Courses@Boalt
NOTE: Course offerings change. Classes offered this semester may not be offered in future semesters.248.9 sec. 1 - Silicon Valley Antitrust (Spring 2012)
Instructor: Hanno Kaiser (view instructor's teaching evaluations | profile)
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Units: 2
Meeting Time: F 8:00-9:50
Meeting Location: 10
Course Start: January 13, 2012
Course Control Number (Non-1Ls): 49732
The Valley is an amazing place to practice antitrust law! This course will cover the real-world application of U.S. and EU antitrust law to the computer, software, internet, and social media industries that are just across the bridge. Iconic firms such as Google, Intel, Microsoft, IBM, Apple, Oracle, Nintendo and others have all been involved in high-stakes antitrust battles that have shaped the global technology landscape. These matters are not about legal technicalities. They are about business models, ecosystem strategies, and competing visions for the future of technology and society. We will explore not only the legal questions but also the economic and public policy issues underlying these matters. This approach is reflected in our use of industries, rather than legal doctrine, as the main organizing principle for the course. We will discuss: (1) the chip-making and foundry business (e.g., Intel); (2) search and display advertising (e.g., Google); (3) mobile ecosystems (e.g., Apple, Google, Microsoft); (4) the database and enterprise software space (e.g., Oracle, IBM); and (5) social networks (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Google). In doing so, we will cover international cartels, predatory innovation, tying and bundling, search engine manipulation, open and closed systems, monopolization, open source software, and acquisitions of businesses and patent portfolios. Our cases will include U.S. and EU court and agency decisions as well as whatever will be hot in Spring 2012.
Prerequisites:
Although previously completing a general Antitrust or Competition Law
course is not required, this course assumes basic familiarity with
U.S. or EU antitrust doctrine. It is an ideal complement to a basic
antitrust course and will only overlap in relatively small part with a
traditional antitrust and intellectual property course.
Exam Notes: F
Course Category: Business Law
This course is cross-listed in the following categories:
Intellectual Property and Technology Law
Law and Economics
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Readers:
No reader.
Books:
Required Books are in blue
- Black Letter Outline on Antitrust, 5th
Herbert Hovenkamp,
Publisher: West
ISBN: 9780314274489
Copyright Date: To Be Determined
Price: To Be Determined
