This article provides an assessment of the key changes in the final DOJ-FTC Vertical Merger Guidelines (VMGs) from the January 2020 Draft Guidelines and offers recommendations for the VMGs Commentary--namely, additional details on how the Agencies will determine the industry-wide average retail...

Calls to radically change U.S. antitrust law continue to be a focus of law and policy makers. According to proponents of the proposed changes, drastic legislative amendments are necessary to remedy the (perceived) failures of current antitrust standards to prohibit anticompetitive conduct, in...

This note provides an economic approach to antitrust analysis of differential pricing (here, used synonymously with “price discrimination”) and discriminatory refusals to license; grantbacks and cross-licenses; and no-challenge clauses. The analysis applies to both intellectual property...

Several recent antitrust investigations involving the licensing of intellectual property rights (IPR) have raised concerns about fundamental due process and the alleged use of industrial policy in antitrust investigations to lower royalty rates, particularly for standard-essential patents...

On December 4, 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a decision in Ericsson v. D-Link, providing substantial guidance to lower courts on how to calculate royalty rates for standard-essential patents (“SEPs”) encumbered by a commitment to license on reasonable and...

This Article begins with a discussion of the U.S. approach to analyzing acquisitions of potential competitors. We explain the need for exacting standards, including due to the increased difficulties of predicting the future world without the acquisition. Unlike with actual competition, with...

In September 2017, IP LeadershIP held its first conference in Europe. The event, which was attended by government enforcers and policymakers, practitioners, and scholars, featured diverse views on topics such as: • The importance of striking the right balance between the interests of...

Several federal district courts, as well as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), have weighed in on the appropriate methodology for calculating either a reasonable royalty rate or reasonable royalty damages on a standard-essential patent (SEP) encumbered by a commitment to license on fair,...

Investigations and litigation involving standard-essential patents (SEPs) have begun to spring up around the globe. In February 2014, the Korean Fair Trade Commission issued its first decision on the issue of whether seeking injunctive relief on a FRAND-encumbered SEP constitutes a violation of...