Law Commons^™

Beyond Trade Secrecy: Confidentiality Agreements That Act Like Noncompetes, Camilla A. Hrdy, Christopher B. Seaman

Scholarly Articles

There is a substantial literature on noncompete agreements and their adverse impact on employee mobility and innovation. But a far more common restraint in employment contracts has been underexplored: confidentiality agreements, sometimes called nondisclosure agreements (NDAs). A confidentiality agreement is not a blanket prohibition on competition. Rather, it is simply a promise not to use or disclose specific information. Confidentiality agreements encompass trade secrets, as defined by state and federal laws, but confidentiality agreements almost always go beyond trade secrecy, encompassing any information the employer imparted to the employee in confidence.

Despite widespread use, confidentiality agreements have received little attention. …

Corporate Family Matters, Carliss N. Chatman

Scholarly Articles

Corporate groups dominate the American economy. Known publicly by a single name—Chevron, Apple, McDonald’s, or Google—these companies are a web of affiliated entities, each with its own separate legal identity. Yet, corporate laws have failed to develop a statutory scheme that acknowledges these relationships among entities. While corporate personhood, separateness, and the accompanying liability protection are the primary reasons for using the corporate form, or business entities in general, form can be exploited by bad actors who seek to take advantage of the natural legal silos that define each legal entity in a corporate group as a stand-alone person. These …

Peeling Back The Student Privacy Pledge, Alexi Pfeffer-Gillett

Scholarly Articles

Education software is a multi-billion dollar industry that is rapidly growing. The federal government has encouraged this growth through a series of initiatives that reward schools for tracking and aggregating student data. Amid this increasingly digitized education landscape, parents and educators have begun to raise concerns about the scope and security of student data collection.

Industry players, rather than policymakers, have so far led efforts to protect student data. Central to these efforts is the Student Privacy Pledge, a set of standards that providers of digital education services have voluntarily adopted. By many accounts, the Pledge has been a success. …

The New Global Financial Regulatory Order: Can Macroprudential Regulation Prevent Another Global Financial Disaster?, Behzad Gohari, Karen E. Woody

Scholarly Articles

This Article posits that the success of macroprudential regulation will depend on four factors. First, the economic philosophy of the central banker in charge of the domestic institution with jurisdiction over macroprudential regulation will prove crucial in the implementation of adopted regulation. If, like Chairman Greenspan, the banker is averse to the exercise of the Central Bank's regulatory oversight authority, then no amount or volume of policy or regulation will prevent or mitigate systemic risks and the accompanying shocks. Second, a sufficiently deep level of international cooperation is required to mitigate regulatory arbitrage, without being so broad that the ensuing …

A Patent Misperception, Elizabeth I. Winston

Scholarly Articles

Antitrust and intellectual property laws promote innovation and competition. As long as the costs of promotion do not exceed the benefit to society, then the laws act in harmony. Discord arises when patent holders use public and private ordering to restrain competition, restrict downstream trade, prevent the development of competing products and limit output by competitors. Using the Patent Act and the misperception of antitrust immunity to create a parallel and under-regulated legal system allows a small number of patent holders to coordinate their behavior to maximize profits and minimize competition. The Patent Act provides no shield to prosecution for …

Patent And Antitrust, Happy Together?, Daniel F. Attridge, Gregory F. Corbett

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

May A Foreign Plaintiff Sue A Foreign Defendant For Conduct Outside The U.S. That Caused Antitrust Injury Outside The U.S.?, Antonio F. Perez

Scholarly Articles

May the respondents, five foreign companies that purchased goods outside the United States from other foreign companies, pursue Sherman Act claims seeking recovery for overcharges paid in transactions occurring entirely outside U.S. commerce under the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act of 1982 (FTAIA), 15 U.S.C. § 6a? Do such foreign plaintiffs lack standing under Section 4 of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. § 15(a)?

