Showing posts with label agency model. Show all posts
Showing posts with label agency model. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Agency 2.0: Competition Authorities Will Need to Think - Again

Agreements between Amazon and publishers are starting rolling out, see here and here. It is not very hard to predict that these agreements will come to be scrutinized quite closely by competition authorities on both sides of the Atlantic and beyond. While, it seems, conspiracy theories this time round could be safely ruled out, it would be high time to develop comprehensive assessment criteria with regard to vertical restraints triggered by, or in the context of, electronic platforms.  

Amazon closes a contract with one major book publisher (not that one, though)

Mhpbooks.com, here.  For more speculations see here and here.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Digitally binding


J. Poort,  I. Akker, N. van Eijk, B.van der Sloot, P. Rutten, here in English and here in Dutch.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Refusal to dismiss the class plaintiffs’ antitrust claims against Apple and the e-book sellers

Southern District of New York (Cote, J.),  Electronic Books Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 11-MD-2293 (DLC), here.
Apple's "contentions misconstrue the nature of the agreement
described in the Complaint.  Regardless of the nature of the
specific terms of the vertical Agency Agreements when examined
in isolation, the CAC plausibly alleges a horizontal agreement
among the publishers, furthered by Apple, to raise the prices of
eBooks and eliminate retail competition.  A horizontal agreement
to fix or raise prices is per se unreasonable", p. 53.