IP: FTC To Host Workshop on Emerging E-Comm Issues

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> ******** www.cybertelecom.org **********
>
> http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2001/03/ecommerce.htm
> FTC to Host Workshop on Emerging Issues for
> Competition Policy in the E-Commerce Environment
>
> The Federal Trade Commission today announced that it
> will host a public workshop at its Washington D.C.
> headquarters on May 7 and 8 to explore certain
> competition issues that arise in connection with
> business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer
> (B2C) e-commerce. The Commission has approved a
> Federal Register notice, to be published shortly, that
> describes the topics and questions to be addressed at
> the workshop. Interested parties are invited to attend
> or to submit written presentations.
>
> The workshop will continue the dialogue initiated at
> the FTC's B2B workshop in June 2000. It will build
> upon the foundation laid at that workshop for
> understanding how to answer traditional antitrust
> questions in the context of new e-commerce
> technologies.
>
> The May 7 session will invite antitrust practitioners,
> economists, and business representatives to examine
> B2B mergers, interoperability, and operating rules
> against the background of specific hypotheticals. The
> goal is to elicit more information about varying
> approaches to competition issues that may be raised by
> B2Bs and to analyze certain issues not addressed at
> the June 2000 workshop.
>
> The May 8 session will examine selected issues
> associated with online distribution and marketing.
> Rather than debating familiar, long-standing issues,
> the session will focus on new fact patterns and
> selected competition policy issues that may arise in
> distribution and marketing over the Internet, in
> conjunction with or in comparison to offline
> distribution. The session will explore such issues as
> price and promotional coordination between online and
> offline distribution channels, sole online
> distributorships, exclusive dealing over the Internet,
> and the role of information-collection technologies in
> online distribution.
>
> An agenda, a set of discussion hypotheticals, and
> additional information relating to the workshop will
> be posted in advance of the workshop on the
> Commission's Web site,
> http://www.ftc.gov/opp/ecommerce.
>
> The workshop will be held in Room 432 of the Federal
> Trade Commission Headquarters Building, 600
> Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington D.C. It will be
> open to the public and the press, without fee, and
> advance registration is not required.
>
> Written presentations should be submitted in both hard
> copy and electronic form. Six hard copies of each
> submission should be addressed to Donald S. Clark,
> Office of the Secretary, Federal Trade Commission, 600
> Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580.
> Submissions should be captioned, "Comments regarding
> E-Commerce Antitrust Issues." Electronic submissions
> may be sent by e-mail to ecommerce () ftc gov or may be
> filed on a 3-1/2 inch computer disk with a label
> indicating the name of the submitter and the name and
> version of the word processing program used. The
> Commission vote to authorize the publication of a
> Federal Register notice announcing the workshop was
> 5-0.
>
> Copies of the Federal Register notice are available
> from the FTC's Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and also
> from the FTC's Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600
> Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. For
> more information about the workshop, please contact
> Gail Levine, Assistant Director, Policy Planning,
> Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue,
> N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580; telephone (202)
> 326-3193; e-mail >326-3193; e-mail glevine () ftc gov.
>
> MEDIA CONTACT: Claudia Bourne Farrell Office of Public
> Affairs 202-326-2181 STAFF CONTACT: William Cohen
> Deputy Director, Policy Planning 202-326-2110
>
> ******** www.cybertelecom.org **********



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