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Antitrust and Trade Regulation

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2005

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Articles 1 - 30 of 78

Full-Text Articles in Law

Wto Dispute Settlement And Competition Law: Views From The Perspective Of The Appellate Body's Experience, Claus-Dieter Ehlermann Dec 2005

Wto Dispute Settlement And Competition Law: Views From The Perspective Of The Appellate Body's Experience, Claus-Dieter Ehlermann

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Antitrust Series

The current discussions on a future framework for competition policy within the World Trade Organization ("WTO")have revealed reservations against the full application of the WTO dispute settlement system to such a framework. The current dispute settlement system of the WTO is one of the results of the Uruguay Round negotiations. For an international agreement of nearly universal scope, this system is unique in its obligatory and quasi-automatic character. In general, complaints can be brought to the WTO against national laws which fail to comply with WTO obligations and also against a WTO-inconsistent application of national laws in individual cases. The …

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Worst Us Antitrust Decisions...Ever - Part Two, William Kolasky Dec 2005

Worst Us Antitrust Decisions...Ever - Part Two, William Kolasky

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Antitrust Series

Last month we invited a panel of three US lawyers to discuss some of the worst antitrust decisions of all time. We now conclude that series, with the second set of candidates for the 'Hall of Shame'. Read the opinions carefully--we'll be picking the worst of the worst in a website survey next month.

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Ip And Antitrust Policy: A Brief Historical Overview, Herbert J. Hovenkamp Dec 2005

Ip And Antitrust Policy: A Brief Historical Overview, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

The history of IP/antitrust litigation is filled with exaggerated notions of the power conferred by IP rights and imagined threats to competition. The result is that antitrust litigation involving IP practices has seen problems where none existed. To be sure, finding the right balance between maintaining competition and creating incentives to innovate is no easy task. However, the judge in an IP/antitrust case almost never needs to do the balancing, most of which is done in the language of the IP provisions. The role of antitrust tribunals is the much more limited one of ensuring that any alleged threat to …

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How High Do Cartels Raise Prices? Implications For Optimal Cartel Fines, John M. Connor, Robert H. Lande Dec 2005

How High Do Cartels Raise Prices? Implications For Optimal Cartel Fines, John M. Connor, Robert H. Lande

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines whether the current penalties in the United States Sentencing Guidelines are set at the appropriate levels to deter cartels optimally The authors analyze two data sets to determine how high on average cartels raise prices. The first consists of every published scholarly economic study of the effects of cartels on prices in individual cases. The second consists of every final verdict in a US. antitrust case in which a neutral finder of fact reported collusive overcharges. They report average overcharges of 49% and 31% for the two data sets, and median overcharges of 25% and 22%. They …

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Administrative Law Judge Upholds Ftc Complaint Ordering Evanston Northwesternhealthcare Corporation To Unwind Five-Year-Old Acquisition , James Lowe, Alexander Krulic Dec 2005

Administrative Law Judge Upholds Ftc Complaint Ordering Evanston Northwesternhealthcare Corporation To Unwind Five-Year-Old Acquisition , James Lowe, Alexander Krulic

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Antitrust Series

On October 21, 2005, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that Administrative Law Judge Stephen J. McGuire had ordered Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Corporation (ENH) to divest Highland Park Hospital, located in a Chicago suburb. (The decision can be found at http://www.ftc. gov/os/adjpro/d9315/051021idtextversion. pdf.) ENH had acquired Highland Park five years ago for $200 million. In an administrative complaint issued in February 2004, the FTC alleged that the acquisition had resulted in "substantially lessened competition" and higher prices for insurers and healthcare consumers for general acute care inpatient services sold to managed care organizations. In upholding part of the complaint, Judge …

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The Residency Match: Competitive Restraints In An Imperfect World, Kristin Madison Oct 2005

The Residency Match: Competitive Restraints In An Imperfect World, Kristin Madison

