Profits in the Era of Artificial Intelligence?

 BotPopuli, here

AI can be a force for good or ill in society, so everyone must shape it, not just the ‘tech guys’

 TheGuardian, here

Caro-voli, come funziona l’algoritmo che ha fatto scattare l’intervento del Governo

 Sole24Ore, here

Cinven (Luxo 1) S.a.r.l. and Others v Competition and Markets Authority

 CAT, here

FTC’s Shaoul Sussman on the Merger Guidelines

 Antitrust Vlog, here

Wednesday, August 02, 2023

The Relationship between Competition and Innovation (Part I)

 OECD Competition Policy Roundtable, here


How Biden Can Get Antitrust Right

 J. Furman and C. Shapiro on the WSJ, here (and here). 

Warner, Colleagues Reintroduce Bipartisan Legislation to Encourage Competition in Social Media

 Here

Meta apparently switches to consent for behavioral ads after five years of litigation

 Noyb, here

What Europe’s AI regulation moment will mean for the world

 360info, here

The AI rules that US policymakers are considering, explained

 Vox, here

Competition Between AI Foundation Models: Dynamics and Policy Recommendations

 T. Schrepel, A. Pentland, here

Saint Lina of the Competitive Markets

 WSJ, Video here

Statement Regarding Termination of CooperCompanies’ Attempted Acquisition of Cook Medical’s Reproductive Health Business

 FTC, here.

Meta says it will offer Europeans a free choice to deny tracking

 Natasha The Great, here

Chocolate and Antitrust

 

H/T 
@nmorenobelloso

Non-price effects of mergers and acquisitions

 J. Haucap, J. Stiebale, here

“Will AI Destroy Us?”: Roundtable with Coleman Hughes, Eliezer Yudkowsky, Gary Marcus, and me (+ GPT-4-enabled transcript!)

 Here

Why Meta is giving away its extremely powerful AI model

 S. Ghaffary, here

Advancing search engine studies: The evolution of Google critique and intervention

 A. Mager et al., here

Denied by Design? Data Access Rights in Encrypted Infrastructures

 M. Veale, here

Thresholds of Merger Notification: The Challenge of Digital Markets, the Turnover Lottery, and the Question of Re-interpreting Rules

 R. Podszun, here

Is America’s Merger Fever Breaking?

 S. Mitchell, R. Knox, here

The Next World System: Can US Trade Policy Make Us More Secure, Democratic, & Prosperous?

 Open Markets, Video here

Antitrust law examination of “Google News Showcase”

 Bundeskartellamt, here

The rise of conversational AI with the co-founder of Siri

 ZenDesk, Video  here

This California agency wants to know what happens to all that connected car data

 TechCrunch, here

Unpacking the 2023 Revised Merger Guidelines: A Conversation With the U.S. Department of Justice

 Ruled by reason, Podcast Episode here

Thursday, July 27, 2023

What a tiny precedent could do...

 


70% Of Generative AI Startups Rely On Google Cloud, AI Capabilities

 Forbes, here

Digital clones made by AI tech could make Hollywood extras obsolete

 Washington Post, here

Analyzing the European Union AI Act: What Works, What Needs Improvement

 HAI, a look from the US..., here

The Opportunities & Threats of AI

 S. Galloway  & G. Marcus, Conversation here

The FTC Is Regulating AI: A Comprehensive Analysis

 HKLaw, here

The little search engine that couldn’t

 TheVerge, here

Biden Declares War on the Cult of Efficiency

 F. Foer, here

Amazon makes bid to settle UK antitrust probe into seller data, Buy Box and Prime

 Natasha The Great, here

Grave concerns’: FTC leader accuses Jim Jordan of intimidating her staff

 


Politico.com (not eu), here.

Antitrust girls and boys, remember Onavo?

 AU FedCourt, here

Hugging Face, GitHub and more unite to defend open source in EU AI legislation

 VentureBeat, here

Artificial intelligence: Development, risks and regulation

 UK Lords, here

Bundeskartellamt vs Meta: what now?

 Euractiv, here

AI AND GENERATIVE AI: TRILOGUE NEGOTIATIONS FOR THE AI ACT

 Beuc, here

A certain danger lurks there’: how the inventor of the first chatbot turned against AI

 The Guardian, here

Tuesday, July 25, 2023

Next-Generation Antitrust Policy in an AI-Driven World

 Me in ProMarket, here

Six years after "Competition by Design", here

Competition Policy Enforcement in a Dynamic World

 P. Régibeau, here





Link: The Incentives Balance Test in the EU Microsoft Case: A More 'Economics-Based' Approach? by Simonetta Vezzoso :: SSRN

The dirty little secret that could bring down Big Tech

 Insider, here

How to implement the DMA in order to attain its goals of contestability and fair digital markets for core platform services

 J. Hoffmann, here

President Joe Biden wanted Gigi Sohn to fix America’s internet — what went wrong?

