Antitrust and Trade Regulation Commons^™

This Is Not A Game: The Addictive Allure Of Digital Companions, Nizan Geslevich Packin, Karni Chagal-Feferkorn

Seattle University Law Review

Artificial Intelligence (AI) agents have become an inescapable part of modern childhood, reshaping education, leisure activities, entertainment, and social interaction. From AI-powered tutors that adapt to individual learning styles to emotionally responsive chatbots that simulate human companionship, these systems promise unprecedented personalization, cognitive stimulation, and social support. However, these benefits mask significant risks that remain unregulated and inadequately addressed.

Although adults are also susceptible to forming deep emotional bonds with AI companions—often trusting them as if they possessed genuine understanding and empathy—children are particularly vulnerable. Their misplaced trust can more severely distort social development, weaken critical thinking, and foster unhealthy …

Regulatory Personhood: The Elixir For Redundancy Between The Sec And The Pcaob, Sarah J. Williams

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

This Article analyzes enforcement activity against public company auditors during the agencies’ coexistence for the purpose of unmasking the alleged villainous duplication, budgetary waste, and agency in-fighting that was purportedly created by Congress when it endowed the PCAOB with enforcement powers already existing in the SEC’s arsenal. The Article examines enforcement cases brought by the SEC and the PCAOB against accounting firms and accountants associated with such firms that relate to poor performance in conducting public company audits during the period in which both agencies were in existence. Such research bears upon the effectiveness of the current system of …

Adopting Permissioned Blockchain Models To Enhance Consumer Protection And Comply With Consumer Protection Laws, Erika Buenrostro

Featured Student Work

Blockchain technology enables decentralized, peer-to-peer transactions and data management, offering transparency while raising data privacy and consumer protection concerns. As the current administration promotes blockchain adoption, including cryptocurrency, more users and businesses will likely integrate the technology. This thesis provides a framework to help businesses adopt blockchain while ensuring compliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). To prevent data mishandling and legal penalties, consumers and businesses must stay informed about the risks and evolving state privacy laws.

A CCPA-compliant approach retains blockchain’s benefits through a permissioned model, storing only non-personal (neutral) data on-chain while keeping personal information off-chain in …

How Tom Brady Saved Baseball: A New Understanding Of Union Decertification In Professional Sports Lockouts, Alec Whipple

William & Mary Business Law Review

Labor negotiations in professional sports have always been held at the crossroads of labor law and antitrust law. Players are bound by collective bargaining agreements that are governed by labor law but must negotiate these agreements with multi-owner collectives that typically engage in anti-competitive conduct: namely, locking out players during labor disputes. Furthermore, the non-statutory labor exemption has prevented players from using antitrust remedies to combat these employer actions. Players’ unions have fought back against owners in recent years by pursuing the unorthodox counter-strategy of formally decertifying as a union in order to file antitrust litigation. However, the 2011 ruling …

Who Gets The Short End Of The Stick?: The Impact Of The 2023 Merger Guidelines On Companies, Workers, And The Labor Market, Alfred J. Polizzotto

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

This Note argues that although the introduction of additional criteria of analysis of a merger on the labor market is positive for consumers, workers, employees, and the overall public, the 2023 Guidelines insufficiently balance the effects of a merger for both workers and consumers and fail to consider all relevant factors within the labor market, such as inflation rates and distinguishing between wage and non-wage benefits. Instead, the 2023 Guidelines should balance the implications for each interested group to provide a more accurate decision as to the merits of a merger.

Part I of this Note will provide background …

The Healing Power Of Antitrust, Theodosia Stavroulaki

Northwestern University Law Review

Millions of Americans live in hospital deserts—communities where people lack geographic access to hospitals and primary care physicians. People living in these deserts often miss doctor appointments, delay necessary care, and stop adhering to their treatment. In this way, hospital deserts exacerbate the health disparities plaguing America. This Article demonstrates that hospital deserts are not inevitable but the result of several business strategies—including noncompete agreements and merging with competitors—and antitrust enforcers’ unwillingness to recognize these harmful practices as antitrust violations. To cure the issue of hospital deserts, this Article makes three proposals. First, antitrust enforcers and the courts should expand …

