Blog o’ Blogs April 2016

March has brought us an interesting mix of developments as the US settles into a coming wave of Mergers, missing justices and high-impact pharmaceutical rulings. The rest of the world is no slouch, as Europe continues to tackle various tech firms, and (some) are urged to go on the offensive against cartels, and the world reacts to China’s recent antitrust guideline modifications. Plenty of Easter Eggs on this Spring season.

Quo Vadis Post-Actavis?
For more than 15 years, one of the FTC’s top priorities has been to put an end to anticompetitive reverse-payment settlements between brand-name drug makers and their potential generic rivals…
Jamie Towey/em>(Bureau of Competition)

Merger control and mobile phone operators, or the limits of competition law and sector-specific regulation
In the field of merger control, it is all about mobile phone operators these days. The hearing on the Three/O2 UK merger took place last week.
Pablo Ibanez Colomo (Chilling Competition)

The problem with profits
What too much profit at the top means for America and how billionaires in emerging countries are riding the waves of economic growth.(The Economist)

Google Fiber, competition, and affordable broadband for all
Google Fiber, the broadband Internet and TV subsidiary of Alphabet, announced the rollout of free gigabit Internet service for the West Bluff neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri.Jack Karsten & Darrell M. West (Brookings)

China’s Anti-Unfair Competition Law Is Poised For An Update
Since 2010, China’s State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) and the State Council Legislative Affairs Office (SCLAO) have been revising China’s Anti-Unfair Competition Law
Becky Koblitz (Antitrust Law Blog)

Mainstream Media Is (Finally) Covering Antitrust Policy. Antitrust Practitioners Should Join the Discussion.
TAntitrust is hot! Well, as hot as antitrust gets: the mainstream media has covered antitrust issues a few times recently, and policy discussions have broken out in Congress and on the campaign trail. JSteven J. Cernak (Antitrust Connect

George Mason University School of Law to be Renamed “Antonin Scalia School of Law at George Mason University”
George Mason University today announces pledges totaling $30 million to the George Mason University Foundation to support the School of Law.  The gifts, combined, are the largest in university history.
Adam Mossoff  (George Mason University)

FCC Should Not Regulate Broadband Providers’ Privacy Policies and Instead Defer to the FTC
Earlier this month, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler released a “fact sheet” describing his proposal to have the FCC regulate the privacy policies of broadband Internet service providers.
Alden Abbott 

What would it take to disrupt Facebook?
To this day, Microsoft Office remains the dominant office software suite, a position it has held since the 1990s. While competitors have emerged to appeal to different customer niches (Google Docs with collaboration or iWork for Mac users), for many people the value of using Office lies in the fact that many others use it.
Joshua Gans (Digitopoly)

Dawn raids by the South African Competition Commission
The Competition Commission (Commission) is increasingly using dawn raids to gather evidence to prosecute companies involved in anticompetitive conduct in South Africa. Three dawn raids by the South African competition authorities within a four week period in 2015 and a further dawn raid in March 2016 highlight the need for companies operating in South Africa to have a comprehensive plan.
Heather Irvine (Norton Rose Fulbright)

Dawn raids on the horizon
A recent report from the National Audit Office has recommended that the Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) increase the number of cartel investigations it carries out.
Bernardine Adkins(Kluwer Competition Law)

FTC accuses Endo, other drugmakers of antitrust violations
The Federal Trade Commission has accused several drugmakers of violating antitrust laws, via agreements the commission said delayed the U.S. launches of cheaper generic versions
Linda A. Johnson (Washington Post)

Mind-reading salmon, the law of truly large numbers, and two recent Daubert ruling
Have you ever gotten an email saying that a large amount of money will be transferred to you if you first make some initial deposit? And if you immediately recognized that message as a scam, did you also wonder why people are still sending these emails?
Ai Deng (Cartel Capers)

Recent Developments in Canadian Cartel Enforcement
2015 saw a number of interesting developments in cartel enforcement in Canada, the most important of which were setbacks suffered by Canada’s competition authorities in two high profile prosecutions.
Mark Katz(Kluwer Competition Law)