Law Commons^™

Deconstructing Bell Atlantic V. Twombly, Celine Mui

Celine Mui

In 2007, the Supreme Court in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 127 S.Ct. 1955 (2007), changed not just antitrust parallel conduct claims but the entire landscape for complaints at the pleading stage. Though the case is known to be of great importance, it has also been known to be confusing and fraught with contradictions, causing great uncertainty for assessing the adequacy of a pleading. Given the importance of Twombly for pleadings and antitrust jurisprudence, the Supreme Court should clarify the issues arising out of the decision for the benefit of the lower courts that have struggled with …

Tying, Price Discrimination And Antitrust Policy, Herbert Hovenkamp

Herbert Hovenkamp

ABSTRACT

A tying arrangement is a seller’s requirement that a customer may purchase its “tying” product only by taking its “tied” product. In a variable proportion tie the purchaser can vary her purchases of the tied product. For example, a customer might purchase a single printer, but either a contract or technological design requires her to purchase varying numbers of printer cartridges from the same manufacturer. Such arrangements are widely considered to be price discrimination devices, but their economic effects have been controversial.

Price discrimination comes in various “degrees.” In third degree price discrimination the seller isolates two or more …

Ip And Antitrust: Errands Into The Wilderness, Herbert Hovenkamp

Herbert Hovenkamp

IP AND ANTITRUST: ERRANDS INTO THE WILDERNESS

ABSTRACT

Antitrust and intellectual property law both seek to promote economic welfare by facilitating competition and investment in innovation. At various times both antitrust and IP law have wandered off this course and have become more driven by special interests. Today, antitrust and IP are on very different roads to reform. Antitrust began an Errand into the Wilderness in the late 1970s with a series of Supreme Court decisions that linked the plaintiff’s harm and right to obtain a remedy to the competition-furthering goals of antitrust policy. Today, patent law has begun its …

The Evolution Of The Chinese Merger Guidelines: A Work In Progress Integrating Global Consensus And Domestic Imperatives, Susan Beth Farmer

Susan Beth Farmer

Abstract: The Evolution of the Chinese Merger Guidelines: A Work in Progress Integrating Global Consensus and Domestic Imperatives

China is among the most recent entrants into global competition enforcement, having adopted the first competition law of general application, the Anti-Monopoly Law (AML) after more than a decade of drafting. The AML and Merger Notification Thresholds, rules issued by decree of the State Council, became effective on August 3, 2008. Both the law and the guidelines were subject to public review and comment, and went through a number of drafts before final adoption.

This article is a comprehensive comparison of merger …

Opportunism, Uncertainty, And Relational Contracting - Antitrust Rules In The Film Industry, Ryan M. Riegg

Ryan M. Riegg

A Comparison Among The Director Networks In The Main Listed Companies In France, Germany, Italy, And The United Kingdom, Paolo Santella, Carlo Drago, Andrea Polo, Enrico Gagliardi

Carlo Drago

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on director interlocks by illustrating and analysing the interlocking directorships among the Italian, French, German, UK and US listed Blue Chips. The comparison of the five countries considered shows that two national models stand out. On the one hand a model made of a high number of companies linked to each other through a small number of shared directors who serve on several company boards at the time (France, Germany, and Italy). On the other hand, in the UK much fewer companies are connected to each other essentially through …

Antitrust And Associations Handbook (Contributing Author), Thomas Horton

Thomas J. Horton

No abstract provided.

Application Of Article 82 Ec To Abusive Exclusionary Conduct – Refusal To Supply Or To License, Hans Henrik Lidgard

Hans Henrik Lidgard

Departing from fundamental concepts, this paper briefly recaps the case-law development with respect to refusal to deal on both sides of the Atlantic; revisits the EU Guidelines and recent U.S. development, and finally considers refusal to license. All with the purpose to understand whether the 2009 Guidelines actually restate the law as it stands today.

Applying Litigation Economics To Patent Settlements: Why Reverse Payments Should Be Per Se Illegal, Joshua P. Davis

Joshua P. Davis

One of the most pressing issues in antitrust law is how to assess settlements of patent disputes that involve payments from brand name to generic drug manufacturers. At stake are billions of dollars, both in inflated prices to consumers attempting to meet their medical needs and in exposure to liability for drug manufacturers. This Article applies the economics of dispute resolution to clarify the costs and benefits of various approaches to assessing patent settlements in the context of the Hatch-Waxman Act. It concludes that reverse payments should be banned under a per se rule, unless and until courts are presented …

Opportunism, Uncertainty, And Relational Contracting - Antitrust Rules In The Film Industry, Ryan M. Riegg

Ryan M. Riegg

As Semelhanças E As Diferenças: Regulação, Concorrência E All That Jazz, Victor J. Calvete

Victor J. Calvete

As the improbable reader will be aware, the regulatory virus (RV) is everywhere. The RV occurs whenever and wherever state run activities, performed (almost) free of charge by badly paid civil servants, are superseded by state run activities, performed by well paid workers of an "independent" authority, made affluent by "regulatory charges" levied on the regulated sector. In Portugal, the RV grew strong and fast, and so we have no short supply of "regulators", even if only by name: with civil service lingering, shrinking, and shaking, being part of an independent "authority" (or a dependent one, for that matter) gives …