/ ==================== / wed.oct.20011024 / ==================== /
18-1930/ Federalist Society @ NYC Cornell Club , 6 E 44 :
  The Microsoft antitrust case .
 Increasing Anti-trust atacks by Governments
 around the World , at least before 0911 , when restrictions of
 movement in the name of security ( Herding ) , and Government
 BailOuts ( Forced charity ) eclipsed such parochial concerns ,
 has been becoming one of the great threats to free trade and our
 well being . The clearest example of this has been the the EU's
 " Commissioner of Competition " Mario Monti's killing the merger
 of GE and Honeywell 

 Robert A. Levy, Senior Fellow , Constitutional Studies at Cato
   / not there /  Wall Street Journal's John Fund
 Kenneth W. Starr
 Kevin Arquit, former dir Bureau of Competition @ FTC ,
RSVP : Dean Reuter , Federalist Society , WDC . 202-822-8138.
 cklein@cato.org

/1804/ was postponed : glorious panal :
 Bob Levy : CVA investment teks , then Law , Cato
 Kevin Arquit, Cornell , former dir Bureau of Competition @ FTC , NBA
 Nicholas Economindes : Stanford : published on MS case
 Lars Liebeler : CompTIA amicus brief .
 Kennith Starr : ex solicitor general :

 Panel somewhat weighted ( toward anti- anti-trust ) .
  Tomorrow coming out party for XP .

 Bob Levy : Cato . CVA investment teks , then Law :
  Why should never have been filed :
  transformed private property to government redistribution .
  No one other than owner has rights to dispose of creations .
 2 ) anti trust fluid and murky .
 3 ) anti trust based on static mkt . Mkt move faster than anti trust .
  ast Word perfect ,
 4 ) market defined as desktop Intel single user . left out Apple ,
    Linux .  .15 sold naked w/o any OS .
 5 ) antitrust lawyers don't know busn . say govt planners know best .
     Real issue : who gets to decide .
     
 6 ) wielded by wrench seeking competition .
      Get government we ask for .
 7 ) Government created barriers to entry :  True barriers only
    possible by gov :   tarrifs , quotas .
 8 ) Inevitably used by unscrupulous polititian for own purposes
   Nixon to Colson /  David Burn `96 : Abuse of Power
   Adam Smith : heads of businesses get to make the decisions .

Kevin Arquit, Cornell , former dir Bureau of Competition @ FTC :
 Agrees Sherman act open to abuse .  Now is economic analysis
  for consumer welfare .  Worked at FTC under Reagan :
  monopolization with exclusionary behavior . Hi tek same special
 interest argument as any other industry - steel , agriculture .
 MS case - appeal court ruled 7 - 0 :
  1 ) is monopolist . of course .
  2 ) Doug Ginsberg : 12 instances : cannot change Icons on top
    screen . MS had copyright argument .
    Explorer not allowed to be deleted from scring
  3 ) comingled code - some don't want .
  4 ) consciously deceived developers .
  MS XP more of same mingling .
Rebuttal already :
Nicholas Economindes : Stanford : published on MS case .
 only one who not involved in case .
 Have consumers been hurt ? before IE explore paying $45 for
 netscape ?  now nothing . MS product equal to NS .
 Future consumers harmed ? then wait till then .
 MS was . given price for hardware , MS should be charging $1800 .
 were charging $60 . So market must be far more competitive than
 appears . Hook & squeeze - at .9 of mkt , why have they not
 started squeezing . Pirating ? other products - Office $500 .
 Reason : actual and potential competition .
 2 ) Standard in network industries for behavior : Notions of
   hving 1000s of firms -  in networks will always be very large
  market share s.   Apple .05 mkt share :  Bee < .01 - even cheaper
 Remedies : good that not broken up .  Regulate as essential
  utility like fone . Impose restrictions on contracts MS can
  write .  option 2 : explicit price list w quantity discounts .
    3 ) disclosure of internals . NS does not have same access to
      APIs .
  Very far from what was imposed by court .
 Lars Liebeler : CompTIA amicus brief .  Since  June 28 :
  Case not abt MS's monopoly . vast array of benefits .
  Found liable for illegially preserving monopoly . Jackson
  failed to find causal connection - didn't even look at .
  Simply enjoin MS's unlawful behavior . If no causal conduct
   Page 61 , Starr w bring up 99 , 100 , 105 :
  What is right by consumers ? give up intellectual property
  to competitors ?  NS had .8 of market . Quality of both
  products went way up & cost down .  AOL responded by improving
  and coming down in price .  AOL still the market leader .
  Standard oil kerosend .3 % gal , 1870 , by e 0 century ,
  .06 % gallon .  Nothing MS does excluded anyone .
  Flawed proposition that consumers are lazy & stupid .
 email Gov stay of mkt :
/1855/ Kennith Starr : cockles - process : Frankfurter history
 of freedom is history of process . Bush admin for freedom .
 Charles James knows how to dismiss a case : merits assesment
  not seen as policy but legal issue .
 2 days of arguments . enbank opinion : Page 11 of Slip opinion
  Brandis : data data data . record in the case :
  Page 14 : anti-competitive conduct : superior product , business
  accumen . restrictions in contracts limiting what OEM could offer
  end users . HP , Gateway /1902/
BobLevy : Opening screen . OEMs can remove almost all , can install
 - like presetting - try bringing own deserts .  Imagine if govt
 dictated opening screen .  NY Post bundles business section .
 Starr - had brightest Judges - they not legislators . NS failed
 to refute Jackson's facts . case patently absurd .
KA : more like bundling set top box in TV . No inovation near
  MS space . Java , Hardware prices going down , OS up .
LL : vertually everything reversed . Jackson speculated
KS : Bob suggests anti-trust notion bad .  Generally policing tool .
  Libertarian view pure but hard to believe . Odd thing Jackson did
  - did not have remedial phase - be painstaking looking at unintended
 consequences .  Make sure do it right .
NE : Prices - simple arguments did not occur in months of trial .
 Important to be rational business man .
1917/ Qs : for Lebeler 12 bad activities . - derth of evidence of
 availabliity of NS .
  Pfizer & MS together ?
 Can site any anti-trust case in last century which helped consumers
 ? KA : ADM Lycene - infant formula . KS : catagory `80 highway
 construction bid rigging . ATT feels produced
 LL : price fixing -  on occassions govt lurches randomly : IBM
Chris Garvey : MS breach of warrenty & merchantablilty .
- Mkt reasonablly interchangable alternative - Apple ?  KA - crap .
 KS : even if apple included - still minor . set w/o considering rivals
  prices . LL : not required to look at other's prices .
 NE ; applications count -
BL : Apple has 12000 apps running on its systems . Scott McNeally :
  Windows is dead - 2002 w b less than .5 MS . MS not growth mkt anymore
/1932/