Antitrust, Intellectual Property and the High-Tech Economy

Catalog description

This course will address the application of antitrust law and competition policy in the high-tech economy. It will focus in large part on the intersection between antitrust law and intellectual property rights. We will study how antitrust applies to patent pools, standard-setting, standard-essential patents, and patent settlements. The course will also focus on the antitrust challenges the platform economy poses. These include how to apply antitrust principles in zero-price and two-sided markets, how to analyze acquisitions of nascent competitors, and the impact of network effects in platform antitrust analysis. In this same vein, we will analyze ongoing litigation against Facebook, Apple, and Google. Course materials will include cases, academic articles, and draft legislation. With guidance from the instructor, students will prepare a research paper on a topic of their choice.