International Antitrust At The Crossroads: The End Of Antitrust History Or The Clash Of Competition Policy Civlizations, Antonio F. Perez

Scholarly Articles

This Review will suggest a theoretical explanation for the essentially pragmatic conclusion that the United States should continue to oppose negotiations at the WTO. This explanation has the virtue of drawing on the special quasi-constitutional role of antitrust policy in U.S. history, one that is in fact deeply connected to the political economy of U.S. federalism and which, therefore, leaves less room for U.S. acquiescence in the institutionalization of competition policy at the WTO than does even the pragmatic argument for continued U.S. opposition to multilateral and institutional approaches.

This argument draws on the continuing centrality of federalism as a …

Antitrust And The Information Age: Section 2 Monopolization Analyses In The New Economy, A. Benjamin Spencer

Scholarly Articles

None available.

The First Antistrust Statute, David K. Millon

Scholarly Articles

None available.

The Sherman Act And The Balance Of Power, David K. Millon

Scholarly Articles

None available.

American Retreat From Extraterritorial Antitrust Enforcement: Consequences Of New Legislative Policies For An International Competitive Economy, George E. Garvey

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Transnational Joint Ventures And Antitrust Analysis, George E. Garvey

Scholarly Articles

This article develops the argument for lenient treatment of transnational joint ventures in several sections. The first section defines ajoint venture. The second and third summarize the historical application of the antitrust laws to joint ventures in general, and to transnationaljoint ventures in particular. The fourth section explores the economic bases for analysis and briefly notes some relevant political considerations. The fifth section analyzes the application of antitrust principles to transnational ventures, emphasizing the leading historic and contemporary judicial decisions, and attempting to identify and critique the developing analytical approaches.

Finally, the article suggests a judicial and legislative response that …

Exports, Banking And Antitrust: The Export Trading Company Act: A Modest Tool For Export Promotion, George E. Garvey

Scholarly Articles

After discussing briefly some of the statute's economic implications and limitations, this article will analyze the more significant provisions of the Export Trading Company Act. The Act only recently has been implemented so there is insufficient experience or empirical basis for critiquing the performance of the enforcement agencies. It is not premature, however, to suggest that all administrative and enforcement policies should foster a limited role for government in the operation of export markets. Therefore, regulators empowered to exempt firms from potential antitrust liability should recognize the dual problems inherent in their regulatory activities: They must not impede the efficient …

The Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act Of 1981, George E. Garvey

Scholarly Articles

This article will explore the effects of the antitrust laws on international trade and the probable reasons for any adverse impact. It will then consider the primary alternative legislative proposal intended to remedy the perceived antitrust barrier to trade, the Export Trade Association Act of 1981. Finally, the article examines the responsiveness of the Antitrust Improvements Act to the problems and the potential hazards of an altered antitrust policy.

The Sherman Act And The Vicious Will: Developing Standards For Criminal Intent In Sherman Act Prosecutions, George E. Garvey

Scholarly Articles

This article will evaluate the intent issue in several steps. First, Gypsum and its progeny will be examined to place the issue in context. Next, the article will consider the status of and reasons for a requisite mental element for criminal condemnation. Emphasis will be placed on the common law development of strict criminal liability. The focus will then shift to the evolution of strict liability in the Supreme Court. Against this background, the Sherman Act's criminal provisions will be analyzed to see if they may be appropriately considered strict liability offenses under common law or federal judicial precedent. Finally, …

Antitrust Law – Standing To Sue – Prices – Consumers Are Precluded From Showing “Injury” Within The Meaning Of Section 4 Of The Clayton Act By Establishing That They Paid Higher Prices For Goods Because Of Illegal Price-Fixing Of A Manufacturer With Whom They Did Not Deal Directly – Illinois Brick Co. V. Illinois, 431 U.S. 720 (1977), Catherine F. Klein

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

The F.T.C. Does Lord Mansfield In, Ralph J. Rohner

Scholarly Articles

After years of writhing agony at the hands of courts and legislatures, one of the most venerable of legal rules has bitten the dust, and it happened right here in Washington, D.C. The victim is the holder in due course rule as it applies to consumer credit transactions. The slayer is neither the Supreme Court nor the Congress but the oft-maligned Federal Trade Commission. The seismic event occurred just before Thanksgiving of 1975 when the commission issued its final version of a trade regulation rule entitled "Preservation of Consumers' Claims and Defenses." The rule was officially promulgated on November 14, …