Political Philosophy, Competition, and Competition Law: The Road to and from...
The interplay among political philosophy, competition, and competition law remains, with some notable exceptions, understudied in the literature. Indeed, while examinations of the intersection between...
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Italy’s Google and Apple Decisions: Regulatory Paternalism and Overenforcement
The Autorità Garante della Concorenza e del Mercato (AGCM), Italy’s competition and consumer-protection watchdog, on Nov. 25 handed down fines against Google and Apple of €10 million each—the maximum...
View ArticleAmazon Italy’s Efficiency Offense
Early last month, the Italian competition authority issued a record 1.128 billion euro fine against Amazon for abuse of dominance under Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European...
View ArticlePolitical Philosophy, Competition, and Competition Law: The Road to and from...
In just over a century since its dawn, liberalism had reshaped much of the world along the lines of individualism, free markets, private property, contract, trade, and competition. A modest...
View ArticleFinal DMA: Now We Know Where We’re Going, but We Still Don’t Know Why
After years of debate and negotiations, European Lawmakers have agreed upon what will most likely be the final iteration of the Digital Markets Act (“DMA”), following the March 24 final round of...
View ArticleAssessing Less Restrictive Alternatives and Interbrand Competition in Epic v...
The International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) filed an amicus brief on behalf of itself and 26 distinguished law & economics scholars with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the...
View ArticleThe ABA’s Antitrust Law Section Sounds the Alarm on Klobuchar-Grassley
Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)—cosponsors of the American Innovation Online and Choice Act, which seeks to “rein in” tech companies like Apple, Google, Meta, and...
View ArticleNew Frontiers of Fairness: Auto Da Fé by the Grand Inquisitor of Economics
July 26, 10 A.F. (after fairness) Dear Fellow Inquisitors, It has been more than a decade now since the Federal Neutrality Commission, born of the ashes of the old world, ushered in the Age of...
View ArticleA Day in the Fair New World of Perfectly Open Platforms
Early Morning I wake up grudgingly to the loud ring of my phone’s preset alarm sound (I swear I gave third-party alarms a fair shot). I slide my feet into the bedroom slippers and mechanically...
View ArticlePolitical Philosophy, Competition, and Competition Law: The Road to and from...
As it has before in its history, liberalism again finds itself at an existential crossroads, with liberally oriented reformers generally falling into two camps: those who seek to subordinate markets...
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7 Big Questions About the Open App Markets Act
With just a week to go until the U.S. midterm elections, which potentially herald a change in control of one or both houses of Congress, speculation is mounting that congressional Democrats may seek...
View ArticleYour Definitive End-of-Year Global Tech Regulation Wrap-Up: Who’s Doing What,...
As 2023 draws to a close, we wanted to reflect on a year that saw jurisdictions around the world proposing, debating, and (occasionally) enacting digital regulations. Some of these initiatives amended...
View ArticleFixing the Procedural Infirmities in the DMA’s Draft Implementing Regulation
Just before Christmas, the European Commission published a draft implementing regulation (DIR) of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), establishing procedural rules that, in the Commission’s own words, seek...
View ArticleReining in Digital Competition to No Good End: Will AICOA and OAMA Rise from...
The 117th Congress closed out without a floor vote on either of the major pieces of antitrust legislation introduced in both chambers: the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA) and the...
View ArticleDigital-Market Regulation: One Size Does Not Fit All
Regulators around the globe are scrambling for a silver bullet to “tame” tech companies. Whether it’s the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, or Canada, the animating rationale...
View ArticleUntangling the 9th Circuit’s Ruling in Epic Games v Apple
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled late last month on Epic Games’ appeal of the decision rendered in 2021 by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Epic Games v...
View ArticleEnforcing the DMA is Easier Said Than Done: Evidence From the Commission’s...
The European Commission early last month published its draft template for DMA-compliance reports. This is the document that gatekeepers will periodically need to fill out, and which subsequently will...
View ArticleThe FTC’s Gambit Against Amazon: Navigating a Multiverse of Blowback and...
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is reportedly poised some time within the next month to file a major antitrust lawsuit against Amazon—the biggest yet against the company and the latest in a long...
View ArticleSouth Africa’s Competition Proposal Takes Europe’s DMA Model to the Extreme
The South African Competition Commission (SACC) has proposed changes to the nation’s digital-market regulation that could deal a significant blow to an already struggling South African economy....
View ArticleWhen Progress Is Regressive: The Ordo-Brandeisian Devolution
It is no coincidence that ordoliberalism—the European (originally German) alternative to classical liberalism that emphasized the importance of the “social market” economy—and the New Brandeis or...
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Gatekeeping, the DMA, and the Future of Competition Regulation
The European Commission late last month published the full list of its “gatekeeper” designations under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, and Microsoft—the six...
View ArticleFour Problems with the Supreme Court’s Refusal To Hear the Epic v Apple Dispute
The U.S. Supreme Court this week rejected both parties’ petitions for certiorari in appeals of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ Epic Games v Apple decision. Many observers—including Epic CEO Tim...
View ArticleWhose Failure Is the Failed Amazon/iRobot Merger?
The European Commission told Amazon in November 2023 of its preliminary view that the company’s proposed acquisition of iRobot restricted competition in the market for robot vacuum cleaners (RVCs) and...
View ArticleApple Fined at the 11th Hour Before the DMA Enters into Force
Just days before the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) was set to enter into force, the European Commission hit Apple—one of the six designated “gatekeepers” to which the new law will apply—with a hefty...
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A Closer Look at Spotify’s Claims About Apple’s App-Store Practices
Following Monday’s announcement by the European Commission that it was handing down a €1.8 billion fine against Apple, Spotify—the Swedish music-streaming service that a decade ago lodged the initial...
View ArticleIndia Should Question Europe’s Digital-Regulation Strategy
A year after it was created by the Government of India’s Ministry of Corporate Affairs to examine the need for a separate law on competition in digital markets, India’s Committee on Digital Competition...
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