So, I view this case as likely unsettled under current US antitrust law.
The underlying behavior seems really objectionable and should be illegal. The question is whether it is actually illegal under the law.
If a bunch of firms use the same software to set prices but do so independently and without any attempt to coordinate with each other… that’s a pretty decent defense?
(Can they argue that they had no knowledge of their competitors’ use of the software? There may of course be internal emails saying “we know X is also using it.” Suppose there aren’t AND the software vendor promised exclusivity to all of them independently. Would we want this to be illegal? What if all of the firms offer similar products and set prices by estimating the same demand curve?? This becomes a little far fetched of course.)
I don’t view this as obviously “per se illegal” territory. I would love to be wrong bc yeah it’s really objectionable, but I don’t think the case is a slam dunk.
So called “algorithmic collusion” of which this is likely an example is an unsettled area of theory
The underlying behavior seems really objectionable and should be illegal. The question is whether it is actually illegal under the law.
If a bunch of firms use the same software to set prices but do so independently and without any attempt to coordinate with each other… that’s a pretty decent defense?
(Can they argue that they had no knowledge of their competitors’ use of the software? There may of course be internal emails saying “we know X is also using it.” Suppose there aren’t AND the software vendor promised exclusivity to all of them independently. Would we want this to be illegal? What if all of the firms offer similar products and set prices by estimating the same demand curve?? This becomes a little far fetched of course.)
I don’t view this as obviously “per se illegal” territory. I would love to be wrong bc yeah it’s really objectionable, but I don’t think the case is a slam dunk.
So called “algorithmic collusion” of which this is likely an example is an unsettled area of theory