The Voluntary Trade Council

Microsoft-Yahoo!

Alex Epstein, an analyst at the Ayn Rand Institute, has published an op-ed explaining why antitrust regulators should not get in the way of any potential combinations of Microsoft, Google and Yahoo! Esptein notes, "What we are observing in the battle over Yahoo! is not genuine, merit-based competition, but competition based on political pull." You can read Epstein's article, "Set Yahoo! Free," at this link.

PATENT HOLD UP

Bruce Kobayashi and Joshua Wright of George Mason University recently posted an article examining "restraint when applying the antitrust laws to conduct that is normally regulated by state and other federal laws," specifcially the use of antitrust "to regulate the problem of patent hold up of members of standard setting organizations." You can download their paper at this link.

Supreme Court

Randal C. Picker, a law professor at the University of Chicago, has a working paper discussing the four antitrust decisions from the Supreme Court's 2006 term. You can download Picker's paper, "'Twombly,' 'Leegin' and the Reshaping of Antitrust," at this link.

IP & Antitrust

Damien Geradin, a professor at Tilburg University and a partner at Howrey LLP, recently presented a paper entitled, "What's Wrong with Royalties in High Technology Industries?" which focuses on royalties paid by companies seeking to implement industry standards, such as those at issue in the FTC's case against Rambus. You can dowload the paper at this link.

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Documents Detail FTC Extortion

Written by Skip Oliva
Monday, 30 June 2008 20:49
The assistant director of the Federal Trade Commission's San Francisco office threatened to confiscate the business and personal assets of Mark and Marianne Hershiser if they did not sign a false confession and surrender the revenues from their small herb and herbal remedy business, according to documents published in connection with the Hershisers' First Amendment lawsuit against the FTC.
Last Updated ( Monday, 30 June 2008 22:04 )
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NHL Counters MSG Lawsuit

Written by Skip Oliva
Thursday, 19 June 2008 15:59
This week the National Hockey League asked a federal judge for a declaratory judgment that could, theoretically, allow the league to “terminate” Madison Square Garden’s ownership of the New York Rangers. The move comes as part of the NHL’s response to an antitrust lawsuit brought by MSG last October over the 30-member league’s website policies.
Last Updated ( Thursday, 19 June 2008 22:12 )
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DOJ, FBI Tackle "Big Ice"

Written by Skip Oliva
Wednesday, 18 June 2008 18:58
Ice is more then frozen water. It’s the centerpiece of the antitrust community’s latest assault on the market. The Department of Justice announced today that one of the largest sellers of packaged ice has pleaded guilty to “conspiracy” in connection with a criminal antitrust investigation of the industry. Class action lawyers are not far behind, using earlier reports of the DOJ and FBI’s investigation to file civil complaints against a number of packaged ice companies.
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 18 June 2008 19:02 )
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Oliva Asks Court to Reject Rambus Rehearing

Written by VoluntaryTrade.org staff
Friday, 13 June 2008 17:53
On June 12, 2008, S.M. Oliva, president of the Voluntary Trade Council, filed his second amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Rambus Incorporated v. Federal Trade Commission. This brief addresses the FTC's Petition for Rehearing En Banc, which seeks to vacate the April 22, 2008, decision by a three-judge panel of the Court in favor of Rambus. Below is the text of Oliva's brief (with citations and footnotes omitted.)
Last Updated ( Friday, 13 June 2008 18:06 )
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Rosch Defends Actions in Inova Case

Written by Skip Oliva
Monday, 02 June 2008 19:27
Federal Trade Commissioner J. Thomas Rosch vowed to stay on as trial judge in the FTC's administrative case against the Inova Health System-Prince William Health System (PWHS) merger, despite new allegations from the hospitals' lawyers--which includes a former FTC chairman--that Rosch "participated in the underlying two-year investigation that preceded the filing of the complaint."
Last Updated ( Monday, 02 June 2008 20:47 )
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