Andrew Chin Andrew Chin

Andrew Chin
   
 
 
     
Course Description
Text
Reading Groups
Online Simulations
Additional Course Materials
Links of Interest

 
Course Description
LAW 226, 3 units.

Recent economic and political developments have led the federal government to rethink its role in regulating the competitive structure and performance of American industries in a global context. This course provides an introduction to the legal doctrines, public policies, and intellectual theories that inform the practice and administration of federal antitrust law. We will encounter problems posed by monopolies, mergers, joint ventures, tying arrangements, exclusive dealing, collaboration in pricing, and other business behavior, as they have arisen in a wide variety of industries and markets. We will discuss these problems together, applying the recurring terms and elements of antitrust law, including geographic market definition, product market definition, entry barriers, market foreclosure, antitrust injury, legitimate business purposes, market structure, market concentration, market performance, market failure, monopoly power, market power, the rule of reason, and the per se rule. We will become familiar with the historical development of the law, its present state, and the ideologies and policy choices that will shape its future paths. We will learn to apply the principles of antitrust law to new industries and markets, so that you can be an informed observer, or participant, in its future development.

Fall 2021 Syllabus

Warm-Up Questions (posted by the evening before each class)

 
Text
Melamed et al., Antitrust Law and Trade Regulation (7th ed. 2018), together with this Statutory Supplement.
 
Online Simulations
Monopoly and Market Performance
Herfindahl-Hirschman Index Calculator
Gibrat Market Simulator
 
Additional Course Materials
Guide to U.S. Antitrust Laws
Restatement of Contracts, §§ 186 & 188 (Class 1)
Private Antitrust Cases Filed in U.S. District Courts, 1980-2007
(Class 2)
Breaking Bad scenario (Class 2)
Antitrust Economics: Some Basics (Class 2)
FTC v. Facebook (section III.A at 17-33) (Class 3)
DuPont Findings of Fact (Class 3)
Microsoft PowerPoints (Class 4)
Topco (Class 6)
Chicago Board of Trade (Class 7)
Price Fixing, Bid Rigging and Market Allocation Schemes: What They Are and What to Look For (Class 8)
Joint Traffic Association (Class 8)
Twombly Complaint (Class 9)
O'Bannon v. NCAA (Class 10)
John Oliver on O'Bannon v. NCAA (Class 10)
Fashion Originators' Guild garment labels (Class 11)
Joshua Wright on FTC Section 5 authority (Class 11)
FTC Statement of Enforcement Principles (Class 11)
August Surprise: The FTC's Section 5 Statement (Class 11)
FTC v. Superior Court Lawyers Trial Association (Class 13)
Kansas City Redlining Map (Class 14)
Standard Fashion (Class 19)
Microsoft (district court analysis of exclusive dealing claim) (Class 19)
The "Malt Beverage Interbrand Competition Act"; commentary (optional);  (Class 14)
Staples I opinion; FTC exhibit (Office Depot advertisement); FTC exhibit (Staples advertisement and zone pricing chart) (Class 22)
Staples II opinion; FTC exhibit (opening argument slides); Staples/Office Depot exhibit (opening argument slides)
Notes on Tying Arrangements (Class 24) 
Google Complaint and Press Release (Class 26)

Optional Viewing/Reading (Classes 5):  Archer Daniels Midland segment from "Fair Fight in the Marketplace"; Harry First, "The Vitamins Case: Cartel Prosecutions and the Coming of International Competition," 68 Antitrust L.J. 711 (2001) (available on Westlaw)
There Is Nothing Funny About Antitrust (April 1 essay by Bert Foer)

 

Carolinas Healthcare System Materials
(to come)
 
Links of Interest

Competition

American Bar Association, Section of Antitrust Law
The ABA offers a $2,000 cash prize and national prestige to the author of the best student paper on antitrust published in a law journal during the calendar year.  If you are interested in writing for publication, I am happy to help.

Careers

American Bar Association, Section of Antitrust Law
With over 3,000 members, the Section advances practice and scholarship in antitrust law through a variety of conferences, publications, and other activities.

Public Enforcement

U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division
The Antitrust Division, together with the offices of the United States Attorneys, has authority to enforce the antitrust laws, including the Sherman Act, the Clayton Act and the FTC Act, through both civil actions and criminal prosecutions.

Federal Trade Commission, Bureau of Competition
The Federal Trade Commission has authority to enforce the substance of the antitrust laws, including the Clayton Act and the FTC Act, through civil actions.

National Association of Attorneys General
The states' attorneys general enforce state antitrust laws, most of which are similar to federal antitrust law.  In addition, the states can bring parens patriae actions on behalf of their residents for damages arising under the Sherman Act.  Since 1983, multistate enforcement actions have been coordinated under the auspices of the National Association of Attorneys General.

Foreign Agencies

Competition, Antitrust and Regulatory Sites
A compilation of links to foreign antitrust and trade regulation agencies, from Argentina's Comision Nacional de Defense de la Competencia to the World Trade Organization.

Think Tanks

American Antitrust Institute
The American Antitrust Institute is a nonprofit public interest research organization based in Washington, D.C. with a distinguished slate of officers and advisors and a generally pro-enforcement tilt.

NERA Economic Consulting
NERA is an economic consulting firm that has provided expert testimony in many high-profile antitrust cases, generally in support of defendants.

Study Aids

Antitrust Case Browser
Summaries of key antitrust cases by Prof. Anthony Becker, Department of Economics, St. Olaf College.  Not recommended as a substitute for class reading.

Antitrust Policy
Collection of topic outlines and links to antitrust resources, generally from a neoclassical perspective.  Features interesting economic simulations of market performance.

Supreme Court Antitrust Debates
Study guides for key antitrust cases by John Bowen, Professor Emeritus, Department of Economics, Ripon College, with special attention to the jurisprudence of individual Supreme Court justices.  Not recommended as a substitute for class reading.

 
   
   
   
   
   
Andrew Chin   Andrew Chin