Globalization of Korean Antitrust Law: Upcoming Paper at ANU in Canberra

I am humbled that I have been invited to give my paper "Globalization of Korean Antitrust Law" at the Korean Studies Graduate Student Conference in Canberra in January.

Ranked No. 3 on Google

Despite its very recent history, the Korean Laws Blog is now ranked 3rd on Google. The No. 1 Korean Laws Blog is Korea IP Law Blog.

I will continue to make every effort to provide the best information I can on Korean Laws, particularly in high-tech and antitrust fields.

I congratulate Korea IP Law Blog on their No. 1 ranking, as it is extremely informative in content and has details from IP legal practice in Korea which would be otherwise hard to come by.

Historical Evolution of the Per Se Category

New Rule of Reason

Newberg on Rule of Reason in High-Tech Markets

"... antitrust law can facilitate or impede the production of innovation. The misapplication of the per se rule to pooling agreements resolving blocking relationships is the paradigmatic example of the latter, while the rule of reason analysisin the BMI case exemplifies the former. ... The tendency to wish away uncertainty by imposing orderly classifications upon conduct and business relationships is understandable, but ultimately antithetical to the task of analysis. For it is only by confronting the full implications of uncertainty that we can hope to develop methodologies for its management."

Joshua A. Newberg, ANTITRUST, PATENT POOLS, AND THEMANAGEMENT OF UNCERTAINTY, 3 ATLANTIC L. J. 1 (2000), p. 30.

I haven't had time to go over this point of view yet, but it would be important as a possible sophistication of the rule of reason in high-tech markets.

California Dental Association Case

What was the reason for the creation of the 2000 US Horizontal Collaboration Guidelines?

The FTC found that the California Dental Association had violated Article 1 of the Sherman Act. In concrete terms, it issued an order that prohibited the California Dental Association (CDA) from imposing a host of restrictions on the advertising and solicitation practices of its members. At the time it was thought by the FTC that it could apply a "quick look" analysis in finding that the conduct was illegal, without having to engaging in a full rule of reason analysis of its positive and negative impacts on competition. The Supreme Court, however, by a 5-4 majority, rejected the theory of the FTC. The Supreme Court held that the rule of reason applied in this case.

The FTC created the 2000 US Horizontal Collaboration Guidelines in order to clarify its policy in the wake of the California Dental Association case.

US Decision on Anti-Competitiveness of Patent Settlements

This is an interesting case on the issue of the anti-competitiveness of patent settlements. Click on the link below to the Antitrust Law Blog:

http://www.antitrustlawblog.com/article-reverse-payment-patent-settlements-the-second-circuit-speaks-out.html