Law Commons^™

The Economics Of Payment Cards, Marc Rysman, Julian Wright

Marc Rysman

We review the law and economics of payment cards. We focus on the recent economics literature on two-sided markets, and discuss the antitrust and regulatory treatment of interchange fees, card surcharging, and other issues.

Lessons From At&T'S Flop: How To Grow In The Technology Industry While Avoiding Section 7 Antitrust Obstacles, John T. Soma

JOHN T SOMA

This article is one of the first to provide a comprehensive analysis of AT&T’s attempted merger with T-Mobile USA, and the Oracle/PeopleSoft successful merger. As seen from these two mergers, the outcome of Section 7 cases is no longer predictable. Our article reviews these two mergers, and concludes with a discussion of the lessons learned and outlines the future trends expected in tech mergers. This article is significant and timely because we believe that the risk of failure in a large scale tech merger is large enough, that other approaches need to be taken to achieve the desired merger goals, …

Can The Supreme Court Be Fixed? Lessons From Judicial Activism In First Amendment And Sherman Act Jurisprudence, Warren S. Grimes

Warren S Grimes

The Supreme Court has become an unelected superlegislature that, instead of narrowly deciding cases or controversies, tends to issue sweeping policy decisions that deprive democratic institutions at federal, state and local levels of their appropriate democratic role. Part I of this paper describes content-neutral measures of judicial activism, most repeatedly acknowledged by the Court. Part II addresses specific examples of judicial activism in Supreme Court decisions involving the Sherman Act and First Amendment election law cases. Part III concludes by urging a public debate on possible reforms of the Court, some easily implemented, others more involved, that could constrain judicial …

Can The Supreme Court Be Fixed? Lessons From Judicial Activism In First Amendment And Sherman Act Cases, Warren S. Grimes

Warren S Grimes

The Court has strayed from its role as a decider of cases or controversies to become an unelected policy board that undermines democratic institutions at the federal, state, and local levels. Part I of this paper describes content-neutral measures of judicial activism, most repeatedly acknowledged by the Court. Part II addresses specific examples of judicial activism in Supreme Court decisions involving the Sherman Act and First Amendment election law cases. Part III concludes by urging a public debate on possible reforms of the Court, some easily implemented, others more involved, that could constrain judicial activism and restore the Court’s primary …

Clarifying State Action Immunity Under The Antitrust Laws: Ftc V. Phoebe Putney Health System, Inc., Angela Diveley

Angela Diveley

The tension between federalism and national competition policy has come to a head. The state action doctrine finds its basis in principles of federalism, permitting states to replace free competition with alternative regulatory regimes they believe better serve the public interest. Public restraints have a unique ability to undermine the regime of free competition that provides the basis of U.S.- and state-commerce policies. Nevertheless, preservation of federalism remains an important rationale for protecting such restraints. The doctrine has elusive contours, however, which have given rise to circuit splits and overbroad application that threatens to subvert the state action doctrine’s dual …

Search, Essential Facilities, And The Antitrust Duty To Deal, Marina Lao

Marina Lao

The core of the gathering antitrust case against Google seems to be that it favors its own or its affiliates’ content over that of its competitors in ancillary markets in the unpaid search results. Seeking the competitive advantages inherent in integration, which is what preferential treatment of one’s own property is about, is usually not unlawful. This paper examines whether “essential facilities” and the duty-to-deal nonetheless provide a basis for prohibiting this practice, as some have suggested, and concludes that they do not.

On the threshold monopoly power issue, most assume, based on Google’s high percentage of general search queries, …

Search, Essential Facilities, And The Antitrust Duty To Deal, Marina Lao

Marina Lao

The core of the gathering antitrust case against Google seems to be that it favors its own or its affiliates’ content over that of its competitors in ancillary markets in the unpaid search results. Seeking the competitive advantages inherent in integration, which is what preferential treatment of one’s own property is about, is usually not unlawful. This paper examines whether “essential facilities” and the duty-to-deal nonetheless provide a basis for prohibiting this practice, as some have suggested, and concludes that they do not.

On the threshold monopoly power issue, most assume, based on Google’s high percentage of general search queries, …

Search, Essential Facilities, And The Antitrust Duty To Deal, Marina Lao

Marina Lao

The core of the gathering antitrust case against Google seems to be that it favors its own or its affiliates’ content over that of its competitors in ancillary markets in the unpaid search results. Seeking the competitive advantages inherent in integration, which is what preferential treatment of one’s own property is about, is usually not unlawful. This paper examines whether “essential facilities” and the duty-to-deal nonetheless provide a basis for prohibiting this practice, as some have suggested, and concludes that they do not.

On the threshold monopoly power issue, most assume, based on Google’s high percentage of general search queries, …

The New News: Challenges Of Monetization, Engagement, And Protection Of News Organizations' Online Content, Christine Katherine Lesicko

Christine K Lesicko

As news organizations continue to struggle with their business models and ways to best employ new technology, advertising and subscription revenues continue to fall or remain stagnant and layoffs continue to rise. This study examines potential ways for news organizations to both protect their content from unwanted piracy and monetize content in order to continue to produce quality and timely news. This paper explores the history of news and protections given to news content by Congress and the courts. The study goes on to examine court cases that influenced the current legal landscape of content protection for news organizations. The …

Regulators As Market-Makers: Accountable Care Organizations And Competition Policy, Thomas L. Greaney

Thomas L. Greaney

Of the many elements animating structural change under health reform, Accountable Care Organizations have drawn the greatest attention. The ACO strategy entails regulatory interventions that at once aim to reshape the health care delivery system, improve outcomes, promote adoption of evidence based medicine and supportive technology, and create a platform for controlling costs under payment system reform. Ambitious aims to be sure. Implementation, however, has proved a wrenching process. This article looks at the intersection of markets and regulation under the Affordable Care Act. Specifically, it analyzes regulatory interventions under the Medicare Shared Savings Program designed to foster commercial market …

Grounding Into A Double Standard: Understanding & Repealing The Curt Flood Act, Brett J. Butz

Brett J Butz

This article calls for an end to Major League Baseball’s statutory exemption from antitrust regulation for acts that are considered part of the “business of baseball.” The Curt Flood Act, as it is colloquially called, was a Congressional mistake; the product years of faulty analysis and absurd holdings by the Supreme Court. This article will explain how the exemption came to fruition, outline the various problems with its inception, and conclude by proposing that Major League Baseball should be subject to antitrust regulations, just like all other professional sports leagues.