Louboutin Lawfare: Exploring Conceptions Of Sanctions' Utility Through Export Controls On Luxury Goods, Vinita R. Singh

Northwestern University Law Review

There is widespread consensus amongst scholars that sanctions—the deliberate withdrawal of customary trade and financial relations—do not work. Despite this perception, states are deploying sanctions at an increasing rate. This Article explains this paradox by arguing the predominant notion of sanctions’ utility employed by scholars is unduly constrained, narrowly focusing on the ability of such measures to modify the behavior of sanctioned parties while disregarding the alternative benefits this instrument can deliver. To support this argument, this Article uses export controls on luxury goods deployed in connection with the Russo–Ukraine War as a case study. Under prevailing perceptions of sanctions’ …

The Big Cost Of Small Farms, Tammi S. Etheridge

Scholarly Articles

Americans love meat. We celebrate our independence with steaks on the grill, we enjoy our favorite pastime with hot dogs, and we give thanks with turkey. Our love of meat is so ingrained in our culture that, historically, small increases in meat prices have driven the populace to riot. Today, meat prices are rising. Simultaneously, the largest meat processors and packagers are seeing record profits. Consumers, in turn, are outraged. Their emotions are being fueled by politicians who blame rising profits on a pandemic of greed and collusion and then argue that rigid antitrust enforcement is the only solution.

This …

Yars 18(31)

Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies

Full issue 18(31)

Muzaffer Eroğlu, Matthias Finger, And Emin Köksal (Ed.), The Economics And Regulation Of Digitalisation: The Case Of Türkiye, Routledge 2024, 296 P., Hanna Stakheyeva

Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies

In an age where digital transformation profoundly influences governance, commerce, and public policy, The Economics and Regulation of Digitalisation: The Case of Türkiye presents a timely and authoritative examination of Türkiye’s evolving digital ecosystem. Edited by Muzaffer Eroğlu (Boğaziçi University), Matthias Finger (İTÜ), and Emin Köksal (Bahçeşehir University), this multidisciplinary volume offers a rigorous analysis of digitalisation processes across diverse sectors—including infrastructure, FinTech, and social media—while critically addressing Türkiye’s legal and regulatory responses, particularly in the realm of competition law in digital markets. What sets this work apart is its dual focus: it positions Türkiye within broader global digital trends …

"Cross-Country Pollination: Competition Law Systems In Eastern Europe" Conference In Florence, 13 December 2024, Pauliina Scarabattoli

Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies

No abstract provided.

The First Competition Law Association In Bulgaria – Activity Report In 2024, Ekaterina Rousseva

Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies

Activity report 2024

Europeanization Of Georgian Competition Law, Zurab Gvelesiani

Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies

This case comment examines a landmark decision by the Georgian Competition and Consumer Agency (hereinafter, “GCCA”; “the Agency”) concerning coordinated pricing among major pharmaceutical distributors in Georgia’s state-funded oncology medication program. The GCCA found that four leading companies – Aversi Pharma, PSP, Gepha, and Mermisi – repeatedly submitted identical price offers in a closed procurement portal, in violation of Article 7 of the Georgian Law on Competition, which prohibits restrictive agreements. The agency’s findings were based on indirect economic evidence, including the statistical improbability of such pricing alignment across 88 instances, ultimately leading to fines exceeding 53 million GEL. The …

Table Of Contents

Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies

Table of Contents

Editorial Foreword, Agata Jurkowska‑Gomułka

Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies

No abstract provided.

Forced Arbitration In Tesla’S Consumer Contracts, Abigail Hug

Arbitration Brief

The Supreme Court has supported the FAA’s preference for enforcing arbitration clauses and has extended it to forced arbitration provisions. In DirecTV v. Imburgia, the Supreme Court upheld a mandatory arbitration clause in a consumer service agreement, which additionally prohibited class arbitration. The Court reasoned that the FAA clearly states that written provisions in contracts that mandate arbitration are enforceable as all other contracts are enforceable. Companies throughout the United States use forced arbitration for employment and consumer contracts, including those for car leases. Forced arbitration clauses in consumer contracts ensure that customers settle their disputes with a company through …

National Security Issues Arising In Anticorruption Enforcement, Anthony J. Lewis, Aisling O'Shea

