by Lee Gesmer | Aug 2, 2006 | Miscellaneous
Here is a link to the FTC decision, which is adverse to Rambus. More to come ….
[Link]
Update: Andy Updegrove discusses the background of this case and the implications of the decision on Consortiuminfo.com:
In what can only be called a stunning development in a high profile standards case, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) unanimously reversed the earlier decision of one of its own Administrative Law Judges and ruled that semiconductor technology company Rambus, Inc. had “unlawfully monopolized the markets for four computer memory technologies that have been incorporated into industry standards for dynamic random access memory,” or DRAM. The FTC will deliberate further before announcing the penalties to be levied against Rambus.
continue . . .
by Lee Gesmer | Jul 24, 2006 | Antitrust
It is axiomatic that an entity cannot “conspire” with itself. For example, the Supreme Court has held that a parent corporation and its subsidiary are not capable of an illegal conspiracy under the Sherman Antitrust Act.
Of course, as is true with most legal principles, what looks simple at 30,000 feet altitude becomes more complicated the closer one gets to the ground, and the courts have struggled with the definition of a “single entity” in a variety of contexts.
Dean Williamson of the DOJ Antitrust Division has written an interesting and in-depth paper analyzing the law and economics of this issue. The paper, titled Organization, Control and the Single Entity Defense in Antitrust, is published here.
by Lee Gesmer | Jul 21, 2006 | Miscellaneous, Readings and Novelties
I usually find the Knowledge@Wharton reports and articles interesting. Here is a series of articles summarizing some of the topics discussed at their annual Supernova Conference, which was held in San Francisco in late June.
The topics include:
What’s the Future of Desktop Software — and How Will It Affect Your Privacy?
Kevin Lynch on Adobe‘s Plans for a New Generation of Software
The Rise of the ‘Videonet’
Tantek
by Lee Gesmer | Jul 21, 2006 | Miscellaneous
First the blog, then the web site, and finally the book. Jeremy Blachman has quite an operation!
Law firms, and especially large law firms, are very strange places. Combine driven, intelligent (mostly), eccentric people, big egos, big money, competition for partnership among associates and for share of income among partners, clients pressures, competition between firms, greed, …. I could go on. Having worked at three of these institutions (the-firm-formally-known-as Hale and Dorr, the-firm-formally-known-as-Howrey & Simon,and the firm still known as Choate, Hall & Stewart), I am not totally unfamiliar with them. Now, Jeremy Blachman, long-time author of the Anonymous Lawyer blog (which is very mordant and a bit humorous if taken in small bites), has written a soon-to-be released book, The Anonymous Lawyer.
In the manner of these things, the book is being promoted at an elaborate (and I do mean elaborate) web site which you can view by clicking here. In fact, I hope half as much work went into the book as went into the web site.
This is very funny stuff (the web site; I can’t comment on the book). Sadly, the picture it paints is one that many practitioners will find strikes uncomfortably close to home.
by Lee Gesmer | Jul 20, 2006 | Miscellaneous
When a popular blogger/law firm associate gets fired by her firm, in this case mega-firm Reed Smith, she doesn’t just go gentle into that good night, as so many thousands of associates have done before her. Or silently, for that matter. Denise Howell, author of the popular Bag and Baggage blog (and coiner of the term “blawg”), discusses her experiences, motherhood, and her opportunities here.
