Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Article on Google Books Settlement from the Summer 2010 Issue of Antitrust

For those who like their reading heavily footnoted.


Link to American Bar Association Antitrust magazine website.

Link to National Economic Research Associates website, which provides a link to the full-text article, "The Proposed Google Books Settlement: Copyright, Rule 23, and DOJ Section 2 Enforcement", by Gregory K. Leonard.

Intro excerpt:  The proposed Google Books settlement raises a number of interesting issues.  The Department of Justice has objected to the settlement on antitrust and other grounds, and its antitrust objections provide a window into the current administration’s stance toward antitrust enforcement,
especially Section 2 enforcement. 

In addition, if the Google Books settlement is ultimately approved by the court, that could have important implications for how class action settlements are negotiated in the future. The adoption of the class action mechanism in the U.S. legal system was motivated by efficiency. The proposed Google Books settlement, in resolving a purported class action, similarly generates substantial efficiencies.The central question is whether these efficiencies are sufficient to outweigh the objections raised by critics of the settlement.

So....what got me here?

Step 1:  Link to August 21, 2010, New York Times obituary, "Harrison Price, a Planner of Disney Parks, Dies at 89".   Which I found to be fascinating reading, particularly the concept of "leisure-time economic analysis".  (Only 8 hits when you google the phrase in quotes.)

Step 2: 

Step 3:   The NERA Economic Consulting website, which is not the same as this.  (Just out of curiosity, I typed 'libraries' in the NERA search box.  2 results, one of which you'll find linked above)

And there you have it.

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