Individual podcasts

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2020

Treasurer unveils code to rein in digital giants
Please Explain
31 July 2020

Last year, Google and Facebook made almost $400 million more in Australian advertising revenue than five of our major media outlets combined. Today, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg unveiled a draft code aimed at reining in the dominance of the digital platforms and strengthening the media companies that have lost significant ad revenue to the international tech giants. In this episode, national editor Tory Maguire is joined by media and telecommunications journalist, Zoe Samios to discuss the implications of the code for Australian media and the companies.

US prosecutions on criminal antitrust offenses come at a high cost for foreign offenders
Max Fillion, Lewis Crofts, James Panichi
mlex, 24 July 2020 (23 minutes)

‘The harshness of the penalties faced by three foreigners who have faced jailed time in the United States over criminal-antitrust offenses is being read as a cautionary tale for anyone, anywhere in the world, who has violated US cartel laws. The offenses may amount to white-collar crime, but the unforgiving prison regime faced by those who have been convicted, along with the readiness of US authorities to extradite those accused from third countries, is a reminder that even senior managers of wealthy companies can’t expect leniency from the Department of Justice. As MLex’s reporting has revealed, this unforgiving regime may work as a deterrent, but the three foreigners nabbed by the long arm of US justice have paid a very high price.‘

UK review calls for regulation to address Facebook, Google adtech dominance
James Panichi, Victoria Ibitoye, Simon Zekaria
mlex, 10 July 2020 (17 mins)

‘There’s no denying that tech giants Facebook and Google dominate the markets for online advertising, or adtech. The social media and search platforms argue that there’s nothing anticompetitive about this fact and the tailor-made connection between consumers and the products they want to buy amounts to a win-win. Yet a new report by the UK’s competition regulator has raised serious concerns about the platforms’ large market share and has raised the prospect of tough new regulation – even the breaking up of Big Tech businesses – to counter this unprecedented market power. If the recommendations are embraced by government they could have a serious impact on the platforms’ business model.‘

US antitrust community rocked by allegations of political interference in DOJ decision-making
Joshua Sisco, James Panichi
mlex, 3 July 2020 (15 mins)

‘The notion that decisions on antitrust investigations and merger reviews are made by the US Department of Justice at arm’s length from politics was challenged last month, with whistleblowers in the department suggesting the Trump administration interfered with the process. DOJ prosecutor John Elias told a US Congressional hearing about interference by DOJ leadership in decisions to open multiple investigations. The first was a probe of the car industry, following a deal struck by the state of California with four automakers on emissions standards — something that irked President Donald Trump. The second was an intervention by Attorney General William Barr to initiate burdensome reviews of 10 different acquisitions involving legal marijuana companies.‘

An Economist’s Thoughts on Behavioral Remedies in Merger Enforcement
Russell Pittman, CPI Antitrust Chronicle, 6 May 2020 (narrated paper)

‘There is a substantial literature examining the experience in both the United States and the European Union with the imposition by enforcement agencies of remedies as a condition for a merger to proceed without challenge. The broad goals of the agencies have arguably remained consistent over the years, and a number of more specific “lessons” of the past seem to have become broadly accepted, including both a general preference for structural over behavioral remedies but also a willingness to impose behavioral remedies in certain, limited situations, either in support of structural remedies or on their own. This paper examines some arguably underappreciated complications arising from the imposition of behavioral remedies, including the difficulty of enforcing non-discrimination provisions, the danger of perverse incentives provided by such provisions, and the counter-argument – common in the debates regarding infrastructure access pricing – that in some circumstances discrimination itself may be pro- rather than anti-competitive.‘

Antitrust during COVID-19
Three part series by from Porter Wright, Antitrust Law Source

Part 1: Concerns about collaboration
20 April 2020 [25 minutes]
Jay Levine talks to Allen Carter

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen companies collaborating on some great ideas. Companies should keep in mind, however, that the antitrust laws still apply and those who don’t follow them may pay dearly later.