 The Verge, here

Remarks by President Biden on Artificial Intelligence

 White House, here

What happens to competition when fewer startups go public?

 ProMarket, here

Meta can call Llama 2 open source as much as it likes, but that doesn't mean it is

 The Register, here. 

ON DIGITAL COMPETITION, BRITAIN COULD LEARN FROM ITS REGULATORY MISTAKES

 Z. Meyers (CER), here

UK Lords debate AI

 Here

CMA: Amazon / iRobot merger merger decision

 Here

Valuing Social Data

 A. Parsons, S. Viljoen, here

Is AI Bad for Humanity?

 Podcast with D. Acemoglu, here

Why We’re Updating the Government’s Merger Guidelines

 J. Kanter, L. Kahn, WSJ (of all places), here

"When markets are competitive and companies jostle to win business, everyone benefits. Consumers pay lower prices and get better service. Workers have more options to earn higher wages and get better working conditions. And we all benefit from the breakthrough innovations and diverse views that flourish when markets are open and the best ideas win.

More than a century ago, Congress set out to protect free and fair competition by passing antitrust laws. These laws prohibit mergers that may harm competition, while permitting those that don’t. As federal antitrust enforcers, we want our approach to be clear and predictable. Since 1968, our agencies have issued guidelines to explain how we assess whether mergers might hurt competition.

The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission have updated the merger guidelines to reflect an evolving economy several times, under Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, Obama and Trump. We are continuing that tradition. Our proposed guidelines are faithful to the legal principles that have guided our enforcement efforts for generations. They recognize that firms can compete in a variety of ways and lay out the different ways that mergers may threaten competition.

The guidelines are written to be understood by businesses, consumers, entrepreneurs, workers and the broader public. We focused on three goals while drafting them.

First, as federal antitrust enforcers, we are bound by the antitrust laws as written by Congress and interpreted by the Supreme Court. The Clayton Act of 1914 prohibits any merger that may substantially reduce competition or tend to create a monopoly. Time and again since then—from expanding the Clayton Act to address a broader range of transactions to requiring that companies notify the government in advance of large mergers—Congress has closed loopholes and offered antitrust enforcers and private citizens more tools to stop anticompetitive mergers.

Recognizing Congress’s clear commands, more than a century of Supreme Court and appellate precedent makes clear that the antitrust laws protect the public from mergers that let dominant firms further control a market or create choke points in the economy. To ensure that our approach to merger review is faithful to the law, the proposed guidelines include—for the first time—legal citations to Supreme Court cases.

image
PHOTO: JOSE LUIS MAGANA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Second, enduring antitrust legal principles must be applied to today’s markets, reflecting how companies operate, compete and grow in the 21st century. To make sure we understand these changes, our proposed merger guidelines encompass the insights of modern analytical tools, taking into account market realities.

Third, we have written the draft guidelines with the broader public, not only antitrust experts, in mind. This makes it easier for businesses and individuals to understand the risk that a merger or acquisition may lead to an antitrust investigation and, where warranted, a lawsuit. But the proposed merger guidelines don’t create rights or responsibilities, nor are they substitutes for the law itself.

The proposed merger guidelines are the result of a public request for information issued in January 2022. We received more than 5,000 comments—from businesses, individuals, farmers, nurses, pharmacists, consumer advocates, worker organizations, antitrust practitioners, academics and trade associations. During four listening sessions, we heard about the effects of mergers and acquisitions on different sectors, which helped us understand how mergers can undermine open markets.

Our work isn’t done. We encourage the public to read the proposed merger guidelines and share its views at regulations.gov. The deadline to comment is Sept. 18. Our agencies will read and reflect on these comments before issuing final merger guidelines.

Congress tasked us with faithfully enforcing the antitrust laws to promote open, resilient markets. By updating the merger guidelines we hope to propel American ingenuity and ensure that the best ideas win.

Mind-reading machines are coming — how can we keep them in check?

 Nature, here

A law for foundation models: the EU AI Act can improve regulation for fairer competition

 K. Zenner, here

Thursday, July 20, 2023

An important step towards secure and interoperable messaging

 Google (no kidding), here

Deutscher Videokonferenzanbieter alfaview reicht Beschwerde bei EU-Kommission gegen Microsoft wegen Missbrauchs von Marktmacht ein

 alfaview, hier

Updated version of the Teramo Cloud Presentation

 Here

French draft law "Sécuriser et réguler l'espace numérique": cloud credits

 


Ici.