All Faculty Scholarship

Several years ago physicians filed a lawsuit alleging that “the match,” the more than fifty-year-old system by which medical students and other applicants are assigned to medical residency programs, violates Section 1 of the Sherman Act. Last year, without hearings or substantive debate on the issue, Congress found that the match was “highly efficient” and “pro-competitive” and granted a retroactive antitrust exemption for its operation. These seemingly incompatible views invite further analysis of the merits of the residency match from the perspective of public policy. This article considers the arguments of match advocates and critics, evaluating both theoretical models and …

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Federalism And Antitrust Reform, Herbert J. Hovenkamp Oct 2005

Federalism And Antitrust Reform, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

Currently the Antitrust Modernization Commission is considering numerous proposals for adjusting the relationship between federal antitrust authority and state regulation. This essay examines two areas that have produced a significant amount of state-federal conflict: state regulation of insurance and the state action immunity for general state regulation. It argues that no principle of efficiency, regulatory theory, or federalism justifies the McCarran-Ferguson Act, which creates an antitrust immunity for state regulation of insurance. What few benefits the Act confers could be fully realized by an appropriate interpretation of the state action doctrine. Second, the current formulation of the antitrust state action …

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Should Antitrust Education Be Mandatory (For Law School Administrators)?, Royce De R. Barondes, Thomas A. Lambert Oct 2005

Should Antitrust Education Be Mandatory (For Law School Administrators)?, Royce De R. Barondes, Thomas A. Lambert

Faculty Publications

The Executive Committee of the Association of American Law Schools has adopted a Statement of Good Practices that purports to limit the times when law schools may make offers to hire faculty members at other schools. Schools are generally not to make offers for indefinite appointments to professors on other faculties after March 1, subject to extension for two months with the consent of the incumbent's dean. They also are not to make offers contemplating resignation from a current faculty position more than two weeks following those deadlines. Proceeding on the assumption that the AALS policy, whose express terms are …

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Defining Nondiscrimination Under The Law Of The World Trade Organization, Julia Ya Qin Oct 2005

Defining Nondiscrimination Under The Law Of The World Trade Organization, Julia Ya Qin

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

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Exclusive Dealing, The Theory Of The Firm, And Raising Rivals' Costs: Toward A New Synthesis, Alan J. Meese Oct 2005

Exclusive Dealing, The Theory Of The Firm, And Raising Rivals' Costs: Toward A New Synthesis, Alan J. Meese

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

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My Summer Vacation At The European Commission, Jonathan Baker Sep 2005

My Summer Vacation At The European Commission, Jonathan Baker

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

Among the more than 100 jurisdictions with active competition policy regimes today, the United States has the distinction of starting first, creating the most extensive set of judicial precedents, and possessing the largest and most experienced enforcement institutions. Antitrust institutions in the United States have long stood at the summit on any scale of international prestige and influence in the competition policy field. Yet any such ranking would also undoubtedly indicate that during the last decade or so, the antitrust institutions of the European Union have grown in size and sophistication to the point where they are comparably respected and …

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Discounts And Exclusions, Herbert J. Hovenkamp Aug 2005

Discounts And Exclusions, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

The discounting practices of dominant firms has emerged as one of the most problematic areas of private antitrust enforcement against single-firm conduct. The most difficult discount practices to assess are bundled, or multi-product discounts in situations where no significant rival produces every product that is included in the bundle. A debate has emerged over whether such discounts are properly assessed under a legal test that analogizes them to predatory pricing or to tying. Defendants typically prefer predatory pricing analogies, requiring a showing that the price of the assembled bundle was below a relevant measure of cost, such as marginal cost …

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Securing American Sovereignty: A Review Of The United States' Relationship With The Wto: Hearing Before The Subcomm. On Federal Financial Management, Government Information, And International Security Of The S. Comm. On Homeland Security And Governmental Affairs, 109th Cong., July 15, 2005 (Statement Of Professor Robert K. Stumberg, Geo. U. L. Center), Robert Stumberg Jul 2005

Securing American Sovereignty: A Review Of The United States' Relationship With The Wto: Hearing Before The Subcomm. On Federal Financial Management, Government Information, And International Security Of The S. Comm. On Homeland Security And Governmental Affairs, 109th Cong., July 15, 2005 (Statement Of Professor Robert K. Stumberg, Geo. U. L. Center), Robert Stumberg

Testimony Before Congress

No abstract provided.

