Communications Law Commons^™

The Dark Side Of Reputation, Emily Kadens

Cardozo Law Review

This Article seeks to contribute to the literature challenging the role of reputation in disciplining commerce. The historical disputes discussed here, which arose in the supposedly privately-ordered zone of the premodern merchant, add nuance to our understanding of how commerce works in the real world. Part I briefly reviews some of the problems the economic and network theory literature has identified with reputation. Part II turns to the history and demonstrates how trust could be cheaply manufactured due in part to potential partners' failure to look beyond superficial indicia of reputation. Part III then considers why reputation might have been …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Peculiar Case Of State Network Neutrality Regulation, Thomas B. Nachbar

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

In the wake of the FCC's recent decision to rescind federal network neutrality rules, several states have implemented their own network neutrality regulations, some in the form of procurement conditions on state contracts and others affirmative mandates requiring broadband Internet service providers to observe neutrality in providing service. The federal government and industry trade associations have challenged the state network neutrality laws as both preempted and unconstitutional under the "dormant Commerce Clause" doctrine.

This paper analyzes those state restrictions as a matter of constitutional law. The Court has recently changed dormant Commerce Clause law, liberalizing those limits with regard to …

The Separation Of Platforms And Commerce, Lina M. Khan

Faculty Scholarship

A handful of digital platforms mediate a growing share of online commerce and communications. By structuring access to markets, these firms function as gatekeepers for billions of dollars in economic activity. One feature dominant digital platforms share is that they have inte­grated across business lines such that they both operate a platform and market their own goods and services on it. This structure places domi­nant platforms in direct competition with some of the businesses that de­pend on them, creating a conflict of interest that platforms can exploit to further entrench their dominance, thwart competition, and stifle innovation.

This Article argues …

Blind Spot: The Attention Economy And The Law, Tim Wu

Faculty Scholarship

Human attention, valuable and limited in supply, is a resource. It has become commonplace, especially in the media and technology industries, to speak of an "attention economy" and of competition in "attention markets.” There is even an attentional currency, the "basic attention token," which purports to serve as a medium of exchange for user attention. Firms like Facebook and Google, which have emerged as two of the most important firms in the global economy, depend nearly exclusively on attention markets as a business model.

Yet despite the well-recognized commercial importance of attention markets, antitrust and consumer protection authorities have struggled …

China's Anti-Corruption Crackdown And The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Daniel C.K. Chow

Texas A&M Law Review

China’s highly publicized crackdown on corruption may affect the type and number of cases in China that arise under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), but it should not be assumed that the crackdown will necessarily lead to fewer FCPA prosecutions. Although there is some overlap of the goals of China’s corruption crackdown and the goals of the FCPA, China’s crackdown also serves important goals of the ruling Communist Party. The main goal of the current crackdown is to reinforce the Party’s power by targeting enemies and rivals of the current leadership. The crackdown is not aimed at prohibiting bribes …

Law School News: 'Marketplace Of Ideas' Imperiled (04-05-2018), David A. Logan

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Reaching For The Stars: A Proposal To The Ftc To Help Deter Astroturfing And Fake Reviews, Matthew Barish

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Fair Use & Fair Play: Olympic Marketing In The Information Age, Alex Locke

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

The note critiques the overreach of intellectual property protections surrounding the Olympics, which have led to hyperlitigation, stifled public engagement, and disproportionately harmed smaller entities while benefiting large corporations. It proposes reforming the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act by incorporating a fair use framework, modeled after the Copyright Royalty Board, to balance intellectual property enforcement with public participation and transparency. This approach aims to address the challenges posed by ambush marketing and sponsorship protection in the modern media landscape while ensuring equitable opportunities for all stakeholders.