In the first of a three-part series about antitrust and consumer protection during COVID-19, host Jay Levine talks to Porter Wright attorney Allen Carter about how companies can collaborate during the current crisis, what business owners should do to protect themselves and how the government is helping and what it is watching out for.

Part 2: Price gouging and hoarding of supplies
27 April 2020 [30 minutes]
Jay Levine talks to Allen Carter

If you’ve been to the store lately, you know there are a few things that are hard to find and others are increasing in price. But when does stocking up turn into hoarding or demand driving up prices turn into price gouging?

Part 3: Planning for the future
27 April 2020 [30 minutes]
Jay Levine talks to Allen Carter

With any large crisis, litigation follows and that will certainly be the case with the COVID-19 pandemic. In the third and final installment of our podcast series on consumer protection and antitrust concerns during COVID-19, Jay Levine, host and partner at Porter Wright, talks to attorney Allen Carter, about the areas where businesses may be at risk for litigation, what they should be thinking about now to protect themselves and what to expect in the coming months and years.

2019

Australia’s Digital Platform Inquiry: We’ve Only Just Begun …
Julie Clarke, CPI Antitrust Chronicle (not read by Julie Clarke …)
CPI Antitrust Chronicle, 19 December 2019
Run time: approx 26 minutes

‘Between 2017-2019 the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission conducted a “world first” inquiry into digital platforms and their impact on media and advertising services markets. Its focus was Google and Facebook reflecting, their “influence, size and significance” in Australia. Concluding that these platforms have market power, the Final Report makes a raft of recommendations traversing competition, consumer, privacy, media, and broader public interest concerns. In the competition space, minor recommendations were made with respect to Australia’s merger laws and processes and a targeted recommendation is made that Google remove default search and browser preferences from Android devices. The Report also calls for the establishment of a specialist ACCC branch tasked with pro-active monitoring and enforcement and armed with compulsory information gathering powers to conduct market inquiries and make recommendations to government. Many of the Report’s recommendations call for further consultation, including the development of several “codes of conduct.” It is clear that the focus on addressing the rise of the digital platforms in Australia has only just begun.'

Netflix's decline and why stricter regulation could strengthen the tech giants
Future Tense with Antony Funnell (ABC, 11 August 2019)
Run time: approx 30 mins

'Netflix dominates online TV streaming, but for how long? The market appears to be decentralising, as major content-makers decide to abandon Netflix and go it alone. Also, Cory Doctorow on how more government regulation could inadvertently make the tech giants even stronger. What is needed, he says, is an emphasis on encouraging competition. And meet the Scottish developer trying to build a genuine alternative to today’s surveillance-ridden internet.'

Australia Finalises Landmark Facebook, Google Report
James Panichi and Laurel Henning (mlex, 31 July 2019)
Run time: 22min 57 sec

'The Australian government has published the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s landmark report into the influence of Facebook and Google on the country’s media and advertising industries. If the government adopts the ACCC’s 23 recommendations, the digital platforms could face some of the toughest M&A requirements in the world, and have to work on industry codes of conduct with regulators that would include giving consumers more control over their data.'

M&A law at heart of Australian competition regulator’s courtroom woes
James Panichi and Laurel Henning (mlex, 4 June 2019)
Run time: 16min 43 sec

'Australian merger law is under renewed scrutiny as the country’s competition regulator fights to make its voice heard by Federal Court judges. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission and Federal Court of Australia are at odds when it comes to trusting undertakings offered up by companies seeking approval for merger deals and the ACCC’s mistrust is leading it to consider recommending carving out new M&A measures for digital platforms this month.'

TPG-Vodafone merger suffers $700 million setback
James Panichi and Laurel Henning (mlex, 9 May 2019)

'A merger that would have seen Australia’s broadband and mobile network markets changed forever suffered a costly A$1 billion ($700 million) loss this week after a premature announcement from Australia’s competition regulator blocked the deal. Now the companies are preparing to take their fight to a Federal Court..'