Amazon wehrt sich – jetzt ist der BGH am Zug

 WBS, hier

The Data Act trialogue agreement as formally approved

 Here

Microsoft and Meta expand their AI partnership with Llama 2 on Azure and Windows

 Microsoft, here

Ofcom cloud consultation: responses published

 Here (only 8)

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

Data Act: European Mobility Still Needs Sector-Specific Rules

 Euractiv, here

Effective protection against AI harms

 A. `Lawrence-Archer and R. Naik, here

Apple Launches Tap to Pay on iPhone in the UK

 MacRumors, here

Why they're smearing Lina Khan

 C. Doctorow, here

The Gatekeepers of Knowledge Don’t Want Us to See What They Know

 J. Angwin, here

« Charles River Associates s’est déclaré « fier » de la nomination de sa « consultante de haut niveau Fiona Scott Morton ». Faut-il s’en inquiéter ? »

 







































You can bet they were also very proud of all their CRA consultants nominated for the latest so called Antitrust Writing Awards, here

Can A.I. Invent?

 New York Times, here

La CNMC multa a Apple y Amazon con 194 millones por restringir la competencia en la web de Amazon en España

 CNMC, aquì

EU Trilogues: The AI Act must protect people’s rights

 AccessNow, here

The EU Digital Markets Act: A One-of-a-kind Regulation

 A. Malheiro, here

Eine harm­lose Alien-Inva­sion

 LTO, hier

The General Court must rule once more on the lawfulness of the Commission’s prohibition of the acquisition of Telefónica Europe (‘O2’) by Hutchison 3G UK (‘Three’)

 CJEU, here

Adobe / Figma merger inquiry

 CMA (who else?), here

The future of data trusts and the global race to dominate AI

 A. Artyushina, here

The abuses of Popper

 Aeon, here

WhatsApp shifts legal basis for processing personal data in Europe

 Euractiv, here

Vertical Merger Scrutiny Needs an Upgrade After Microsoft-Activision

 L. Hepner, here

FTC's CID re OpenAI

 Here

Meta’s behavioral ads banned in Norway on Facebook and Instagram

 #NatashaTheGreat, here

Isaac Newton to AI

 SEC, here

Right to repair: EP Draft Report

 Here

Chrome für iOS: Google führt Web-Apps ein

 Heise.de, hier

Teslas neue Ladesäulen-Macht

 FAZ, hier

China to name Unicom CEO Liu as head of new data bureau

Reuters, here.  

Regulating AI in the UK

 Ada Lovelace Institute, here

The beauty and complexity of the antitrust policy mind

 


Wednesday, July 12, 2023

Gen AI & Market Power: What Role for Antitrust Regulators?


Amazing webinar, just ended. 

A couple of immediate reactions to what we heard. It appears everyone is still in research mode, which is perfectly acceptable. However, there's already some serious musing afoot, particularly from the cloud services sector perspective (Adlc here, an overview here, if I may). What Big Tech firms are up to is also quite obvious. Well, what's next?

Starting from the recognition that generative AI makes all much, much worse and much more difficult (Andreas Mundt, - 19a and the NCT could come very handy, of course), do we sit on our hands, awaiting one monopolist to be swapped out for "another" (best-case scenario, as suggested by Joshua Gans)? Do we carve out tiny oases of diversity, try to preserve those famous windows of opportunity, cherish those few cracks that might just open up and observe from the sidelines (Susan Athey)? Do we attempt to grab the bull by the horns, seeking to shift the direction of innovation (Daron Acemoglu, with suggestions on how to do so, from AI regulation to tax rules)? Or are we temped to surrender to a sense of discouragement (Tommaso Valletti - not alone)?

Update: The recording  is now available here, and Ian Brown has some in-depth tweets (yes, you also can) on the discussion, all unrolled here.  

Überprüfung einer Bestpreisklausel – Bundeskartellamt stellt Verfahren gegen Lieferando ein

 Bundeskartellamt, hier

("Anlass für das Verfahren war die Überprüfung einer Bestpreisklausel in den Allgemeinen Geschäftsbedingungen (AGB) von Lieferando gegenüber Restaurants. Dieser zufolge müssen die auf Lieferando geforderten Preise den Preisen in den eigenen Vertriebskanälen der Restaurants entsprechen")

"That is what the DMA is all about."

 T. Breton, here

Innovation in the age of digital gatekeepers: It's complicated

 


Twitter blocks links to rival Threads

 TechCrunch, here

Tuesday, July 11, 2023

A very public, successful job interview, for a while.

 

Video, from 5:40:40. 


FSM "resigned", as you heard coming back to shore.

This is now for the archives: 
[BTW
-  her very clear position on interoperability is encouraging :) here;
- the Amazon/iRobot merger in-depth investigation following the Meta ruling is going to be very interesting (but can she say anything about it as former Amazon consultant? How many years ago was it?); 
- her Consultant's stance on cloud gaming being "a nascent technology that does not yet have a compelling use case" is hopefully correct;
- wondering if this roadmap could be of any use now;
- with addictive technologies aplenty, what has antitrust ever done for us? 
- Q: has there ever been an EU Chief Competition Economist who was not a CRA consultant? A: Yes!]]

Google to explore alternatives to robots.txt in wake of generative AI and other emerging technologies

 Search Engine Land, here

US Court denies FTC's bid for a preliminary injunction of Microsoft's Activision deal

 Opinion here.