Geoff Manne on 1-800 Contacts decision
IP Watchdog – ICLE President Geoffrey Manne was cited by IP Watchdog magazine in an article about 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision reversing the Federal Trade Commission’s order against 1-800 Contacts. You can read the full story here.
The court’s opinion also evinced a good feel for the dynamic consumer welfare benefits associated with trademark-based competition. The court’s analysis perhaps reflects familiarity with Geoff Manne’s explanation that 1-800’s settlements were designed to avoid inefficient free-riding on the company’s investment in its valuable brand. More generally, antitrust attacks on trademarks that are not well-grounded in solid economics and empiricism threaten to diminish welfare-raising investments in product quality that are incentivized by the trademark system.