Country Care cartel case resonates in Australia; New Zealand's draft privacy laws move forward
James Panichi and Laurel Henning (mlex, 14 March 2019)

'A landmark criminal-cartel prosecution in Australia, involving a rural medical-aid company called Country Care, is attracting attention among competition professionals for how prosecutors’ tactics may inform other criminal-cartel prosecutions, including one involving Deutsche Bank and Citigroup. Meanwhile, the New Zealand parliament published a new draft of a privacy overhaul, which would align the policy with Australian, but will it be enough to make the new laws successful at an international level? James Panichi and Laurel Henning discuss.'

Includes discussion of immunity (or 'letters of comfort') in the cartel case.

The Vergecast discusses breaking up Facebook, Google, and Amazon at SXSW
Zachary Mack, 12 March 2019 (run time 55 mins) (includes transcript)

'How would we break up the world’s most powerful companies? Live from SXSW, The Verge’s Nilay Patel, Dieter Bohn, Casey Newton, and Ashley Carman discuss just how one might split up tech giants like Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google.'

What's the 'right' regulation for Facebook?
Prof Caron Beaton-Wells (Melbourne Law School), 'investigates the meaning of the now often used, if not abused, term “fake news”. It explores whether this is a phenomenon that relates to competition and, if so, whether it is a reflection of too little competition, or indeed, too much.'

Competition Lore episode 22; released 6 March 2019. Run time is 24 mins

What's the 'right' regulation for Facebook?
Prof Caron Beaton-Wells (Melbourne Law School), speaks with Facebook's Associate General Counsel, Sam Knox

Competition Lore episode 21; released 19 Febraury 2019. Run time is 55 mins

Platforms, ads and the media?
Prof Caron Beaton-Wells (Melbourne Law School), speaks with Dr Katharine Kemp

Competition Lore episode 20; released 12 February 2019. Run time is 55 mins

Australian gun-jumping lawsuits highlight risks of dramatic, pre-deal business decisions
James Panichi and Laurel Henning (mlex, 18 February 2019)

'A landmark gun-jumping case in Australia has focused attention on the risk faced by companies entering into agreements ahead of a merger or acquisition. The lawsuit has also reignited concerns about how light penalties could hinder the deterrence of antitrust laws. Meanwhile, in New Zealand the planned revamp of privacy laws has prompted soul-searching about the “right to be forgotten,” with European court cases having an impact on policy discussion in the Southern Hemisphere.'

Run time: 24 mins. See also James Panichi, 'Cryosite's small gun-jumping fine prompts judge's concerns over weak deterrent effect' (mlex, 14 February 2019) and visit case page for more details.

Antitrust 3: Big Tech
NPR, Planet Money, 22 February 2019 (just under 6 mins)

'This is the third episode in our series on antitrust law in America. Our first episode told the story of Ida Tarbell and how her reporting on John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil changed antitrust law in the early 1900s. Our second episode followed the turn that took place in the 1970s in response to Robert Bork's Antitrust Paradox.

For this episode, we're looking at the present, and toward a future where markets may be dominated by tech giants like Facebook, Amazon, and Google. A new wave of antitrust thinkers is asking if the size and reach of these companies is a threat to competition, and ultimately to consumers. It's the backlash to the backlash introduced by Robert Bork in the seventies, and a reassessment of the relationship between the government and business in the United States.'

Antitrust 2: The Paradox
NPR, Planet Money, 20 February 2019 (just over20 mins)

'This is the second episode in our series on the history of competition, big business and antitrust law in America. Quick recap:

A little more than a hundred years ago, the Supreme Court broke up the Standard Oil company. It was a turning point in the balance of power between enormous companies and the free market. ...

In the decades after that, the government got more and more aggressive—intervening in the free market more and more until a lawyer named Robert Bork completely transformed the way antitrust law works in America, and paved the way for today's tech giants.'

