October 13, 2014
Two really rather good articles caught my eye over the past several days – both discussing whether it is illegal under antitrust laws to merely be big. The first, by Gordon Crovitz in the Wall Street Journal, discusses Peter Thiel’s view (co-founder of PayPal, first Facebook investor) that “creative monopolies” are not only good but in fact what every entrepreneur should aspire to (see: Three Cheers for ‘Creative Monopolies’). More specifically, Thiel argues that the most successful companies create unique products not commodities: “[a]ll happy companies are different: each one earns a monopoly by solving a unique problem. … failed companies are the same: they failed to escape competition.”
October 8, 2014
Concurrences Journal, in partnership with the New York University School of Law, will hold its inaugural conference “Antitrust in Emerging and Developing Countries” on Friday, October 24, 2014, at the NYU campus. This one-day conference (8:30am to 6:30pm) brings together speakers from China, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, among other jurisdictions.
September 30, 2014
Guest post by Steven J. Cernak, Schiff Hardin LLP
Reprinted with permission
Post originally appeared on the AntitrustConnect Blog
On October 14, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners v. FTC, the latest in its long line of cases interpreting the state action exemption to the antitrust laws. Dozens of amici have written briefs supporting both parties. Those briefs reveal significantly different opinions about the costs and benefits of state licensure boards and how their actions should be treated under the antitrust laws.
September 24, 2014
Canada’s Competition Bureau (the “Bureau”) has been working over the past year or two to update its competition law compliance guidelines and policies. Competition law compliance has also figured prominently in recent remarks by Canada’s new Commissioner of Competition, John Pecman (see for example: here). As part of the Bureau’s initiative to raise competition compliance awareness, on September 18th the Bureau issued a revised draft Corporate Compliance Programs Bulletin for public comment (see: here and here).
September 23, 2014
With a major bid-rigging trial commencing in Ottawa in the IT sector, ongoing auto parts bid-rigging/cartel investigations including record $5 million and $30 million bid-rigging fines in Canada (see e.g., here) and the Charbonneau Commission competition/corruption probe wrapping up in Quebec, it is increasingly important for bidders and tendering authorities to understand the basics of Canadian bid-rigging law. For governments and tendering authorities it is also important to enhance their abililties to detect coordinated bids and tenders. In this respect, I thought I would update my Canadian bid-rigging law page and add, among other things, a few key tips for tendering authorities to detect bid-rigging (see bottom of post).
September 23, 2014
In the advertising law world, general impressions matter – a lot. In Canada, the federal Competition Act even includes specific sections that provide that the general impression of a claim (i.e., not merely the literal meaning of an advertising claim or what may be included in disclaimers or contracts) is to be taken into account by a court or the Competition Tribunal in determining whether or not a claim is false or misleading.
September 21, 2014
Most association activities are legitimate and unlikely to raise competition law concerns. However, given that many, if not most, trade and professional association activities involve the direct interaction of competitors, it is prudent for association executives, staff and their advisors to take practical steps to reduce potential competition law risk.
September 11, 2014
Well summer is certainly over. The weather is distinctly cooler and “fall-like” and in the competition/antitrust law world the number of cases and antitrust agency activity is increasing again. In this respect, one interesting case that caught my eye earlier today was a German trade association case in which the German antitrust agency (the Bundeskartellamt) announced that it has imposed 6.2 million euros in further fines for alleged price-fixing by members of a concrete paving stone association and association executive (see: Bundeskartellamt imposes further fines on manufacturers of concrete paving stones on account of price-fixing agreements).
Templates/precedents and checklists to run promotional contests in Canada
Templates/precedents and checklists to comply with Canadian anti-spam law (CASL)