American University National Security Law Brief

The overlap between national security and corruption has long been recognized; however, the government’s views on the nature of the overlap have shifted over time. For instance, in June 2021, the Biden administration announced an initiative to combat corruption as a core national security interest. The administration ordered a review by fifteen government agencies and offices, including the Central Intelligence Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Then, in February 2025, the Trump administration declared that “overexpansive and unpredictable” enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (“FCPA”) “actively harms American competitiveness and, therefore, national security.” …

Time Is Money And Anticompetitive: The Luxury Watch Industry's Weaponization Of Intellectual Property Against The Right To Repair, Isha Jadhav

American University Business Law Review

Since 2010, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Department of Justice (DOJ), legislators, and activists have jointly worked together to implement consumer rights in repairing personal property on both a state and federal level in the United States. These efforts have largely targeted the automobile and technology industries; these sectors have been known to “tie” their goods to authorized repair services, limiting consumer choice on where, how, and when to repair their goods. However, this issue is not limited to the automobile and technology industries, as luxury watches have gained newfound popularity, creating right to repair issues within the industry.

Despite …

Through A Glass Darkly: How Securities Disclosures Give A Distorted View Of The Economy, Gerald F. Davis

Seattle University Law Review

Our understanding of the American economy often relies on stylized facts derived from mandatory disclosures by listed corporations. Data vendors like Standard & Poor’s vacuum up 10Ks and proxy statements into databases, and scholars distill these into tentative maps. This may have been adequate for a postwar economy centered on asset-heavy manufacturers, but it is increasingly out of step with an information-based economy. Companies listed on the stock market are fewer in number and less representative than they were, light in tangible assets and people, and heavy on IP. Basic facts such as what industry they are in are increasingly …

Antitrust In The Health Care Sector, Doug Ross

Chapters in Books

This chapter is an opportunity for students to apply the concepts addressed elsewhere in the book, but at a deeper level and in the context of a sector that accounts for a very large share of antitrust activity on the part of government enforcers and private plaintiffs. The topics chosen illustrate some of the nuances in applying antitrust law in the real world and show how the application of antitrust principles has evolved over time. The chapter also raises important policy questions regarding how to apply antitrust to a sector that is rife with market failures, including what tools and …

Niedoskonałości Rynku I Pomoc Publiczna W Transporcie Kolejowym, Elzbieta Głowicka

internetowy Kwartalnik Antymonopolowy i Regulacyjny (internet Quarterly on Antitrust and Regulation)

Rail transport has a number of characteristics that prevent it from operating efficiently through market forces alone. These include: the natural monopoly of rail infrastructure, the external effects of companies’ decisions, public service nature, coordination failure, information asymmetry, and imperfect competition. State aid to railway undertakings can influence economic incentives to enhance market efficiency. The European Commission’s draft guidelines on land and multimodal transport and its block exemptions in the transport sector address this need.

The Federal Maritime Commission’S New Framework For Ocean Carrier Accountability: Analysis Of The Mcs Industries And Oj Commerce Decisions, Heewan Noh, Jie Shi

Cardozo Law Review de•novo

This article examines two 2024 Federal Maritime Commission (FMC or “Commission”) cases that significantly impact the interpretation of ocean carrier accountability under the Shipping Act of 1984: MCS Industries, Inc. v. COSCO Shipping Lines Co. Ltd. and OJ Commerce, LLC v. Hamburg Südamerikanische Dampfschifffahrts-Gesellschaft A/S & Co. KG. This article argues that the FMC, whose mission is to “[e]nsure a competitive and reliable international ocean transportation supply system that supports the U.S. economy and protects the public from unfair and deceptive practices,” continues to make ongoing efforts to clarify and enforce protecting shippers’ rights. These efforts focus particularly on (i) …

The Score Act Is Unconstitutional: Private Nondelegation Problems With Congress’S Latest Attempt To Regulate College Sports, Sam C. Ehrlich, Ryan M. Rodenberg

