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Antitrust And Trade Regulation Bulletin Ftc Releases Report On Intellectual Property And Antitrust, James Burling, John C. Christie Jr., Michelle Miller
Antitrust And Trade Regulation Bulletin Ftc Releases Report On Intellectual Property And Antitrust, James Burling, John C. Christie Jr., Michelle Miller
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Antitrust Series
Last year the FTC and the Department of Justice jointly held hearings focused on the current balance of competition and patent law and policy. (See our December, 2001 Antitrust and Trade Regulation Bulletin at www.haledorr.com/antitrust.) The hearings spanned more than 24 days, involving more than 300 panelists and 100 separate written submissions. The first tangible by-product of those sessions came on October 28, 2003, with the release of a 266-page FTC report containing specific recommendations for changes in the existing patent system (the Patent Report)(http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2003/10/creport .htm). A second, joint report with DOJ, containing specific recommendations for antitrust, is promised for …
The Summary Judgment Standard And Pleading Requirements For Conspiracy Claims Relying On The Doctrine Of Conscious Parallelism, Robert Bell, Lee Greenfield, Veronica Kanye, William Kolasky, Jim Lowe, Doug Melamed, Thomas Mueller, Ali Stoeppelwerth
The Summary Judgment Standard And Pleading Requirements For Conspiracy Claims Relying On The Doctrine Of Conscious Parallelism, Robert Bell, Lee Greenfield, Veronica Kanye, William Kolasky, Jim Lowe, Doug Melamed, Thomas Mueller, Ali Stoeppelwerth
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Antitrust Series
Last spring there was growing concern in the wake of the Seventh Circuit’s decision in In re High Fruc-tose Corn Syrup1 that the courts might be adopting a more receptive attitude toward antitrust claims based on allegations of consciously parallel pricing and other behavior in highly concentrated industries. Three decisions in the last few months suggest that High Fructose Corn Syrup may remain an aberration and that most courts remain deeply skeptical of claims that seek to infer agreement from consciously parallel conduct without any hard evidence of conspiracy. Two of these three decisions, Williamson Oil Co., Inc. v. Phillip …
The Merger Of Guidelines And The Integration Of Efficiencies Into Antitrust Review Of Horizontal Mergers, William Kolasky, Andrew Dick
The Merger Of Guidelines And The Integration Of Efficiencies Into Antitrust Review Of Horizontal Mergers, William Kolasky, Andrew Dick
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Antitrust Series
There is a widening consensus among jurisdictions with competition laws that “the basic objective of competition policy is to protect competition as the most appropriate means of ensuring the efficient allocation of resources—and thus efficientmarket outcomes—in free market economies.” 1 As this statement indicates, it is efficiency, not competition, that is the ultimate goal of the antitrust laws. One of the senior economists of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division put it very well recently: “efficiency is the goal, competition is the process.”2 When the competitive process is allowed to run its course—unfettered by exclusionary practices or anticompetitive agreements among firms—the …
State Aid And The Financing Of Public Services: A Comment On The Altmark Judgment Of The Court Of Justice, Frederic Louis, Anne Vallery
State Aid And The Financing Of Public Services: A Comment On The Altmark Judgment Of The Court Of Justice, Frederic Louis, Anne Vallery
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Antitrust Series
On 24 July 2003, the European Court of Justice handed down its judgment in the Altmark case, ending the controversy surrounding the application of the EC state aid control regime to compensation granted to undertakings in consideration for public service obligations imposed on them.
Antitrust And Competition Law Update: Busy Times For U.S. Antitrust Enforcement, Robert Bell, Lee Greenfield, Veronica Kayne, William Kolasky, Jim Lowe, Doug Melamed, Thomas Mueller, Ali Stoeppelwerth
Antitrust And Competition Law Update: Busy Times For U.S. Antitrust Enforcement, Robert Bell, Lee Greenfield, Veronica Kayne, William Kolasky, Jim Lowe, Doug Melamed, Thomas Mueller, Ali Stoeppelwerth
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Antitrust Series
The last several weeks have seen a flurry of important developments in antitrust enforcement, with major decisions in one merger and one joint venture case, an important Federal Trade Commission policy statement about disgorgement and restitution remedies, and an announced FTC challenge to a consummated merger. Each of these developments is significant standing alone; collectively, they reflect extremely active Justice Department and FTC antitrust enforcement programs, with the agencies at times adopting more aggressive positions than some might have expected from a Republican administration.
United States V. Amr Corp.: Non-Traditional Cost Measures And Expanding Predatory Pricing Exposure, Robert Bell, Lee Greenfield, Veronica Kayne, William Kolasky, Jim Lowe, Doug Melamed, Thomas Mueller, Ali Stoeppelwerth
United States V. Amr Corp.: Non-Traditional Cost Measures And Expanding Predatory Pricing Exposure, Robert Bell, Lee Greenfield, Veronica Kayne, William Kolasky, Jim Lowe, Doug Melamed, Thomas Mueller, Ali Stoeppelwerth
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Antitrust Series
Historically, industries with low average variable costs (AVC) have been as a practical matter largely immune from predatory pricing claims. The reason is simple. Predatory pricing claims require the plaintiff to establish, among other things, that the defendant priced below an appropriate measure of cost. Because marginal costs are notoriously difficult to measure, courts have commonly compared the defendant’s prices to AVC (total costs that vary with output/units of output). Consequently, in industries where average variable costs are very low, plaintiffs are unlikely to be able to prove that defendants have priced below AVC, even when defendants have drastically slashed …