Thursday, December 17, 2015

The UK Supreme Court makes clear its belief that competition law should be interpreted in terms of its economic substance

P. Davis, here.

EU Data-Privacy Law Raises Daunting Prospects for U.S. Companies

WSJ, here.


The next opportunity for app developers: Turning anonymous data into ad sales

VentureBeat, here. 

Purchase details leaked to PayPal

S. Preibusch, T. Peetz, G. Acar, B. Berendt, here. 

Computer learns like a human and (sort of) beat the Turing Test

Mashable.com, here. 

3D Printing: Looking Through the Hype

Deloitte, here. 

Why Ebooks Will Eventually Replace Print

Bookbusinessmag, here. 

Compensation and the Damages Directive

S. Peyer, here. 

Einsatz von Uber Black wettbewerbswidrig

Kammergericht, Urteil vom 11. Dezember 2015 - 5 U 31/15, hier.

Mobile Identity – The Fusion of Financial Services, Mobility and Identity

Telstra, here. 

Patterns of disruption

Deloitte, here. 

BBC Uses Artificial Intelligence to Track Down New Audiences for ‘Sherlock’

Recode.net, here. 

Online platforms and data protection

EDPS, here.

"Despite the essential role cloud services play for the deployment of online services, EU consumers still do not seem to fully trust cloud-based services...As a result, finding privacy-friendly solutions for cloud computing services represents one of the main challenges for online platforms... Boosting research and marketing of solutions increasing transparency and user's control over their data (such as “personal data management systems”) is essential to offer a higher level of protection and thus increasing users' trust.

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Mergers in the Dutch grocery sector: an ex-post evaluation

Lear for the ACM, here. 

Agreement on Commission's EU data protection reform will boost Digital Single Market

EC, Press Release, here. 

Personal Data Management Systems

R. Oostrum, here. 

Auto Distribution: Current Issues and Future Trends

FTC, here. 

Internet of Things: Another Industry Patent War?

K. Ho, here. 

Einheitliche Glühweinpreise: Kartellamt ermittelt

MDR.de, hier. 

Web Privacy Census 2015

I. Altaweel, N. Good, and C. Hoofnagle, here. 

Software-Enabled Consumer Products Study: Notice and Request for Public Comment

U.S. Copyright Office, here. 

Competition Tribunal Gives Go Ahead for Price Maintenance Claim Against Music Industry Giants

M. Geist, here. 

Is Privacy The Future of Online Marketing?

 S. Milyaeva and D. Neyland, here. 

Your Algorithmic Self Meets Super-Intelligent AI

TechCrunch, here. 

Web Scraping: Applications and Tools

EPSI, here. 

The European hospitality industry launches a campaign: ‘Book Direct’

Hotrec.eu, here. 

'Internetstandards' sollen nicht für internetbasierte Vermittlungsportale gelten

Bundeskartellamt, hier. 

Le partenariat entre la SNCF et Airbnb ulcère les hôteliers

Numérama, ici. 

Tuesday, December 08, 2015

Digital Regulation

B. Lasserre, Video here.


Growth Through Trust




The CMA, the slave trade and the commercial use of consumer data

MyDex, here.

"At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, let us draw an analogy. Imagine an 18th century Competition and Markets Authority calling for information about the slave trade. If this 18th century CMA accepted the status quo – that the ‘market’ in question is people being traded rather than people being able to trade in the market in their own right – it might have asked how slaves may generate benefit for their owners, how slaves are collected, bought and sold, what contractual arrangements apply to the trading of slaves (including pricing), what restrictions firms have in acquiring slaves, and so on. In other words, it might have asked the sorts of questions that the CMA is currently asking about personal data – assuming that individuals have no right or ability to use/trade their own data for their own purposes in their own right."

Watch also MyDex's testimony to the House of Lords' EU Internal Market Sub-Committee (Online Platforms and the EU Digital Single Market Inquiry), Video here (from 17:35:15).

Uitgeverijen willen verkoop tweedehands e-book tegengaan

NOS, hier. 

Uber is still blocked on WeChat in China — and the situation is getting worse

VentureBeat, here. 

The Internet of Me: An infographic

TheMedium, here. 

The Data Driven Economy: Toward Sustainable Growth

Ctrl-shift, here. 

EC sends two Statements of Objections on exclusivity payments and predatory pricing to Qualcomm

Press Release, here.

And Qualcomm's comment, here. 

Thursday, December 03, 2015

Facebook’s least favourite Austrian takes further action

TechCrunch,  here.

Authors side with Apple in e-book price-fixing Supreme Court appeal

ArsTechnica, here. 

Is Amazon The Next Google?

O. Budzinski & K. Köhler, here. 

Copyright Principles and Priorities to Foster a Creative Digital Marketplace

S. Aistars, D. Hartline, & M. Schultz, here. 

6th Report on the Monitoring of Patent Settlements

EC, here. 

Accusations Fly in Response to NX1 3D Printer Kickstarter

3printingindustry.com, here.

