Chillin'Competition

Google has reached a settlement with the FTC!   Details can be found here.

The settlement concerns the licensing practices of some key technologies to competitors and the management of campaigns by online advertisers. The investigation into Google’s search-related practices, on the other hand, has been closed (by a 5-0 vote).

According to the press release, Google’s ‘Universal Search’ and other changes can be ‘plausibly justified as innovations that improved Google’s product and the experience of its users’.

We are all wondering the impact this outcome will have on the (European) Commission’s ongoing investigation (although we presume this did not catch DG Comp’s officials by surprise).

Btw, I will be speaking soon about antitrust and search engines, so these developments come in handy (not sure if that’s the right expression considering that for a couple of months I’ll be a one handed man..)

I’ve just realized that I forgot to share some good news with you.

A few days ago I learnt that Nicolas had been promoted to Professeur Ordinaire. To be frank, given my absolute ignorance about Belgian academia (among vety many other subjects), going from Professor to Ordinary Professor rather sounded like a downgrade.

But nope, Google tells me that Nico has managed to attain the highest possible academic position at age 33, which is very hard to understand impressive. While writing this I’ve realized that he also turned 34 on Saturday (which of course I forgot).

Congrats and best of lucks, Nico!

A couple of days ago the FT published an interesting piece on how market power in the tech sector might disprove assumptions about technological rates of progress. According to the author, science fiction had long anticipated the trends we are seeing today.

I could dsummarize the piece, but since (i)I broke my arm/shoulder skiing; (ii) it’s taking me ages to type with my left hand (not that there’s much else I can do..), and (iii) many of you are probably on holidays, you can probably spare a couple of minutes to read it here.

Btw, happy new year !!!!

My Xmas gift here: Poster – LLM in Competition and IP Law, the new poster of the University of Liege LL.M in Competition and IP law.

This programme keeps improving.

We have this year a very enthusiatic group of studs’ from all over Europe and beyond.

And for the upcoming year, we plan to (i) open a new academic position (senior lecturer) on a set of IP courses; and (ii) pursue the official lauching of the Liège Competition and Innovation Institute (LCII)

Dear Santa,

I have been very brave this year. So here’s my Xmas list for 2013:

• A Commission Article 10 inapplicability decision;
• An article 102 TFEU collective dominance case;
• A judgment quashing a Commission decision under Article 102 TFEU;
• Many, very many rulings in the spirit of Post Danmark;
• No ruling in the spirit of TeliaSonera;
• A recognition that dominant firm conduct can be de minimis, and in turn presumably lawful;
• Individual penalties for EU competition law infringements;
• Less articles on Article 6 ECHR and, more generally, on procedural issues;
• The clear recognition that the “restriction by object” concept is probabilistic in nature (i.e. a restriction by object means nothing but conduct which will very likely exert anticompetitive effects);
• A guidance letter from the Commission;
• DG COMP to take a few complaints lodged by SMEs, and not only open investigations when Google, Microsoft, Samsung or Apple are concerned;
• Shorter judgments;
• Judgments in understandable English (or French);
• A recognition that coordination theories of harm related to horizontal cooperation agreements should be assessed on the basis of the Airtours standard;
• Impact studies in competition cases (on this, am not so sure actually);
• A flexible traineeship at DG COMP 🙂

Thanks Santa. You can deliver all this throughout 2013, not need to bring everything tomorrow.

Nicolas

PS: to all readers, a terrific Xmas

A quick post.

Our email boxes are flooded with Xmas e-cards those days.

My preferred so far is Cromo’s (Crowell & Moring). Check it out, it is really nice.

Above, the Brussels School of Competition‘s Xmas e-card.

Last week-end, I watched “Inception” again. This is a terrific movie.

And it has an antitrust angle. The story is about a dominant energy conglomerate (Fischer industries if my recollections are correct).

And this dominant firm threatens to eliminate its main rival from the market.

The later thus hire someone to implant into the subconcsious of the heir of Fischer industries’ CEO the idea of disintegrating his father’s company (the father passes away in the beginning of the movie).

Now, the antitrust geek that sleeps in me cannot help but thinking that in XXVth century competition law, agencies will use this form of remedial intervention as an alternative/supporting device to conventional divestiture orders.

And surely XXVth century lawyers will look for a concept to denote for this new type of remedies. I’ll likely be dead and this blog will no longer exist (yet who knows?), but here’s my early take: why not talk of “chimerical remedies“, besides structural and behavioral remedies.

An alternative would be “Freudian remedies”.

If you have other ideas, please comment on this post.

No gym in 3 weeks; no free weekends in a few months (a bit of an exaggeration, but whining goes with the profession); quite few after-work beers, and then Mark English and Sarah Ashall send me this….thanks for the advice!

Btw, if you have 5 free minutes I would very very much recommend you to read this:  How will you measure your life?