In this issue:
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Critical Loss Analysis in Merger Review
Critical Loss Analysis in the Whole Foods Case
In this article, the authors illustrate why the CL analysis used by Whole Foods’ economist is not useful as a general matter. The type of analysis he presented is fundamentally flawed and cannot be used as a tool of market definition.
Beyond Critical Loss: Properly Applying the Hypothetical Monopolist Test
While there has been little dispute in U.S. merger cases regarding whether to apply the HMT, what is disputed – both in the courtroom and in the commentary – is the utility of a particular way of applying the HMT.
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Commentary on the Google/DoubleClick Clearance
Competitor Complaints About Google/DoubleClick Rejected
In Google/DoubleClick, both the Commission and the FTC conducted extraordinarily thorough reviews, investigating several theories of harm raised by various complainants ranging from the economically unsound to the truly bizarre.
Market Definition, Competition, and Privacy in the Google/DoubleClick Transaction
In this article, FTC attorneys Mark Seidman and Christine Naglieri discuss two of the issues that generated much public discussion: market definition in the online advertising industry; and the interplay of competition and privacy concerns.
Lifting the Fog: Google/DoubleClick Demystified
What the critics have failed to recognize, is that Google and DoubleClick are at best potential competitors in each other’s markets, and these markets are already robustly competitive and becoming more so each day.
Google/DoubleClick and the Power of Information to Raise Antitrust Concerns in Vertical Mergers
Although the Commission was no doubt right in its final decision to exclude data protection and privacy issues from its merger control review, the Google/DoubleClick transaction highlights how antitrust concerns in vertical mergers can arise from access to information and the market power that information can confer.
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The Federal Court of Appeal’s Decision in Labatt
The Canadian Competition Bureau’s Attempt to Halt Beer Merger Goes Flat
On January 22, 2008, the Canadian Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) rejected the Competition Bureau’s appeal in Labatt, refusing the Bureau’s request for section 100 relief and more time to investigate Labatt Brewing Co. Ltd.’s proposed 2007 acquisition of Lakeport Brewing.
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Reactions to the Intel Antitrust Allegations
State of New York Launches Investigation of Intel: The Global Drumbeat Continues
On January 10, 2008, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo served Intel with a “wide-ranging†subpoena seeking documents and information to investigate antitrust allegations. The move comes as no surprise to close observers of the worldwide scrutiny of Intel’s anticompetitive actions.
AMD v. Intel: An Assault on Price Competition
Accepting the notion that aggressively discounting prices, even though the discounted prices exceed cost, might expose a company to a possible violation of the antitrust laws would turn the antitrust laws upside down.