The Trope Of Parity, Michael Del Priore

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

How The United States Postal Service (Usps) Could Encourage More Local Economic Development, Randall K. Johnson

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

The Judicial Role In Extraterritorial Application Of The Securities Exchange Act Of 1934: Vesco, William A. Aileo

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Quality Collusion: News, If It Ain’T Broke, Why Fix It?, Mark Mcmillan

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Astroturf Campaigns: Transparency In Telecom Merger Review, Victoria Peng

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Large telecommunications companies looking to merge spend millions of dollars in their lobbying efforts to clear regulatory hurdles and obtain approval for their proposed mergers. Corporations such as AT&T, Comcast, and Time Warner use public participation processes as vehicles to influence regulatory decision-making. In the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) merger review context, the notice- and-comment process and public hearings have become fertile breeding grounds for hidden corporate influence. Corporations spend millions on corporate social responsibility programs and call upon nonprofit organizations that receive their largesse to represent their corporate interests as grassroots interests when the FCC seeks public comment. This …

Beyond Transparency: The Semantics Of Rulemaking For An Open Internet, Reza Rajabiun

Indiana Law Journal

In trying to promote the development of an open Internet, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has primarily tried to encourage network providers to be transparent about their traffic management practices and quality of service prioritization policies. Dominant network operators have successfully challenged this minimalist approach to addressing end-user concerns about the rise of a two-tiered Internet, motivating the FCC to engage in yet another public consultation process to assess its future approach to the problem. This article maps the debate using Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools that allow us to build a systematic picture of the positions of the …

Closing Fireside Chat With The Assistant Attorney General For The U.S. Department Of Justice Antitrust Division, William Baer, Philip J. Weiser

Publications

This Closing Fireside Chat was the final session of the 16th annual Silicon Flatirons Center conference, The Digital Broadband Migration: The Evolving Industry Structure of the Digital Broadband Landscape, held on Feb. 1, 2016 in the Wittemyer Courtroom of the University of Colorado Law School.

"At the time this conference was held, William J. Baer was Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust in the United States Department of Justice. On April 17, 2016, President Obama asked Mr. Baer to become Acting Associate Attorney General of the United States. Video of this interview with Assistant Attorney General Baer is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C351xEX0h4g …

Newsroom: Fcc's Sohn On Consumer Protection, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Telecommunications - Joint Ventures - The Significance Of The At&T-Philips Joint Venture, Edward P. Hudson

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Ip Transition And The Need For Common Carrier Regulation, Nicholas Kokkinos

CommLaw Conspectus: Journal of Communications Law and Technology Policy (1993-2015)

No abstract provided.

Section 10 Forbearance: Asking The Right Questions To Get The Right Answers, George S. Ford, Lawrence J. Spiwak

CommLaw Conspectus: Journal of Communications Law and Technology Policy (1993-2015)

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 aimed to “provide for a pro-competitive, de-regulatory national policy framework designed to accelerate rapidly private sector deployment of advanced telecommunications and information technologies and services to all Americans….” Key to the Federal Communication Commission’s ability to satisfy this deregulatory mandate is Section 10 of the 1996 Act which provides the agency with express legal authority to forbear from enforcing certain portions of the Communications Act. In this paper, we use the agency’s Phoenix Forbearance Order as a template for outlining how the Commission can improve its forbearance analysis. Our analysis focuses on forbearance from the …

Apple And Amazon’S Antitrust Antics: Two Wrongs Don’T Make A Right, But Maybe They Should, Kerry Gutknecht

CommLaw Conspectus: Journal of Communications Law and Technology Policy (1993-2015)

No abstract provided.

Acum V. Emi, Daphne Barak-Erez, Zvi Zylbertal, Elyakim Rubinstein

Translated Opinions

[This abstract is not part of the Court's opinion and is provided for the reader's convenience. It has been translated from a Hebrew version prepared by Nevo Press Ltd. and is used with its kind permission.]

