The Competitive Edge

Even as maximum corporate penalties go through the roof, there may be more deterrence in pursuing a business's officers and employees. Partner Liana Witt talks us through individual liability for competition law contraventions and how not to end up as the anti-hero. Plus Treasury consults on changes to the merger process; new leadership and new expectations for the Productivity Commission; the High Court hits the ground running; and when's the ACCC going to drop another competition court case? All this and evermore with co-hosts Moya Dodd and Matt Rubinstein.

• The inaugural 2nd Anniversary End of Year Holiday Season Speak Now Podcast Survey
• G+T on the Treasury consultation on merger review process proposals
• MLex on the ACCC's Marcus Bezzi and the merger reform proposals
• Two A.I. "covers" of Taylor Swift singing Radiohead's "Creep"
• More on Alex Morgan and Taylor Swift
• New Productivity Commission Chair Danielle Wood on the ABC's 7.30
• High Court Ceremonial Sittings for Gageler CJ and Beech-Jones J
• "Listening to Taylor Swift in Prison" by Joe Garcia in The New Yorker
• MLex, "Has the will to win chilled the Australian watchdog's antitrust-enforcement campaign?"
• Meet the Gilbert + Tobin Competition + Regulation team
• Email us at [email protected]

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Partner Geoff Petersen gives us the buzz on the new National Energy Objectives, which now include the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the ACCC's authorisation of Brookfield’s acquisition of Origin Energy on green grounds, and what they mean for competition as the energy transition accelerates. Plus A.I. from the Beatles to Bletchley Park; the full line-up of the Competition Review Expert Advisory Panel; turning up the volume on the merger process debate; and what really is a Ticket to Ride? … All this and more with co-hosts Moya Dodd and Matt Rubinstein.

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Partner Louise Klamka reads the contrails on the airline sector, including the ACCC's case against Qantas and its rejection of Qantas's acquisition of Alliance, the Government's Aviation White Paper, the Senate Inquiry into Bilateral Air Service Agreements and the need to look closely at the role airports play in aviation competition. Plus competition vs climate in the Brookfield/MidOcean acquisition of Origin Energy, taxes and treason in the High Court's electric vehicle ruling, A.I. fought the law and nobody won, and quixotic projects with the International Competition Network in Barcelona. All this and more with co-hosts Moya Dodd and Matt Rubinstein.

• G+T on the ACCC's authorisation of the Origin acquisition
• The High Court takes on electric vehicle charging in Vanderstock v Victoria
• "Heart on my Sleeve" by Drake A.I.
• The NO FAKES Act, smh
• Pras Michel's motion for a new trial
• The Select Committee on Commonwealth Bilateral Air Service Agreements
• The role of courts in antitrust law at the ICN Conference in Barcelona
• Meet the Gilbert + Tobin Competition + Regulation team
• Email us at [email protected]

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NYU antitrust legend Eleanor Fox joins us to discuss the evolving nature of antitrust; the tensions between agencies, lawmakers and courts; and convergence and divergence between competition law jurisdictions. Plus negotiating AI in Brussels and Hollywood, a clearer picture of the FTC's case against Amazon's "Project Nessie", and late changes to the High Court's starting seven. All this and more with co-hosts Moya Dodd and Matt Rubinstein.

• Summary of the WGA agreement with studios and EU Parliament's version of the A.I. Act
• The Simpsons imagines a world without lawyers
• Peter Waters on A.I. in Europe, in Big Tech, in Domestic Work, in the Supply Chain and in Pricing Algorithms
• The Verge on additional details about Project Nessie
• Prof Eleanor M. Fox on just about everything
• Appointments to the High Court of Australia
• Meet the Gilbert + Tobin Competition + Regulation team
• Email us at [email protected]

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Partners Elizabeth Avery and Louisa Klamka return from the International Antitrust Forum in the home counties with all the latest on competition practice and enforcement around the world. Regulators are embracing novel theories of harm, but what do the courts think? All will be revealed – to the extent permitted by the Chatham House Rule. Plus the Matildas make the anti-siphoning list, the ACCC tells Transurban to take the rat run, Microsoft nears the end credits in its quest for Activision, and the FTC takes another stab at its white whale, or lake monster.  All this and economic dynamism with co-hosts Moya Dodd and Matt Rubinstein.

• Harry and Sally on the singing machine
• Matildas on the anti-siphoning list release and notice
• G+T on the ACCC's decision to oppose Transurban/EastLink
• A timeline of the Microsoft/Activision merger from The Verge
• FTC v Amazon release and complaint
• Productivity Commission and Grattan Institute reports on concentration
• New Productivity Commission Chair Danielle Wood on MLex and Economics Explored
• Meet the Gilbert + Tobin Competition + Regulation team
• Email us at [email protected]

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Partner Jeremy Jose brings us up to date on the rolling boil that is gas market regulation in Australia. What's the latest on the gas trigger, the price cap and the mandatory code of conduct, and how is this helping us towards net-zero? Plus consumer protection and the Women's World Cup, record penalties for the ACCC with more on the runway, more to the Triple Threat than meets the eye, a new kind of competition policy review and all the news on unfair trading practices and contract terms. All this and one or two Simpsons references with co-hosts Moya Dodd and Matt Rubinstein.

