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TOTM The post title is stolen from a commenter (Unit) at this post over at Austrian Economists. Delong’s comment editing practices (the selective editing even more . . .
The post title is stolen from a commenter (Unit) at this post over at Austrian Economists. Delong’s comment editing practices (the selective editing even more so than the deleting of comments with opposing points of view) are disturbing to say the least.
Read the full piece here.
Scholarship Abstract When Michael Heller proposed that excessively fragmented property rights in land can frustrate its commercial development, patent scholars began debating whether Heller’s anticommons theory . . .
When Michael Heller proposed that excessively fragmented property rights in land can frustrate its commercial development, patent scholars began debating whether Heller’s anticommons theory applies to property rights in inventions. Do “patent thickets” exist? The rise and fall of the first American patent thicket — the Sewing Machine War of the 1850s — confirms that patent thickets do exist and that they can frustrate commercial development of new products. But this historical patent thicket also challenges the widely held assumption that this is a modern problem arising from allegedly new issues in the patent system, such as incremental high-tech innovation and the impact of “patent trolls.” The Sewing Machine War exhibited all of these phenomena, proving that these are hoary issues in patent law. The denouement of this patent thicket in the Sewing Machine Combination of 1856, the first privately formed patent pool, further challenges the conventional wisdom that patent thickets are best solved through public-ordering regimes that limit property rights in patents. The invention and incredible commercial success of the sewing machine is a striking account of early American technological, commercial, and legal ingenuity, which heralds important empirical lessons for how patent thicket theory is understood and applied today.
TOTM I just saw this very good piece in The Deal from Sean Gates and Tej Srimushnam (Morrison & Foerster) on what Christine Varney’s appointment to . . .
I just saw this very good piece in The Deal from Sean Gates and Tej Srimushnam (Morrison & Foerster) on what Christine Varney’s appointment to the Antitrust Division might mean for enforcement decisions. Gates and Srimushnam predict that some of the most important changes associated with the Varney DOJ are likely to be the “return” of innovation market analysis, an aggressive approach to vertical mergers in high tech markets, and vertical restraints.
TOTM Here is Justin Wolfers discussing what Paul Krugman has called “equilibrium decadence” in the context of the current macro debate… Read the full piece here.
Here is Justin Wolfers discussing what Paul Krugman has called “equilibrium decadence” in the context of the current macro debate…
TOTM As TOTM readers are likely to know, the Supreme Court denied certiorari in Rambus, a course of action I had argued was the appropriate response . . .
As TOTM readers are likely to know, the Supreme Court denied certiorari in Rambus, a course of action I had argued was the appropriate response to the arguments set forth in the Commission petition. I recently expanded the blog post into a short essay which I’ve posted on SSRN. It will also be available in a few weeks at Global Competition Policy.
TOTM Here’s the press release. Congratulations to Chairman-to-be Leibowitz. I also note that this marks the end of Chairman’s Kovacic’s reign at the Commission. On a . . .
Here’s the press release. Congratulations to Chairman-to-be Leibowitz.
I also note that this marks the end of Chairman’s Kovacic’s reign at the Commission. On a personal note, I had the pleasure of working for the Chairman during my stint as the FTC Scholar in Residence and consider myself extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity.
TOTM An anonymous reader reminds me of the FTC Statement from Commissioners Harbour, Leibowitz and Rosch (but not Chairman Kovacic, who was recused) making the case . . .
An anonymous reader reminds me of the FTC Statement from Commissioners Harbour, Leibowitz and Rosch (but not Chairman Kovacic, who was recused) making the case against certiorari in Linkline…
TOTM The opinion is available here. Yet another super-majority Roberts Court antitrust decision applying consensus economic theory. No more price squeeze claims. Alcoa is not overturned. . . .
The opinion is available here. Yet another super-majority Roberts Court antitrust decision applying consensus economic theory. No more price squeeze claims. Alcoa is not overturned. The Court declares that the price-squeeze claim in the absence of a duty to deal can be handled jointly by a straightforward application of Trinko and Brooke Group to the wholesale and retail prices at issue, respectively. There is also an extended discussion of the common pitfalls of the application of antitrust as price regulation.
TOTM I want to second Josh’s commendation of Ben Klein’s submission to the recent FTC Hearings on Resale Price Maintenance. Klein’s paper, which bears the same . . .
I want to second Josh’s commendation of Ben Klein’s submission to the recent FTC Hearings on Resale Price Maintenance. Klein’s paper, which bears the same title as this post, is lucidly written (blissfully free of equations, Greek letters, etc.) and makes a point that, at this juncture in antitrust’s history, is absolutely crucial.
