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Blog o’ Blogs May 2014

By  |  May 19, 2014
May 2014, Volume 4, Number 5
Sports, both in the U.S. and in Europe, generated antitrust talk, as did-among other matters-raisins, government motives, fines & fees, and data.
Can the NBA Force A Sale of Sterling’s Clippers Wthout Running Afoul Of The Antitrust Laws?
The sordid tale of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling may weave its way into court via an unlikely route-the antitrust laws.
Jeffery Shinder & David Scupp (Antitrust Today)
Premier League fans in Europe worse off after Murphy Judgment
This raises novel questions about the public interest dimension of the blackout rule.
Ben Van Rompuy (Kluwer Competition Law Blog)
The Ninth Circuit Rescues the Government Raisin Cartel
The growers’ heinous offense was their refusal to continue participating in a highly anticompetitive cartel.
Alden Abbott (Truth on the Market)
Government Entities that Compete in Markets Must Face Antitrust Scrutiny
We argue that state and local entities that want to compete in commercial markets should be subject to the antitrust laws, just like any other competitor.
Jarod Bona (The Antitrust Attorney Blog)
Regulatory and academic capture
The regulated are also the only real audience of the regulators, since taxpayers have all the incentives to remain ignorant.
Will Baude (The Volokh Conspiracy)
The Diluted Legality of Competition Law
I guess Competition Law may indeed be partly losing its last name.
Alfonso Lamadrid (Chillin’ Competition)
Inability to pay and significant loss of asset value
Perhaps if there is ever to be a revision to the Fines Guidelines, this hint could be taken up more fully, and the language on inability to pay aligned more closely with the language on failing firm.
Kevin Coates (21st Century Competition)
FTC Commissioner Josh Wright’s dissent on the antitrust analysis of mergers
There is little dispute, however, that the Commission gives some form of consideration to efficiency claims; the relevant issue is over precisely how the Commission considers them. 
Sasha Volokh (Washington Post)
Antitrust Reverse Termination Fees-2014 Update
Significantly, of the 72 completed transactions with an antitrust reverse termination fee, 50 were cleared without any antitrust challenge.
Dale Collins (Antitrust Unpacked)
A Brave New World: The Potential Intersection of Competition Law and Data Protection Regulation
It appears to me that the EDPS is querying, albeit indirectly, whether the notion of consumer welfare should incorporate data protection considerations. 
Orla Lynskey (Chillin’Competition)
Antitrust by association(s)
If you are a member of a trade association or provide counsel to one, remember that there are no special antitrust rules for trade associations.
Geoffrey Green (Competition Matters)
Commissioner Wright Nails It on Minimum RPM
The FTC’s fairly pro-plaintiff approach was deficient in that it simply lifted a few words from Leegin without paying close attention to the economics of RPM. 
Thom Lambert (Truth on the Market)
The dangers of the FTC becoming a competition national nanny
A Procrustean FTC falls into the same trap when it brings enforcement actions based on its assumption of the best way that firms should compete.
David Balto (The Hill)
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