In 2004 the Director-General of the Antitrust Authority determined that the activity of ACUM (a corporation that operates to manage its members’ copyrights in musical works in Israel) constitutes a monopoly on managing copyright over musical works. In 2011 the Antitrust Tribunal (“the Tribunal”) approved the activity of ACUM as a cartel, subject to a series of requirements (“the permanent requirements”), which would be …

Fcc Ancillary Jurisdiction Over Internet And Broadband, Michael Botein

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Antitrust Enforcement And Sectoral Regulation: The Competition Policy Benefits Of Concurrent Enforcement In The Communications Sector, Jonathan Baker

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The US competition agencies – the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) – often share jurisdiction with sectoral regulators also charged with fostering competition, such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This article highlights how this institutional structure – concurrent jurisdiction – helps protect competition through the lens of recent US experiences involving the communications industry. It argues that concurrent jurisdiction is likely most effective when the communications regulator has independent access to industry information to limit capture, when the communications regulator can take a long-term perspective, when the antitrust agency can …

Telecommunications: Communications Law Reform, Jonathan Baker, Robert Mcdowell, Ajit Pai, Daniel Crane, Maureen Ohlhausen, Jennifer Elrod

Presentations

The transcript was published on 2013 Journal of Law, Technology & Policy University of Illinois Issue 1.

A Subsidy By Any Other Name: First Amendment Implications Of The Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act Of 1999, Andrew D. Cotlar

Federal Communications Law Journal

The Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999 (“SHVIA”) changed the face of the market for television video services by authorizing direct broadcast satellite carriers to carry local television stations within their own local markets. This Article discusses the carriage provisions of SHVIA, currently the subject of a First Amendment challenge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and also the basis upon which the Federal Communications Commission recently issued new rules. SHVIA poses some very interesting, potentially far-reaching First Amendment issues. This Article examines the mechanics of the law, as well as its constitutional implications.

Law And The Open Internet, Adam Candeub, Daniel Mccartney

Federal Communications Law Journal

The FCC has issued a new set of Internet access regulations and policies (namely Preserving the Open Internet Broadband Industry Practices, Report and Order, FCC 10-201, rel. Dec. 23, 2010), which would prohibit broadband service providers like AT&T or Comcast from discriminating against unaffiliated content providers. The FCC's proceedings, and the network neutrality debate, concentrate on two economic questions: (1) whether to broadband service providers can or will steer traffic to affiliated content limiting consumer access, and (2) how to preserve the Internet's capacity for creativity and innovation. Yet despite the prominence of economics in the debate, economic theory cannot …

Reforming Retransmission Consent, Meg Burton

Federal Communications Law Journal

Under the retransmission consent regulations of the 1992 Cable Act, broadcasters and cable providers must negotiate with one another for permission to retransmit a broadcast signal over a cable system. While the majority of such negotiations are resolved amicably, there has been a growing trend of negotiations resulting in signal blackouts that harm consumers. In March 2010, cable providers filed a Petition for Rulemaking with the FCC arguing that the current regulations are outdated and asking that the FCC alter the regulations to curb harmful negotiation tactics employed by broadcasters. Broadcasters replied that the retransmission consent scheme is working as …

Survival Of The Standard: Today’S Public Interest Requirement In Television Broadcasting And The Return To Regulation, Drew Simshaw

Federal Communications Law Journal

The notion that broadcasters must broadcast in the public interest has always been a requirement; exactly how this requirement is met has taken many forms. This Note examines the history of the public interest requirement in broadcasting-from vagueness to regulation to good faith and presumptions of compliance-and considers the appropriate direction for the public interest requirement's future. The deregulation of the 1980s served a valuable purpose at the time by lifting burdens and sparking innovation. It is time to examine those innovative methods of ascertaining the needs of our communities and providing desired programming, in order to determine ways in …

Assessing Competition In U.S. Wireless Markets: Review Of The Fcc’S Competition Reports, Gerald R. Faulhaber, Robert W. Halm, Hal J. Singer

Federal Communications Law Journal

The FCC's 14th and 15th Annual Wireless Competition reports review a wide variety of evidence, both direct (how firms and customers behave) and indirect (industry concentration measures) in making its competitive assessment. The reports are silent on how to interpret this evidence. In contrast, modem antitrust analysis relies far more on direct evidence. In failing to put more weight on the relevant direct market evidence to reach an informed competitive assessment, the 14th and 15th reports invite erroneous conclusions about the state of competition in wireless markets. The authors are concerned that these erroneous conclusions eventually could adversely influence regulatory …