Qualcomm Inks Critical Licensing Deal with China's Xiaomi

Fortune.com, here. 

Facebook bows to Belgian privacy ruling over cookies

BBC, here.

Decision here. 

Google on Online Platforms and the EU Digital Single Market

House of Lords, transcript of evidence taken, here; Video, here. 

The mobile adblocking apocalypse hasn’t arrived (at least not yet)

NiemanLab, here. 

Patent Troll Sues Everyone For Infringing On Encryption-Related Patent By Encrypting Their Websites

Techdirt.com, here. 

New Proposal At WIPO SCCR To Explore Use Of Copyrighted Works In Digital Environment

IP-watch.org, here. 

Freedom to Innovate (and the Internet of Cranes)

J. Zittrain, Video here. 

ICLE and leading antitrust scholars urge Supreme Court to review 2nd Circuit ruling in Apple e-books case

Truthonthemarket.com, here. 

Qualcomm Said to Face EU Antitrust Complaint on Predatory Pricing

Gadgets.ndtv.com, here. 

Tuesday, December 01, 2015

Competition Advocacy and Disruptive Innovation: The CMA Writes to the FT

Here. 

"...the proposed rules would undo much of what is novel about these businesses.New taxi business models have the potential to increase choice and deliver what passengers want: shorter waiting times, lower prices and increased responsiveness...

Of course there is a role for regulation, especially where safety is an issue. But technologies, such as satellite navigation, cashless payment systems and user ratings platforms, have the potential to overtake the role of regulation, and safeguard consumers by empowering them with information.The guiding principle of a competitive market is that the consumer is in the driving seat. The job of a competition authority, therefore, is to consider the potential benefit to customers from innovations that enable them to exercise choice — and allow businesses, both new and established, to decide how best to meet demand.
...
Consumers, who often benefit from technological disruption, can struggle to make their voices heard. But watch what they do, and their actions speak loud and clear.
By March this year, 25,000 people in Liverpool had reportedly downloaded the Uber app. The fact that the service had to wait until August to gain the local authority approval that it needed to begin operating might lead you to question how closely consumers’ preferences had been listened to.

This is not just about one company, one technology or one sector of the economy. New companies in every market will stand or fall on their ability to meet consumer demand — and those that succeed will, in turn, eventually be challenged by new business models.
This is how innovation leads to progress. We do not serve the interests of the public or the wider economy if we slam on the brakes."

WhatsApp Is Blocking Links To Rival App Telegram On Android

Techcrunch.com, here.
See also here. 

Allergan and New York settle suit over Alzheimer’s drug switching

Statnews.com, here. 

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

On the IP/Antitrust Interface

A Conversation, Video here.

Whither Uber?: Competitive Dynamics in Transportation Networks

B. Edelman, here.

Google’s investments, acquisitions, and strategy

CB Insights, here. 

Call for Inputs: Big Data in retail general insurance

FCA, here. 

Algorithm Predicts Relationship Success Through Couples’ Tone Of Voice

TechCrunch, here. 

Regulating platforms? A competition law perspective

Chillingcompetition, here. 

A Car Dealers Won’t Sell: It’s Electric

NYTimes, here. 

Google Says Local Search Result That Buried Rivals Yelp, TripAdvisor Is Just a Bug

Recode.net, here. 

Reflections on the use of big data and its implications

Essex University, Submission to the 'Big Data Dilemma Inquiry', here.

Competition Law and the Pharmaceutical Sector in India

S. Mondal and V. Pingali, here. 

European Data Market

IDC and Open Evidence for the European Commission, DG CONNECT, here.

Consumer groups expose manufacturers for collecting data from connected cars

Euractiv.com, here. 

Government Response to the Harper Review

Treasury.gov.au, here. 

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Android: Почему мы не согласны с этим решением?

Googlerussiablog, здесь. 

Phishing for Phools: The Economics of Manipulation and Deception

R. Shiller, Book Talk, Video here.

Phishing ("an attempt to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details - and sometimes, indirectly, money- often for malicious reasons, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication").
Phools: not in the Indian sense (flowers in Urdu پھول) - just idiots.

Collusion and Cartels: Successes and Challenges

J. Harrington, here. 

Towards a Broader View of Competition Policy

J. Stiglitz, here. Video, here (from 11:30).

Anti-Monopoly Enforcement: Protection and Promotion of Technology Innovation

S. Ming, here. 

Perspectives on judging competition law cases: the role of economic evidence

F. Jenny, here. 

Chinese Anti-Monopoly Guide on Abuse of Intellectual Property Rights: A Comment

K. Wong-Ervin, J. Wright, D. Ginsburg, B. Kobayashi, here. 

Zwangslizenz: Patentverwerter Sisvel siegt mit Arnold Ruess und Eisenführ

Juve.de, hier. 

Professor's legal win will make MOOCs more dynamic

Thedp.com, here. 

Small telcos and consumer groups team up against former monopolies

Euractiv, here. 

Examen, au regard des règles de concurrence, des activités de normalisation et de certification

Autorité de la concurrence, Avis du 17 novembre 2015, ici. 