Antitrust 1: Standard Oil
NPR, Planet Money, 15 February 2019 (just under 24 mins) (transcript available)

'Today on the show, we're launching a three part series on antitrust law, one of the most important but least-understood bodies of law in the United States.

For this first episode in the series, we're starting at the very beginning, in the nineteenth century, with the story of John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil. We go to Titusville, Pennsylvania, and retrace the steps of muckraking journalist Ida Tarbell as she uncovers the back room deals struck by Rockefeller, then one of the world's richest men. Tarbell's investigative reporting in the early 1900s inspired a court case that helped change the design of the American economy.'

2018

Antitrust in the New Guilded Age
Evolve the Law Podcast Episode 137 with Tim Wu

'In this week’s episode, Professor Tim Wu and host Ian Connett (@QuantumJurist) explain how we arrived at the New Gilded Age, why “trust-busting” actually fuels tech innovation cycles, the economic heroism of Louis Brandeis (aka the original start up business lawyer) and why Big Tech is almost certainly in for a big break up.'

Run time: 43 mins. Published 14 December 2018

Google, our "God"?
Prof Caron Beaton-Wells (Melbourne Law School), speaks with Google's Chief Economist, Hal Varian

Competition Lore episode 15; published 21 November 2018. Run time is 41 mins

Competition Lore podcast, 'What's the 'right' regulation for Facebook?' with Sam Knox, Facebook's Associate General Counsel.

Making America Antitrust Again
WNYC Studios | Published 17 November 2018 | Run time: 14: 32mins (Transcript available and downloadable audio)

'Since Amazon’s founding in 1994, the corporation has taken over industry after industry, defining what we buy and how we buy. Stacy Mitchell is the co-director of Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Earlier this year she wrote an article for The Nation called, “Amazon doesn’t just want to dominate the market — it wants to become the market.” Stacy and Brooke talk about the history of regulation of corporate concentration and where the movement is headed.'

Why we need maverick academics
Prof Caron Beaton-Wells (Melbourne Law School), speaks with Prof Iannis Lianos on the importance of academic independence.

Competition Lore episode 14; published 8 November 2018. Run time is 29 mins

Academics in the age of big tech?
Prof Caron Beaton-Wells (Melbourne Law School), speaks with Prof Daniel Sokol.

Competition Lore episode 13. Run time is 31 mins. Published 13 October 2018

The DOJ’s Richard Powers on Antitrust Enforcement
'Richard Powers, the Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Criminal Enforcement in the US Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division was good enough to sit down for a podcast and share where the DOJ’s priorities are in this significant risk area.'

Run time: 14 mins. Published 11 October 2018

Antitrust: Price-Fixing and Collusion
Corporate compliance insights | Lisa Phelan, who until very recently was responsible for criminal enforcement of U.S. antitrust laws and is now a partner with Morrison & Foerster, explains the world of antitrust violations.

Run time: 25 mins. Published 5 September 2019

Amazon and Antiturst
University of Chicago Law Review. Run time 26 mins. Published 28 August 2019

'On today's show, we discuss Amazon's rapid rise and the pressure the internet retailer is putting on traditional antitrust law. Our guests include Geoffrey Manne of the International Center for Law and Economics and Lina Khan of the Open Market Institute.'

Competition and algorithms - friend of foe?
Prof Caron Beaton-Wells (Melbourne Law School), speaks with Prof Michal Gal.

Competition Lore episode 10. Run time is 65 mins. Released 18 August 2018.

Why Antitrust?
'Vic Domen, Amanda Wait, and Tom York talk about what attracted them to antitrust and give advice to those considering a career in antitrust.'

Run time: 18 mins. Published 17 August 2019

What's the Point of Antitrust?
Legal Talk Network | ABA Section of Antitrust Law (from Spring meeting 2018)
5 June 2018 (34 mins)

'Anora Wang and Tom York interview antitrust professors Bill Kovacic and Andy Gavil about the new policy debate.

