On January 3, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) concluded its wide-ranging investigation of allegedly anticompetitive conduct by Google. While a number of other commitments were extracted from Google, the allegations of search bias that initially animated the investigation were not proven, and the FTC even found that some of the investigated conduct may have been procompetitive. In Europe, on the other hand, an investigation into allegations of Google’s search bias and other abusive practices is ongoing.

To examine the important and timely issues surrounding Google Search, ND LAMB is convening a
panel of legal scholars with expertise in antitrust and intellectual property, who will discuss and
debate the merits and demerits of the allegations against Google, the FTC’s decision, and the search
company’s relevant conduct more generally.

Panel Chair: Avishalom Tor, Professor of Law, Notre Dame Law School

Speakers:
• Daniel Crane, Frederick Paul Furth Sr. Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School
• Geoffrey A. Manne, Executive Director, International Center for Law and Economics
• Spencer Weber Waller, Professor of Law and Director, Institute for Consumer Antitrust Studies
• Mark McKenna, Professor of Law, Notre Dame Law School

Sponsored by the Program on Law and Economics and the Notre Dame Research Program on Law and Market Behavior

LAMB and Law & Economics will present Prof. Ariel Katz, University of Toronto Faculty of Law, “eBooks, Antitrust, and the First Sale Doctrine: Some History and Some Economics” See paper

The dramatic growth and influence of behavioral and experimental law and economics deserves close study and attention, to which this conference is devoted. Specifically, the conference builds on the contribution of leading scholars in the field to a first-of-its-kind “Handbook on Behavioral Economics and the Law” that will be published by Oxford University Press, offering a unique forum to examine the state-of-the-art of behavioral analysis throughout the law, its methodology and future challenges. > Find Out More

The dramatic growth and influence of behavioral and experimental law and economics deserves close study and attention, to which this conference is devoted. Specifically, the conference builds on the contribution of leading scholars in the field to a first-of-its-kind “Handbook on Behavioral Economics and the Law” that will be published by Oxford University Press, offering a unique forum to examine the state-of-the-art of behavioral analysis throughout the law, its methodology and future challenges. > Find Out More

The dramatic growth and influence of behavioral and experimental law and economics deserves close study and attention, to which this conference is devoted. Specifically, the conference builds on the contribution of leading scholars in the field to a first-of-its-kind “Handbook on Behavioral Economics and the Law” that will be published by Oxford University Press, offering a unique forum to examine the state-of-the-art of behavioral analysis throughout the law, its methodology and future challenges. > Find Out More

In 2004, Google entered into agreements with several major research libraries to digitally copy books and other writings in their collections. This project would have many benefits, including increasing availability of these materials and preservation of older and out-of-print works. However, Google had not obtained the permission of the copyright owners of those works – including authors and publishers. In 2005, they brought a class action against Google in the Southern District of New York, alleging a variety of copyright and antitrust theories.

In 2008, the parties entered into a lengthy proposed settlement agreement. After hearings and extensive commentary, in 2011, the court rejected the proposed settlement. Continuing discussions are ongoing among the parties, while legislative relief from Congress is also being pursued.

The antitrust and intellectual property issues raised by the Google Book project and the judicial challenge will be discussed on March 4 by a panel consisting of Doctor Ioannis Lianos of University College London and Professor Jonathan Griffiths of Queen Mary University of London, with Professor Joseph Bauer of Notre Dame Law School serving as moderator.

This is an invitation only event.

Professor Mark McKenna hosts a roundtable that will bring leading legal scholars in the trademark and advertising fields together with top marketing researchers to discuss four papers. Two of the papers are written from a legal perspective and two are written from a marketing perspective.

Participants in the roundtable include:

Barton Beebe (NYU School of Law)
Rebecca Tushnet (Georgetown Law)
Bill McGeveran (University of Minnesota Law School)
Eric Goldman (Santa Clara Law)
Deborah Gerhardt (University of North Carolina School of Law)
Laura Heymann (William & Mary Law School)
Jeremy Sheff (St. John’s University School of Law)
Stephen Garcia (University of Michigan Department of Psychology)
Raghunath Singh Rao (McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin)
Irina Manta (Hofstra Law)
Alfred Yen (Boston College Law)
Nicole Montgomery (William & Mary Mason School of Business)
Ann Schlosser (University of Washington Margaret G. Foster School of Business)

• Indicates authors who provided papers for the roundtable.

Event Schedule

Notre Dame Law School hosted a roundtable on “The Knockoff Economy, How Imitation Sparks Innovation” by Kal Raustiala and Christopher Sprigman, on Friday, January 18, 2013. Organized by Professor Mark McKenna and co-sponsored by the Program on Law and Market Behavior, this all day roundtable examined the book’s argument that imitation does not stifle creativity, but rather inspires innovation. Other LAMB faculty that participated in the roundtable included Professors Dan Kelly, Nicole Garnett, and Avishalom Tor.

Other Conference Speakers Included:

Session I

• Renee Gosline
• Barton Beebe
• Linda Przybyszewski
• Rebecca Tushnet

Session II

• Yi Qian
• Michael Heller
• Chris Buccafusco

Session III

• Bob Ellickson
• Nicole Garnett
• Lea Shaver
• David Opderbeck

Session IV

• Pam Samuelson
• Aaron Perzanowski
• Fred von Lohmann
• Dave Fagundes

Professor Sprigman of Virginia Law School will present “What’s a Name Worth?: Experimental Tests of the Value of Attribution in Intellectual Property.”

This program is a joint conference of the Notre Dame Research Program on Law and Market Behavior and the University of Haifa Faculty of Law Aptowitzer International Center for Risk, Liability, and Insurance. Read More

The Notre Dame Research Program on Law and Market Behavior with the UCL Centre for Law, Economics and Society are holding a conference on The Present and Future of Behavioral Antitrust > View Speakers and Registration

LAMB Speaker: Kimberly D. Krawiec, Kathrine Robinson Everett Professor of Law at Duke Law School to present a paper on “The Danger of Difference: What Corporate Directors Say about Diversity” on November 28, 2012.

LAMB will host Brett Frischmann, Professor of Law at Cardozo School of Law, who will give a public talk on his recently published and widely praised book INFRASTRUCTURE: THE SOCIAL VALUE OF SHARED RESOURCES. The book devotes much needed attention to understanding how society benefits from infrastructure resources and how management decisions affect a wide variety of interests.

LAMB will hold a corporate governance conference on “The Role of Intermediaries in Corporate Governance: Empirical Evidence and Policy Challenges.” This timely conference will bring together leading scholars in law and related fields to present empirical evidence on the role of institutional investors and other intermediaries in corporate governance and discuss key normative and prescriptive legal policy issues concerning this role.

The inaugural LAMB Distinguished Speaker, Robert D. Cooter, Herman F. Selvin Professor of Law and Faculty Co-Director of the Law and Economics Program at UC Berkeley School of Law, will visit NDLS on September 6-7, 2012. Professor Cooter, a pioneer and leader in the field of law and economics, will lecture on his recent book with Hans-Bernd Schaefer “Solomon’s Knot: How Law Can End the Poverty of Nations”, which is co-sponsored by the Notre Dame Program on Law and Human Development.

Professor Robert D. Cooter, Herman F. Selvin Professor of Law and Faculty Co-Director of the Law and Economics Program at UC Berkeley School of Law, a pioneer and leader in the field of law and economics, will give a LAMB Seminar on innovation and the theory of the firm. Background reading for the seminar is available here.
To participate in the seminar, please RSVP at lamb@nd.edu: lamb@nd.edu.