Today, the Bundesgerichtshof (German Federal Court of Justice) has sided with the Bundeskartellamt against Facebook (see). By doing so, the Court has deemed the absence of causality link between Facebook’s size on the market and its practice irrelevant. Once again, Facebook is being judged for combining WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook users’ data without their consent (but for improving these apps). Should I create...Read More
In March, I launched a survey to document the most essential antitrust literature of the 2010s. As I said at the time, my objective was to build a database of the most valuable antitrust/competition law academic papers published in the last ten years. We’ve never had so many authors and journals publishing antitrust/competition law-related subjects; I thought constructing a...Read More
Click here to order “Blockchain + Antitrust” *** Please find below the articles that I enjoyed reading in May 2020. I don’t recall having read so many good ones in a single month. Learn about them on a more regular basis by following me on Twitter at @LeConcurrential. Antitrust: Blockchain Code as Antitrust (Thibault Schrepel & Vitalik Buterin) Do Competition Lawyers...Read More
We often talk about “history books” as if such things still existed, or mattered. Oh well, for what it’s worth, let me discuss the first (U.S.) case of blockchain antitrust. We long thought United American Corp. v. Bitmain was the one (read). In this case (filed in December 2018), United American Corp. acted against various firms (including those of prominent...Read More
I am absolutely delighted to let you know about the publication of a new article I co-authored with Vitalik Buterin (co-founder of the Ethereum): “Blockchain Code as Antitrust“. It starts from the following premise: the rule of law does not govern all human interactions. Against this background, one may want to rely on other means to increase...Read More
Click here to order “Blockchain + Antitrust” *** Please find below the articles that I enjoyed during the month of April 2020. Mostly antitrust-related, but not limited to it. Learn about them on a more regular basis by following me on Twitter at @LeConcurrential. Antitrust: POWER: Trust and Distrust (Eleanor Fox) Libra: A Concentrate of “Blockchain Antitrust” (Thibault Schrepel) Antitrust Antitextualism (Daniel...Read More
Blockchain was first introduced by Satoshi Nakamoto with her/his/their article “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” published on October 31, 2008 (although… interestingly enough, Satoshi Nakamoto never used the word “blockchain” in the white paper). Hundreds of millions of transactions have since been implemented on it. This is me being sarcastic on Twitter: Confirmed #Bitcoin transactions per...Read More
Blockchain antitrust is a fascinating subject. The number of cases is rising (I will discuss that shortly), and antitrust agencies are slowly but surely starting to devote resources to the topic. With that in mind, I am delighted to publish my latest article entitled Libra: A Concentrate of “Blockchain Antitrust”. This is a short one (10 pages) dealing with a...Read More
Click here to order “Blockchain + Antitrust” *** Please find below the articles that I enjoyed during the month of March 2020. Mostly antitrust-related, but not limited to it. Learn about them on a more regular basis by following me on Twitter at @LeConcurrential. Antitrust: Roads Not Taken: The Federal Trade Commission and Google (William Kovacic) A letter to Margarethe Vestager regarding...Read More
Click here to order “Blockchain + Antitrust” *** Please find below the articles that I enjoyed during the month of February 2020. Mostly antitrust-related, but not limited to it. There’s more than usual. Learn about them on a more regular basis by following me on Twitter at @LeConcurrential. Antitrust: Democracy And Monopoly In Governments, Markets, And Firms (Daniel A. Crane) The Fundamental...Read More
Dear readers, these past few weeks, I have been publishing videos in which I presented and explained the “The Theory of Granularity: A Path for Antitrust in Blockchain Ecosystems” (freely accessible on SSRN). This post puts them all in one place. Thank you for watching. Thibault. *** Video #1: Understanding the theory of the firm as used...Read More
Dear readers, here’s the fourth and final video of the series dealing with “The Theory of Granularity: A Path for Antitrust in Blockchain Ecosystems” (freely accessible on SSRN). I previously showed that antitrust law is based on Ronald Coase’s theory of the firm, that public blockchains escape that theory, and that, accordingly, a new theory is needed. I now want...Read More
The background story It all started on Wednesday, February 12, 2020. ALL? The (first) Google hearing, of course. It has been a long wait, but hopefully worth it. Previously on the Google Saga, the European Commission has announced the decision (in June 2017), has published it (in December of the same year), and ever since, has fined Google two more times. An...Read More
I am pleased that my article entitled “The Fundamental Unimportance of Algorithmic Collusion for Antitrust Law” as just been published at the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology website. Here’s the introduction: Antitrust and competition law is subject to increasing polarization, especially regarding Internet giants. Some scholars argue that the tech giants abuse their dominant positions,...Read More
Dear readers, following a first video (link) in which I exposed the theory of the firm as used in antitrust law, and a second one (link) in which I explained that, by escaping that theory, public blockchains escape antitrust law, I am pleased to publish a third video today. In it, I explain what the theory of granularity is. It will serve...Read More