• Robert B. Reich and Hugh Jackman on The Simpsons
• The National Anti-Scam Centre and Moya on the Matildas
• The Hons Drs Jim Chalmers and Andrew Leigh on the new Competition Taskforce
• All the Matildas' goals in the World Cup, because why not
• G+T on the record consumer law penalties against Phoenix
• ACCC on its action against Qantas
• Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb's speech on the ACCC's role in gas markets
• Treasury's consultation on unfair trading practices
• Meet the Gilbert + Tobin Competition + Regulation team
• Email us at [email protected]

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Former Human Rights Commissioner Prof Ed Santow of the UTS Human Technology Institute joins G+T's Simon Burns, Andrew Hii and Jen Bradley to discuss A.I. governance and ethics, sexy powerpoints and The Simpsons.

Plus the Microsoft/Activision merger levels up, the ACCC grapples with greenwashing, the Tower of Babel is looking kind of shaky, and what's the deal with Secure-a-Spot not securing a spot?

All this and Go The Matildas! with co-hosts Moya Dodd and Matt Rubinstein of The Competitive Edge podcast.

Links in the shownotes:

• The Verge has the latest on Microsoft/Activision, except for these sketches from the District Court
• ACCC interim authorisation for collaboration in the transition to renewable electricity
• G+T on the ACCC's draft greenwashing guidelines
• G+T on A.I. and the Tower of Babel
• ACCC v Secure Parking alleging misleading claims about "Secure-a-Spot" service
• Meet the Gilbert + Tobin Competition + Regulation team
• Email us at [email protected]

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Collaboration or Collusion? Partner Elizabeth Avery and lawyer Radha Rathi run the ruler over agreements between rivals for sustainability goals, as authorities around the world weigh the competitive landscape against the actual one. Plus traffic lights for toll roads, the sound of mergers, dark patterns in the FTC's case against Amazon, a Marxist critique of artificial intelligence, and fusion cells or hit squads take down investment scams … All this and a looming World Cup with co-hosts Moya Dodd and Matt Rubinstein

• ACCC on Transurban's acquisitions of WestConnex and EastLink
• Get your NSW toll road data at nswtollroaddata.com
• Cece Bell on her graphic novel El Deafo, now a series on Apple TV+
• Read the FTC's dark patterns complaint against Amazon
• New York Magazine/The Verge, Inside the AI Factory/AI is a Lot of Work
• Aleks Wansbrough, What would Marx make of ChatGPT?
• Elizabeth Avery and Radha Rathi on Competitor Collaborations for Environmental Goals
• Greek and Dutch competition authorities on competition law and sustainability agreements
• ACCC and ASIC on the National Anti-Scam Centre's first fusion cell
• Meet the Gilbert + Tobin Competition + Regulation team
• Email us at [email protected]

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Climate change and sustainability partner Ilona Millar takes us through the new obligations and imperatives facing many businesses to address their environmental impacts -- individually or through industry collaborations. Plus the ACCC solves a cashflow problem in the Prosegur/Armaguard authorisation, the global golf merger gets into the rough, fresh legs on the field of competition and regulation field. All this and more sports references with with co-hosts Moya Dodd AO and Matt Rubinstein NST.

• ACCC authorises the Prosegur/Armaguard merger
• Is that a Goulburn Valley canned deciduous fruit snack?
• Vox's interview with Tim Wu on the LIV Golf/PGA situation
• The OAIC's FOI disclosure log
• Ceremonial Sitting of the Full Federal Court to welcome Chief Justice Mortimer
• Ilona Millar and the team on the Safeguard Mechanism
• ACCC response to FOI Request 100067/2022-2023 on documents relating to the proposed changes to Australia's merger laws
• Meet the Gilbert + Tobin Competition + Regulation team
• Email us at [email protected]

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US DOJ economist Dr Brian Clark joins us to talk about equity and antitrust, labor and monopsony markets, and what Stephen King has in common with poultry processors. Plus the latest on Microsoft's Activision acquisition from the CMA, DG COMP, the FTC and the ACCC, Woolworths' Karabar carry-on, Justice French's arsonist bounces into life, and lawyers learn the limits of large language models.

• Tim Lapetino's The Art of Atari
• EVP Margrethe Vestager on behavioural remedies and Microsoft
• ACCC v Woolworths and Karabar I and II
• ABC News on jumping castle arson attacks
• Katharine Kemp, "The Case Against French J's Arsonist" (2015) 43 ABLR 228
• DC District Court opinion re Penguin Random House/Simon & Schuster
• CNBC on name, image and likeness rights and women's college sports
• ChatGPT on whether a lawyer should use ChatGPT for legal citations
• Meet the Gilbert + Tobin Competition + Regulation team
• Email us at [email protected]

Support the show: https://www.gtlaw.com.au/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.