Monday, November 16, 2015

What Is Disruptive Innovation?

C. Christensen, M. Raynor, R. McDonald, here. 

Sprawling? Pssht—no one streamlines everything from books to bots like Amazon

ArsTechnica, here. 

Platform Cooperativism

Conference, Videos here. 

Growth in an increasingly intangible-intensive economy

J. Haskel, Video here. 

Bundeskartellamt leitet Verfahren gegen Audible/Amazon und Apple ein

Bundeskartellamt.de, hier.

ACX marketplace, FAQs, Distribution: "Exclusive to ACX means your finished audiobook will be sold only through Audible, Amazon, and iTunes. Any audiobook made using ACX will be distributed through these online retailers. Note that Audible has an exclusive relationship with iTunes (i.e. to get your product into iTunes' audiobook store, you have to go through Audible)."

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Thursday, November 05, 2015

Competition enforcement is outside politics

M. Vestager, here. 

The Amazon bookstore (hi, future!)

Marginalrevolution.com, here. 

A shift to a decluttered digital economy

D. Coyle, here. 

The impact of e-commerce on the consumer sector- view from a Bank of England Agent

Bankunderground.co.uk, here. 

Facebook Plans to Use Your Location to Lure New Advertisers

Recode.net, here. 

Former Rabobank traders convicted in U.S. trial over Libor rigging

Reuters, here. 

Academic Search Engine Grasps for Meaning

Technologyreview.com, here. 

Economía colaborativa

A. Lamadrid, aquì.

Google says EU antitrust charges don't take into account that search is free

TheVerge, here. 

Napster returns in Canada as music streaming service

FactMag, here. 

The Changing Economics of App Development

HBR.org, here. 

Not Just Academics Fed Up With Elsevier: Entire Editorial Staff Resigns En Masse To Start Open Access Journal

TechDirt, here. 

Sharing Economy: Crowd-Based Capitalism and Platform as a "Neutral" Demand Funnel?

Salon.com, here.

Banning Uber like trying to stop the printing press, says Brussels

FT, here.

Unpaid crowd complementors: The platform network effect mirage

K. Boudreau, L. Jeppesen, here.

Promoting innovation through competition

R. Sims, here.

Copyright Captures APIs: A New Caution For Developers

TechCrunch, here.

Google is not doing enough to stop online piracy, JustWatch research suggests

Smh.com.au, here.

How Expedia will help HomeAway battle Airbnb

Tnooz, here.

Wednesday, November 04, 2015

Firefox Now Offers a More Private Browsing Experience

Blog.mozilla.org, here. 

People's Deepest, Darkest Google Searches Are Being Used Against Them

TheAtlantic, here. 

Creating a copyright exception for education — four principles to keep in mind

Communia, here. 

Verbraucher würden für mehr Datenschutz zahlen

Vzbv.de, hier. . 

Trunki v Kiddee: battle over children's luggage reaches supreme court

Theguardian, here. 

Filmrezension: „Democracy – Im Rausch der Daten“

Netzpolitik, hier. 

Lufthansa touts Google as big-name partner, direct-connects starting elsewhere

Tnooz.com, here. 

Axel Springer: Adblock-Sperre ist ein Erfolg

Heise.de, hier. 

A cartoonist transforms the iTunes Terms & Conditions into a graphic novel. It's amazing.

Boingboing.net, here. 

Google Sued by Rival Whose Maps Got Lost on the Internet

Bloomberg.com, here. 

Towards comprehensive public & private sector whistleblower protection

OECD, Presentation here. 

Commission consults on boosting enforcement powers of national competition authorities

EC, here. 

Tuesday, November 03, 2015

Roadmap to modernise copyright rules

European Commission, here. 

Who Owns the Patent on Nutmeg?

Newyorker.com, here. 

Das digitale Leben nach dem Tod wird zum Geschäft

Heise.de, hier. 

Who Knows What About Me? A Survey of Behind the Scenes Personal Data Sharing to Third Parties by Mobile Apps

J. Zang, K. Dummit, J. Graves, P. Lisker, and L. Sweeney, here. 

Competition and Antitrust in Internet Markets

J.Haucap, T.Stühmeier, here. 

Kartellrecht und Wettbewerbspolitik für Online-Plattformen

Lisa Hamelmann, Justus Haucap, hier. 

Amazon opens its first real-world bookshop in Seattle

ArsTechnica, here. 

UOKiK concludes proceedings in the hotel online booking case

Uokik.gov.pl, here. 

Vertical restraints

International Seminar, Programme here; Videos here.
L. Peeperkorn (38:27)
- intrabrand matters, s. softening of competition;
- advice: pick up newer economic literature;
- RPM: inefficient means to achieve efficiencies;


Open Data: Six Stories About Impact in the UK

Omidyar Network, here. 

Competition Authorities: Views on Disruptive Innovations

Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, here.
Competition Commission of Singapore, here.
European Commission, here. 
Canadian Competition Bureau, here.