Cardozo Law Review de•novo

The Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements Act (“SCORE Act”) is Congress’s most ambitious effort yet to bring stability to college sports, codifying the recent House settlement while granting sweeping regulatory power to private athletic associations such as the National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) and the College Sports Commission (“CSC”). However, by delegating policymaking authority to these private, self-interested entities without any sort of public oversight, the bill raises serious constitutional concerns under the private nondelegation doctrine. Drawing on parallels to a string of litigation involving the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (“HISA”) and recent Supreme Court signals, …

Competitive Effects Of T-Mobile/Sprint: Analysis Of A "4-To-3" Merger, Thomas W. Hazlett, Robert W. Crandall

Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review

Mergers in the mobile telecommunications industry are of keen interest to policymakers and scholars. This sector often experiences high concentration levels, driven by pronounced economies of scale and scope, alongside substantial regulatory barriers to entry created by radio spectrum allocations. Hence, antitrust authorities frequently struggle with the tradeoff between the benefits of enhanced synergies and the potentially adverse effects of increased market power. This tension results in varied outcomes from regulatory agencies when approving (or blocking) mergers. Between 2012 and 2016, for instance, four E.U. nations (Austria, Ireland, Germany, and Italy) allowed the consummation of “4-to-3” mobile telecommunications transactions, while …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Corporate Scenarios: Drawing Lessons From History, Madison Condon

Seattle University Law Review

As corporations are increasingly pressed to reveal information about their exposure to climate-related risks, they are often asked to undertake and disclose the outcome of “scenario analysis.” In this exercise, corporations, including financial institutions, examine how their business would fare under different pathways the future may take. One oft-used scenario, for example, is the International Energy Agency’s “Net-Zero by 2050: A Roadmap for the Energy Sector.” This Essay presents a history of the use of scenarios as a corporate planning tool, particularly in the oil industry, arguing that it is key for understanding our present moment and the role of …

Shareholder Expression In A Time Of Heightened Political Tension, Aaron A. Dhir

Seattle University Law Review

In this article, I provide context for my forthcoming research project on shareholder proposals and racial equity audits. Since the murder of George Floyd in May of 2020, progressive shareholder actors have increasingly used the proposal mechanism to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice-related goals. These proposals have frequently gone beyond requesting the usual corporate fare of diversity trainings, intersectionality workshops, affinity groups, etc. Instead, a more ambitious type of proposal asks corporate America to conduct racial equity audits, defined as “an independent, objective and holistic analysis of a company’s policies, practices, products, services and efforts to combat systemic racism …

Corporate Governance Speech, Sarah C. Haan

Seattle University Law Review

The State has always regulated the intra-firm communications that make corporate governance possible, most commonly by mandating disclosures of information by a corporation to its shareholders. Some such laws are labeled “securities regulation,” but securities regulation is a broad category that extends to speech by actors who are outside the corporate enterprise as well. Also, the conventional securities regulation category does not capture all such laws; other examples, including informationforcing mandates, can be found in state corporate law. This Article uses the term “corporate governance speech” to describe the communications among shareholders, directors, and officers through which corporate governance is …

Dark Accounting Matter, Colleen Honigsberg

Seattle University Law Review

Physicists calculate that approximately 85% of the matter in the universe is composed of “dark matter” that “does not absorb, reflect, or emit electromagnetic radiation and is therefore difficult to detect.” The S&P 500 currently trades at a price-to-book value of 4.2, suggesting that book value accounts for less than 20% of the S&P 500’s market value. The remaining 80% appears nowhere in these firms’ balance sheets—it is invisible to contemporary accounting techniques and constitutes “dark accounting matter.”

Some “dark accounting matter” is composed of factors commonly described as components of “ESG.” Human capital, for example, is an intangible asset …

The Employees’ Dilemma: Balancing Internal Reporting, Whistleblowing, And Insider Trading Risks, Geeyoung Min

Seattle University Law Review

The Essay examines how recent developments in insider trading regulations and whistleblower reward programs can lead to unintended and counterproductive results of discouraging employees from using internal reporting channels within corporate compliance programs. While the presence of a robust and well-functioning corporate compliance program is a critical factor both in mitigating the level of public enforcement actions against companies and in protecting corporate managers from liability in private litigation, these programs often provide little incentive for employees to report potential misconduct internally.

Corporate compliance programs are designed to promote the upward information flow within the company, which is essential for …