Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2000

Abstract

In this essay, I reflect on an important contribution to the development of antitrust reasoning and law that arises out of the Supreme Court's decision in Eastman Kodak Co. v. Technical Services, Inc. In particular, I discuss the decision's relationship to what I have termed the "first principles" approach to market power and antitrust. In my view, one reason that Kodak is important is that it does not take a wooden approach in its economic reasoning. Instead, the opinion nimbly applies the basic principles of competitive analysis to a difficult dynamic context. This enables the majority to avoid rigid adherence to a single brand of economic orthodoxy, a strength demonstrated by the opinion's evaluations of market definition and market power. This willingness to adapt to the continuing advances of economic analysis arising from new market conditions and new intellectual insights suggests that antitrust law is less likely to become an anachronism that will be superceded by some other form of governmental oversight.

Comments

This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or downloaded or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.

Publication Citation

68 Antitrust L.J. 187-202 (2000)

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