Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-2012
Abstract
Brantley raises important issues of law, economics, and policy about tying arrangements. Under current legal principles, Brantley was on solid ground in distinguishing between anticompetitive ties and those that might harm consumer interests without impairing competition. As a matter of economics, the court was also right to reject the claim that the cable programmers forced consumers to pay for programs the customers didn’t want. The hardest question is a policy one - whether antitrust law should ever condemn the exploitation of market power in ways that extract surplus from consumers but do not create or enlarge market power. I shall argue that Brantley got this last question right as well.
Recommended Citation
Crane, Daniel A. "Tying and Consumer Harm." Competition Pol'y. Int'l. 8, no. 2 (2012).
Included in
Antitrust and Trade Regulation Commons, Communications Law Commons, Consumer Protection Law Commons