Wednesday, June 29, 2016

A vocabulary for conversing about entrepreneurship, innovation, and antitrust

A. Foer, here.

First Draft! Online Platforms, Rate Parity, and the Free Riding Defence

S. Vezzoso (this blog's author), here.

Abstract: A two-sided platform business is a new type of intermediary to be found in a growing number of economic sectors. As to the hospitability industry in particular, recent innovations in the field of digital technologies prompted the rise of so called Online Travel Agents (OTAs) and the demise of the traditional merchant model.
Recently national competition authorities (NCAs) in the EU investigated so called rate parity clauses in the contracts between the three largest OTAs and their hotel partners. These are contract clauses laying down the hotelier’s obligation to display the same room prices across sales channels. The parallel investigations conducted by the NCAs revealed an array of serious anticompetitive effects stemming from rate parity obligations. While the German NCA concluded that there was insufficient evidence of the efficiency gains of these clauses, and therefore decided to prohibit them, the French, Italian and Swedish NCAs implicitly recognised that some level of protection against free-riding was necessary, and accepted commitments to reduce the scope of the rate parity obligation.
The hotel online booking cases were closely followed in the EU and beyond, since they could help clarify a number of key assessment issues concerning a category of commercial practices already widely spread in online markets. In-depth analyses of the NCAs’ findings are now needed, especially in view of the promotion of an effective antitrust-based platform regulation. In particular, this article explores some of the challenges related to the application of the traditional free-riding defence to rate parity obligations.

Yandex vs Google: Decision on Fines

FAS, here

L’Open Internet Project veut canaliser Google via la loi numérique

ITEspresso, ici.

The Gig Economy

OECD Development Centre, here

Net Neutrality Rules Will Make Winners and Losers Out of Businesses

S. Greenstein, M. Peitz, T. Valletti, here.

Hillary Clinton’s Initiative on Technology & Innovation

HillaryClinton.com, here

Google bittet Sie um mehr persönliche Daten

Heise.de, hier.

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Supreme Court agrees to review ATM fee antitrust lawsuit

Bloomberg, Here.

Digital Markets, Data, and Privacy: Competition Law, Consumer Law, and Data Protection

W. Kerber, Here.

The Economics of Mergers and Innovation: The Challenge for Competition Policy with Application to Pharmaceuticals

J. Kwoka, here

Innovation as a Parameter of Competition and its Implications for Competition Law Application

J. Drexl, here

Brexit Leads U.K. Lawyers to Seek Solace in Irish Bar

Bloomberg, here

South Korea antitrust regulator says investigating Apple on 'some matters'

Reuters, here

The ultimate Brexit Song

"It Doesn't Have To Be", Erasure, Video here.

You are one side
And I am on the other
Are we divided?

You are one side
I am on the other
Are we divided?
Why can't we live together
There are no rights
This isn't your decision
We need to talk of changing things
But no one wants to listen
It doesn't have to be like that
It doesn't have to be like that
It doesn't have to be like that

A heart on the inside
The same as any other
Are we divided?
Someone always has to suffer
We are broken
There's no one left to change it
Is that the way it has to be?
Why can't we rearrange it?
It doesn't have to be like that (One against one)
It doesn't have to be like that (One against one)
It doesn't have to be like that

Alava mo ja na me me limbaniango limbaniago
Zimbabwe abo naga na me me limbaniango limbaniago
Alava mo ja na me me limbaniango limbaniago
Zimbabwe abo naga na me me limbaniango limbaniago

What is the secret
In calling me a brother?
Are we divided?
Always one against the other
We are strong now
Put down the ammunition
For what we know is right
Is gonna breakdown this division
It doesn't have to be like that (One against one)
It doesn't have to be like that (One against one)
It doesn't have to be like that (One against one)
(One against one)
It doesn't have to be like that (One against one)
(One against one)
It doesn't have to be like that

You are one side
And I am on the other
Are we divided?

OECD Ministerial Declaration on the Digital Economy (”Cancún Declaration”)

Here

Friday, June 17, 2016

Data May Be Key in Microsoft-LinkedIn Probe, EU’s Vestager Says

Bloomberg, here

How to boost FinTech’s contribution to competition

ACM, here

FinTech’s Bright Future Marred by Hype

D. Evans and R. Schmalensee, here

Efficiency Claims: What’s New?

Symposium, here

Regulatory Challenges in Digital Markets: Privacy

BCCP Conference and Policy Forum 2016, Programme here; Livestream here

Data portability among online platforms

B. Engels, here

Guns, Limbs, and Toys: What Future for 3D Printing?

A. Thierer, A. Marcus, here

New data on what connected cars are tracking

FiaRegion1, here

Journalism is getting personal: latest trends from the digital front line

Polis, here

Secrets of the Sharing Economy

Bloomberg, here

AG Szpunar says that time-limited e-lending is allowed under EU law and interpretation of copyright norms must evolve with technology

IPKat, here

The Antitrust and Intellectual Property Intersection in European Union Law

N. Petit, here

Competition is Messy: Merger Challenges

B. Baer, here

Competition, innovation, and legal services

FTC, here

Publishers in the copyright value chain

European Copyright Society, here.

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Applying blockchain technology in global data infrastructure

ODI, here

Intesa anticoncorrenziale fra operatori di vending (distributori automatici)

AGCM, qui.

Court upholds Obama-backed net neutrality rules

Politico, here.
Here.

Why Microsoft bought LinkedIn for $26 billion, in one word: Cortana

PCWorld, here

Going gets tough for GoCompare the SuperMeerkat

FT, here

Liber on the role of publishers in the copyright value chain and on the 'panorama exception

Competencia y regulación eficiente en las universidades españolas

CNMC, aquì

Apple’s response to the chatbot craze doesn’t involve any chatbots

VentureBeat, here.

Apple's differential privacy

Wired, here.

Monday, June 13, 2016

Stealing Books in the Age of Self-Publishing

ThrAtlantic, here.

Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn

Microsoft, here and here

Antitrust settlements: the culture of consent

D. Ginsburg and J. Wright, here

Fidelity rebates - summary of the contributions

OECD, here

Public interest considerations in merger control

OECD Background Note, here

Protecting and promoting competition in response to "disruptive" innovations in legal services

OECD Background Note, here

Summary of Discussion of the Hearing on Across-Platforms Parity Agreements

OECD, here

Ein europäisches Leistungsschutzrecht für Verlagemacht keinen Sinn – eher Anreize für innovative Mehrwertleistungen schaffen

R. Kuhlen, hier

The New Economics of Multi-Sided Platforms: A Guide to the Vocabulary

D. Evans, R. Schmalensee, here

La competencia de la economía colaborativa

ElPais.com, aquì.

The sharing economy and new models of service delivery

OECD Insights, here.