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China's Proposed Anti-Monopoly Law, Pamela Bookman Jul 2005

China's Proposed Anti-Monopoly Law, Pamela Bookman

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Antitrust Series

Well-designed competition policy can promote consumer welfare and economic growth. Poorly designed policy can retard both. As China’s importance in the world economy grows steadily each year, so does the importance of its competition policy. Because China is a low-cost manufacturing center and home to an enormous market, foreign companies have invested in China extensively, including through joint ventures with Chinese companies that involve sharing the foreign companies’ intellectual property rights with their Chinese partners.

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Collaborative Governance In The Restructured Electricity Industry, Charles H. Koch Jr. Jul 2005

Collaborative Governance In The Restructured Electricity Industry, Charles H. Koch Jr.

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

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Empagran S.A. V. F. Hoffman-Laroche, Ltd.: Dc Circuit Restricts Reach Of Us Antitrust Laws Over Injuries Sustained In Foreign Commerce, Leon Greenfield, David Olsky Jul 2005

Empagran S.A. V. F. Hoffman-Laroche, Ltd.: Dc Circuit Restricts Reach Of Us Antitrust Laws Over Injuries Sustained In Foreign Commerce, Leon Greenfield, David Olsky

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Antitrust Series

On June 28, 2005, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued an important opinion on the extraterritorial reach of the US antitrust laws in Empagran S.A. v. F. Hoffman-Laroche, Ltd. The court held, on remand from the Supreme Court, that plaintiffs injured outside US commerce cannot bring antitrust suits in US courts unless the US effects of the anticompetitive conduct at issue are the proximate cause of their injuries. The decision construes narrowly the circumstances under which plaintiffs may be able to sue in US courts for injuries suffered in foreign commerce.

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Us Merger Review: A ‘Goldilocksian’ Perspective, William Kolasky Jul 2005

Us Merger Review: A ‘Goldilocksian’ Perspective, William Kolasky

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Antitrust Series

US merger control rests on four strong cornerstones. The first is section 7 of the Clayton Act, as amended by the Celler-Kefauver Act in 1950, which created the substantial lessening of competition standard as the test for the legality of mergers and acquisitions. The second is the Supreme Court’s 1962 decision in Philadelphia National Bank, which relied on the structure-conduct-performance paradigm from industrial organisation economics to fashion a presumption that mergers that significantly increase concentration in already concentrated industries will lessen competition, imposing on the parties the burden of rebutting the government’s structural case. The third is the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust …

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Single-Firm Conduct: The Search For The Holy Grail Of Administrable Procompetetive Standards, William Kolaskly Jul 2005

Single-Firm Conduct: The Search For The Holy Grail Of Administrable Procompetetive Standards, William Kolaskly

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Antitrust Series

During my tenure as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for International Enforcement in the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice, in a speech I delivered in London, in May 2002, I identified the regulation of single-firm conduct as the area of greatest divergence between U.S. and European competition policy. In the United States, led by the insights of the so-called Chicago School of economics, the courts have moved progressively toward an approach to single-firm conduct that has substantially narrowed the range of potential antitrust intervention. In Europe, by contrast, the courts appear to continue to take a more …

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From "Federalization" To "Mixed Governance" In Corporate Law: A Defense Of Sarbanes-Oxley, Robert B. Ahdieh Jul 2005

From "Federalization" To "Mixed Governance" In Corporate Law: A Defense Of Sarbanes-Oxley, Robert B. Ahdieh

Faculty Scholarship

Since the very moment of its adoption, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 has been subject to a litany of critiques, many of them seemingly well-placed. The almost universal condemnation of the Act for its asserted 'federalization' of corporate law, by contrast, deserves short shrift. Though widely invoked - and blithely accepted - dissection of this argument against the legislation shows it to rely either on flawed assumptions or on normative preferences not ordinarily acknowledged (or perhaps even accepted) by those who criticize Sarbanes-Oxley for its federalization of state corporate law.

