From FTC/DOJ December Workshop December 7, 2021 Marshall Steinbaum: Sure. Yes. I was delighted to have John bring up the subject of gas stations, because they’re one of my favorite things to talk about in antitrust, and in particular, the case US Richfield oil from 1951, which concerns the resale…

“If you have somebody who’s faster than you are, you have to trap him somehow so that he can’t use his superiority, whatever it is.” Some of the more interesting #startups are able to create new tactical formations to solve big problems against superior incumbents. At the onset of WWII…

The Schema definition of “priceRange” is “the average price of products or services this business offers” where the value must be expressed as text. One of the main benefits of running a transparent media company is an ability to comply with Schema standards for pretty much any type of content…

“Alesia Haas said her firm believes that blockchain tokens are not securities but rather digital property or a way to record ownership.” It is a violation of federal law for individuals, or organizations to create private coin or currency systems to compete with the official coinage and currency of the…

Kristin Smith “Open blockchain networks run on open-source software, meaning the government couldn’t enforce a ban on digital assets without shutting down the entire internet.” False. The United States Congress has the power and means to enforce the ban on all alternative currencies. (1) The “Power” element. Article I, Section…

David McLaughlin vs HomeLight is an interesting legal action, for some reason, was incorrectly filed under the 15 U.S.C. § 1125 (Lanham Act claim for false advertising.) I randomly stumbled on this case recently, doing my research. This case was correctly dismissed because the damages under the Lanham Act are…

Every media company is in competition with Google. One shouldn’t be selling anything through their competitors, to begin with. “Advertisers that choose this platform do so because it makes the process of buying digital advertising easy and effective,” says Sissie Hsiao No, advertisers choose this platform because it is easier for a media service to collude with Google than to build a competing advertising platform. All agreements to restrain free trade have very dull and common reasons behind them — low standards, slow growth, playing it safe, excuses, etc.

Talk about ignorance. KJ Erickson clearly violates SEC crowdfunding rules on LinkedIn that prevent companies that seek crowdfunding to advertise “deal terms” (such as the raise amount, the security details, the price of the security, the closing date of the campaign, etc.) on social media. The thing that strike me…

An interesting take on why U.S. Department of Justice and European Commission have been willing to charge #gigplatforms such as Uber, DoorDash, and Lyft with price fixing — open competition is an inconvenience. There is some dark truth to this argument, where neither consumers nor the government truly care about…