There is an ongoing debate about the appropriate role and objectives of antitrust law. Although there have been debates on these subjects for 50 years, how have recent events like the rise in technology and the great recession shaped the current role of antitrust? In this report from the ABA Antitrust Section Spring Meeting 2018, hosts Anora Wang and Tom York interview antitrust professors Bill Kovacic and Andy Gavil about the new policy debate. They discuss the forces that have shaped the field over time, where it is now, and where it’s headed in the future.'

Antitrust and Big Tech, and Is Corporate Lobbying A Good or Bad Thing?
Harvard Business Review | Published 17 May 2018 | Run time 31:28 mins

'In this episode, hosts Youngme Moon, Mihir Desai, and Felix Oberholzer-Gee discuss antitrust and whether we should be concerned about the size of the big tech companies; debate the propriety of corporate lobbying; and offer their After Hours Picks for the week.'

Australia needs tougher penalties for banks, financial institutions, ACCC says
ABC - RN Breakfast with Fran Kelly on 23 April 2018.
Includes 12 minute downloadable audio

Technology & Competition law: A conversation with Stephen King
Economic Society of Australia (Victoria) podcast (April 2018)

Civil penalties for cartel conduct: An OECD Review of the Australian Regime
Caron Beaton-Wells (Director, Competition Law and Economics Network, Melbourne Law School), speaks with Sean Ennis and Pedro Caro de Sousa (Competition Division of the OECD) about the OECD's report on pecuniary penalties in Australia.

Recorded 28 March 2018; published 6 April 2018. Run time is just under 30mins

All together now: China brings antitrust enforcement under one roof at a brand new agency
Mlex podcast: 13 March 2018

What's driving the ACCC probe into tech giants?
Caron Beaton-Wells, 6 March 2018. See associated news item.

Facebook’s data collection in Germany caught in antitrust spotlight
Mlex podcast: 26 February 2018 (15:22m)

Saputo, Murray Goulburn deal plots tricky Australian regulatory path
Mlex podcast: 16 February 2018 (11:56m)

Lina Khan on Amazon's Antitrus Paradox
Should we break up Amazon and Facebook?
The Verge, February 2018 (38 mins)

William A Glaston: Antitrust Enforcement in the Trump era
Brookings, 10 January 2018 (just under 6 mins)

2017

The Year in Antitrust and Privacy: AT&T, Equifax and Net Neutrality
MLex podcast: 20 December 2017 (22:44min) by Leah Nylen and Mike Swift

Eleanor Fox on Competition Law and World Systems
Audiovisual library of International Law (October 2017 - approx 70 mins)

Google is big. Is that bad?
NPR, 4 August 2017. Jacob Goldstein and Noel King. Approx 11mins

Joshua D Wright: Antitrust Enforcement in the Modern Era
The Federalist Society, 24 July 2017

Algorithms and Competition
CPI Podcast Volume 1 (May 2018)
Discussion featuring Prof Maurice Stucke, Prof Ariel Ezrachi, Prof Salil K Mehra and Assist Prof Ramsi Woodcock.

Margrethe Vestager and EU Competition Law
mLex - 23 March 2017 (duration 16:14)

2016

Gun jumping the Brazilian way (cartels focus)
Antitrust Law Source Podcast
'Gun jumping – coordination before merger clearance – isn’t just an American issue. Jay and Andre Gilbert, a Brazilian competition attorney, discuss what happens in Brazil when parties work together prior to the approval of a merger – Brazil’s standards, potential fines and the penalties companies might be faced with when this happens..'

Frank Wijckmans talk to Law Vox about competition law (cartels focus)
OUP Podcast (duration 30:35)
'In this podcast competition law expert Frank Wijckmans talks to George Miller about many aspects of competition law. In a wide-ranging discussion they cover definitions and awareness, leniency and fining regimes, and recidivism as well as liability and third party claims. Frank also situates cartels within the broader landscape of EU competition law and discusses how much of priority they are to the authorities.'