Once we appreciate as much, we can begin by replacing …

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Sector Inquiries On The Italian Electricity And Natural Gas Markets Expose Failures In Both Liberalisation Processes., Antonio Capobianco Jun 2005

Sector Inquiries On The Italian Electricity And Natural Gas Markets Expose Failures In Both Liberalisation Processes., Antonio Capobianco

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Antitrust Series

On 9 February 2005, the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) and the Autorità per l’Energia Elettrica e il Gas (AEEG) concluded a joint sector inquiry on the progress of liberalisation in the Italian electricity market (Electricity Sector inquiry). The Electricity Sector inquiry follows another joint inquiry by the two authorities a few months earlier on the progress of liberalisation of the natural gas market in Italy (Natural Gas Sector inquiry). The Natural Gas Sector inquiry was published on 19 June 2004. This article summarises the findings and the conclusions of both sector inquiries and describes the methodology …

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Unilateral Effects: The Enforcement Act Under The Old Ec Merger Regulation, Claus-Dieter Ehlermann, Axel Gutermuth Jun 2005

Unilateral Effects: The Enforcement Act Under The Old Ec Merger Regulation, Claus-Dieter Ehlermann, Axel Gutermuth

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Antitrust Series

The reform of the EC Merger Regulation was preceded by an animated debate about whether the traditional "dominance" test allowed the Commission to challenge mergers that did not lead to single firm or collective dominance in the traditional sense, but nevertheless may have reduced competition to the detriment of consumers. The authors submit that the dominance test failed to reach such situations of "unilateral" or "non-coordinated" effects. The old Merger Regulation therefore suffered from a potential "enforcement gap" that was closed only by the legislative change to the "significant impediment of effective competition" test. National jurisdictions still using variants of …

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Pharmabulletin Issue 2, Summer 2005, Mark Heller, Hollie Baker, Robert Barry, James Burling, Suyong Kim Jun 2005

Pharmabulletin Issue 2, Summer 2005, Mark Heller, Hollie Baker, Robert Barry, James Burling, Suyong Kim

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Antitrust Series

In May 2005, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued draft guidance on the type of information to be posted on its new “Drug Watch” website—a site intended to identify drugs for which it is actively evaluating early safety signals. At this time, the FDA plans only to post information on drug products regulated by the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, therefore vaccines, blood products and medical devices shall be excluded.

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Unilateral Refusals To License In The Us, Herbert J. Hovenkamp, Mark D. Janis, Mark A. Lemley Jun 2005

Unilateral Refusals To License In The Us, Herbert J. Hovenkamp, Mark D. Janis, Mark A. Lemley

All Faculty Scholarship

Most antitrust claims relating to intellectual property involve challenges to agreements, licensing practices or affirmative conduct involving the use or disposition of the intellectual property rights or the products they cover. But sometimes an antitrust claim centers on an intellectual property owner's refusal to use or license an intellectual property right, perhaps coupled with efforts to enforce the intellectual property right against infringers. The allegation may be that the intellectual property right is so essential to competition that it must be licensed across the board, or that a refusal to license it to one particular party was discriminatory, or that …

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Antitrust And Competition Law Update: Agencies Send A Strong Message On Hsr Filing, William J. Kolasky, Robert Bell, James W. Lowe, Leon Greenfield, A. Douglas Melamed, Veronica Kayne, Ali Stoeppelwerth, Janet Ridge May 2005

Antitrust And Competition Law Update: Agencies Send A Strong Message On Hsr Filing, William J. Kolasky, Robert Bell, James W. Lowe, Leon Greenfield, A. Douglas Melamed, Veronica Kayne, Ali Stoeppelwerth, Janet Ridge

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Antitrust Series

The Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division last week each announced enforcement actions against and settlements with parties that alleged failed to make required notifications of transactions under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended. Each case resulted in a significant fine (one of $800,000 and one of $1 million) and signaled the agencies’ intent to pursue vigorously parties that fail -- intentionally or negligently -- to meet their obligations under the HSR Act. Moreover, both cases address the scope of the HSR Act’s “investment only” exemption and show that the agencies construe it strictly …

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Trading And Distribution In China, Lester Ross, Kenneth Zhou Apr 2005

Trading And Distribution In China, Lester Ross, Kenneth Zhou

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Antitrust Series

Trading and distribution rights were major issues in the negotiation of China’s entry to the World Trade Organisation, a process which took 14 years before concluding in late 2001. Trading rights, i.e. the right to import and export goods, had historically been mainly restricted to a small number of largely sector-specific state-owned monopoly trading enterprises. Trading rights were modestly liberalised in the years preceding China’s entry, but generally remained tightly restricted.

