Archive for the ‘antitrust’ tag
Bribery or Business?
The Second Circuit is deciding whether or not the practice of “reverse payments” — settlement in patent infringement cases where the patent holder pays the alleged infringer to stay off the market — are subject to antitrust scrutiny.
Interesting concept, but my gut feeling is that the practice is anticompetitive. It’s remarkably similar to what the big tech companies did back during the dot-com boom: buy out their competitors to keep them from competing in the market. I know the issue here deals with alleged patent infringement, but the methods are almost identical.
As the article notes, the Federal Trade Commission seems to have the same opinion that I do.
[From Can Patent Holders Buy Off Infringers? Courts Take Another Look - News - ABA Journal]
Brees v. NFL
Who knew quarterback Drew Brees was not only one of best QBs in the league, but an antitrust law scholar?
[From Saints' quarterback Drew Brees weighs in on NFL's Supreme Court case - washingtonpost.com]
Morning News (European Commission Edition)
The EC Competition Authority announces that they conducted dawn raids on Spanish cement industry.
Microsoft Complies with European Comission for 2 Months
Longer than anyone thought, but still a poor showing nevertheless.
[From Microsoft kills Windows 7E, puts IE back in upcoming OS - Network World]
FCC Inquires About Google Voice App Rejection
TechCrunch is reporting that the FCC has sent letters of inquiry to Apple, AT&T and Google regarding the rejection of Google Voice related apps from Apple’s app store. In the letters, the FCC is asking both Apple and AT&T about their levels of decision making in approving/rejecting apps.
AT&T has maintained that it has no involvement in the approval process, although their loosely-written press release gives a wide latitude for interpretation.
I suspect that the FTC and DoJ may get involved next, given the administration’s strong antitrust policy.
[From FCC Takes On Apple And AT&T Over Google Voice Rejection]
European Commission Imposes €1.06 billion Fine on Intel
The European Commission (EC) today imposed a €1.06 billion fine on the Intel Corporation for “abuse of a dominant market position . . . by engaging in illegal anticompetitive practices to exclue competitors from the market for computer chips called x86 central processing units.” The Commission futher ordered Intel “to cease the anticompetitive practices to the extent that they are still ongoing.”
According to the Commission, Intel engaged in a practice of providing substantial rebates to PC manufacturers who either used exclusively or predominantly Intel processors. The rebates themselves were not the basis for the fine, but “the conditions Intel attached to those rebates.”
The Commission also found that Intel made direct payments to manufacturers to delay the launch of products containing processors from rival AMD. This “pay-for-delay” scheme, the Commission finds, was directly aimed at preventing AMD from selling its product on the open market and thus violative of EU Law.
Google almost ready to acquire DoubleClick
According to a number of news sources, the FTC stated today that it will not oppose the proposed acquisition of DoubleClick by Google. The proposed deal, at US$ 3.1 billion deal would make Google the largest internet advertising company in the world.
However, the European Commission has not yet ruled on whether or not Google’s proposed purchase of DoubleClick violates Article 139/2004 [rules on merger control]. A ruling on this is due by April 2008.
