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June 2010 Blog o’ Blogs

By  |  June 30, 2010

We begin this month with two posts from the high-tech world, looking at Apple’s new iPhone launch and playing “what if”  on the 10th anniversary of the Microsoft Decision. Our blogs go on to analyze a unique market effect from the BP Spill, ask if the DOJ equates price-fixing with a refusal to honor health regulations, wonder why the Korean FTC  seems to care more about Hong Kong consumers than the HK Commission, stout-heartedly deny that the Irish Competition Authority is full of zombies, and debate whether antitrust theory properly deals with competition vs. cooperation in the consumer benefit context. We finish with an introspective question—Do AT lawyers need a shrink?

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    Apple’s new iPhone is recording record sales, but AT&T is still having trouble providing coverage. Is it ATT’s or the FCC’s fault?
    It was 10 years ago this month that Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson issued his final judgment in U.S. versus Microsoft. Would Microsoft—or the consumer—have been better off if Microsoft had just agreed to break itself up?
    Should BP reimburse the consumer for the market effects caused by the oil spill?

    Dear BP: I would Like my 75 cents a Pound Back Please…

    by Jodi Beggs at Economists Do It with Models

    Has the Justice Department unambiguously stated that refusing to accept government price controls is a form of illegal price-fixing?
    by S.M. Oliva, Christian Science Monitor

    HK Competition Law wonders why the Korean Fair Trade Commission looks after the interests of Hong Kong citizens more ably that Hong Kong’s own competition authority, at least in regards to Cathay Pacific.

    by Peter J. MacMillan at hkcompetitionlaw

    The Chairperson of the Irish Competition Authority counters accusations that the Commission is pursuing policies of open, unfettered, and untamed competition.

    Old Rules Were Seriously Outdated
    by Declan Purcell in the Irish Medical Times

    Michael Martin challenges Thom Lambert on whether antitrust theory should emphasize competition among groups over cooperation within groups as a driver of consumer benefit.

     
    responding to:
     
    by Thom Lambert at Truth on the Market

    And the recent attention to the role of behavioral economics in antitrust raises an interesting question:

    Do We, AT Lawyers, Need a Shrink?
    by Nicolas Petit at Chillin’ Competition

    Save July 7 for the 2010 Jevons Colloquium on Competition on Digital Media and the Internet—the Related Roles of Antitrust, Consumer Protection, and Regulation

    The 2010 Jevons Colloquium will bring together head of authorities, senior enforcers, business representatives. academics, and the leading experts from the EU and United States to discuss—in a digital media context—market power, data protection and privacy, incentives for content and infrastructure investment, innovation, and consumer protection.
     
    Joaquin Almunia, the EU Competition Commissioner, John Fingleton, OFT’s Chief Executive, and Julie Brill, recently appointed Commissioner at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission will start the debate. Ed Richards, Ofcom’s Chief Executive, will give a key note address. Other senior enforcers and leading experts include:  Per Hellstrom of DG Competition at the European Commission; Thibaud Vergé, Chief Economist at the French Competition Authority, Heather Clayton, Senior Director of OFT and responsible for the OFT recent study on online targeting; Jon Baker, Professor at the American University; Andrea Coscelli, Director of Competition Economics at Ofcom, and Pamela Harbour, former Commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission.

    For more information, visit http://competition-internet.eventbrite.com/.

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