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“Start-Up Aid” For Low Cost Carriers– A Policy Perspective, Sven Völcker Apr 2005

“Start-Up Aid” For Low Cost Carriers– A Policy Perspective, Sven Völcker

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Antitrust Series

On 7 February 2005, the European Commission published draft “Community guidelines on the financing of airports and start-up aid to airlines departing from regional airports” for consultation. This article focuses on the Draft Guidelines’ statements on “start-up aid,” which seek to integrate the Commission’s statements in last year’s Charleroi decision into a consistent state aid policy framework. It is submitted here that such an attempt is highly problematic, given the absence of a coherent and objective justification for start-up aid in its proposed form. The Commission should not depart from its long-standing hostility to operating aid for reasons of perceived …

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Mario Monti’S Legacy: A U.S. Perspective, William Kolasky Apr 2005

Mario Monti’S Legacy: A U.S. Perspective, William Kolasky

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Antitrust Series

The departure of Commissioner Mario Monti from his post as the EC Commissioner for competition policy provides a good opportunity to reflect upon the achievements and perceived failures of the European Commission in the field of antitrust law over the past five years. This paper attempts to do so on the basis of six core principles of sound competition policy. Under the first principle, it is undisputable that the Commission under Commissioner Monti’s leadership has been at the forefront of the international efforts undertaken in the fight against cartels. Second, despite some weaknesses in areas such as conglomerate mergers or …

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Pharma Bulletin - Spring 2005, Mark Heller, Hollie Baker, Robert Barry, James Burling, Suyong Kim Apr 2005

Pharma Bulletin - Spring 2005, Mark Heller, Hollie Baker, Robert Barry, James Burling, Suyong Kim

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Antitrust Series

FDA to Create Drug Safety Board In February 2005, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it will create a new independent Drug Safety Oversight Board (DSB) to oversee the management of drug safety issues within the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER). The FDA Commissioner will appoint individuals from the FDA and medical experts from other Health and Human Services agencies and government departments to the DSB, which also will consult with other medical experts and patient and consumer group representatives. Additionally, the FDA is proposing a new “Drug Watch” web page for emerging data and risk …

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Oracle In Brussels, Christian Duvernoy, Sven Völcker Mar 2005

Oracle In Brussels, Christian Duvernoy, Sven Völcker

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Antitrust Series

It was hands across the water when both a U.S. district court and the European Commission cleared the $10.3 billion merger of Oracle and PeopleSoft. The Department of Justice, which had opposed the deal, had decided not to appeal its defeat in the San Francisco court, and it is thought that the Commission took this as a sign that U.S. regulators would not take it amiss if their European counterparts also let the merger proceed. In any event, there was none of the resentment and outrage that bubbled over not so long ago when U.S. antitrust authorities approved the GE/Honeywell …

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The Ftc And State Action: Evolving Views On The Proper Role Of Government, John T. Delacourt, Todd Zywicki Mar 2005

The Ftc And State Action: Evolving Views On The Proper Role Of Government, John T. Delacourt, Todd Zywicki

George Mason University School of Law Working Papers Series

The state action doctrine was born in an era of exceptional confidence in government, with governmental entities widely regarded as unbiased and conscientious defenders of the public interest. Over time, however, more cautious and skeptical theories of government began to gain sway. In particular, the school of thought known as “public choice” – which holds that governmental entities, like private firms, will act in their economic self-interest – began to influence both legal theory and competition policy. Indeed, a close examination of recent state action case law suggests that public choice thinking has driven a slow, but consistent, evolution of …

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