FTC win is “not about rate regulation”, Hoffman says
If Judge Lucy Koh’s ruling against Qualcomm withstands appeal, it will change how the chip maker licenses its patents, but the head of the Federal Trade Commission’s bureau of competition has denied that it would regulate prices.
Uber’s business model is price-fixing, says Steinbaum
Even under the consumer welfare standard, Uber’s entire business model is essentially fixing prices and should be considered a harm to competition, an economics professor has said.
Happy summer bank holiday: The Tipline for 24 May 2019
Both GCR USA and our London colleagues are on holiday on Monday, but we have plenty of reading to fill your Memorial Day weekend. Contrary to former acting Federal Trade Commission chair Maureen Ohlhausen, current bureau of competition director Bruce Hoffman insists that the agency’s case against Qualcomm does not involve trying to tell a patent-holder how high a royalty rate it can get. He spoke at the inaugural GCR Live conference on antitrust in the digital economy in Palo Alto on Wednesday, where labour economist Marshall Steinbaum made his GCR Live debut on a panel about technology platforms. Taking a break from the usual focus on GAFA – Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple – Steinbaum argued that Uber should be regarded as a price-fixer unless the company either recognises drivers as employees or allows them to compete against each other on price.
Federal Circuit ponders “smarmy” conduct
A semiconductor equipment maker’s conduct in securing a patent was “smarmy,” but likely does not constitute fraud nor a violation of US antitrust law, a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has said.
More USA News
Year in preview: antitrust on a “blue wave”
For the first time in eight years, Democrats control the US House of Representatives and its antitrust subcommittee. With that comes a bully pulpit, but also a big stick of investigation and potentially legislation.
- DOJ’s AT&T appeal may be undercut by a trial concession
- Google and the transatlantic antitrust abyss
More USA Analysis
Q&A with Craig Waldman and Jon Orszag
Jones Day partner Craig Waldman and Compass Lexecon senior managing director Jonathan Orszag are co-chairing the inaugural GCR Live conference on antitrust in the digital economy next month. In a Q&A with GCR USA, Waldman and Orszag highlight their thoughts on hot topics and trends to be discussed in Palo Alto by leading figures in the antitrust community, as well as the importance of hosting panels that offer multi-sided perspectives and opposing views.
Litigators of the week: Kellogg Hansen Todd Figel & Frederick
Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh is not known for an expansive view of the federal antitrust laws, but he sided with iPhone users bringing antitrust claims – a win for their counsel at Kellogg Hansen Todd Figel & Frederick.
Hot Docs – Hovenkamp, hospital-home bias and a healthy dose of judicial review
While the recent heatwave may have you inside by the air-conditioning all day, we have collected the hottest docs in antitrust to keep you entertained.
- Hot Docs: The ups and downs of horizontal shareholding and vertical enforcement
- Hot Docs: Dons and Bert and Roger and Herb
More USA Hot Docs
Tipline
- News and notes from around the antitrust world
- Happy summer bank holiday: The Tipline for 24 May 2019
- Happy birthday to Bill Barr: The Tipline for 23 May 2019
- Brewing bipartisanship: The Tipline for 22 May 2019
- More from Tipline
- 20191213: Siris Partners IV, L.P.; Electronics For Imaging, Inc.
- 20191215: AP IX First Street Holdings, L.P.; Smart & Final Stores, Inc.
- 20191228: William K. Reagan; GTCR Fund XI/B LP
- 20190383: International Business Machines Corporation; Red Hat, Inc.
- 20191207: salesforce.com, inc.; MapAnything, Inc.
Data courtesy of FTC.gov
