VoluntaryTrade.org

Welcome to the Voluntary Trade Council

The Voluntary Trade Council is a research center dedicated to antitrust and competition regulation. Working in the tradition of the Austrian School of economics, VTC offers free-market criticism of the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Justice and other agencies that intervene to prevent the voluntary exchange of goods, services and ideas.

Microsoft-Yahoo!

Alex Epstein, an analyst at the Ayn Rand Institute, has published an op-ed explaining why antitrust regulators should not get in the way of any potential combinations of Microsoft, Google and Yahoo! Esptein notes, "What we are observing in the battle over Yahoo! is not genuine, merit-based competition, but competition based on political pull." You can read Epstein's article, "Set Yahoo! Free," at this link.

PATENT HOLD UP

Bruce Kobayashi and Joshua Wright of George Mason University recently posted an article examining "restraint when applying the antitrust laws to conduct that is normally regulated by state and other federal laws," specifcially the use of antitrust "to regulate the problem of patent hold up of members of standard setting organizations." You can download their paper at this link.

Mises.org

S.M. Oliva, president of the Voluntary Trade Council, authored an article for the Ludwig von Mises Institute on Mark and Marianne Hershiser's landmark First Amendment lawsuit against the Federal Trade Commission. You can read the article, "Consumer Protection or Legal Extortion?" at this link.

IP & Antitrust

Damien Geradin, a professor at Tilburg University and a partner at Howrey LLP, recently presented a paper entitled, "What's Wrong with Royalties in High Technology Industries?" which focuses on royalties paid by companies seeking to implement industry standards, such as those at issue in the FTC's case against Rambus. You can dowload the paper at this link.

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Written by VoluntaryTrade.org Staff   
Monday, 28 April 2008 17:08

The Voluntary Trade Council, Inc. was founded in 2003 to conduct research and educational programming related to U.S. antitrust policy. VTC was designed to fill a niche within the libertarian public policy community with respect to antitrust, particularly the activities of the Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. While many libertarian and free-market groups address antitrust subjects as part of broader missions, VTC believed there was a need to focus on the harms caused by the antitrust community.

VTC is not affiliated with any libertarian faction or ideology, but our work honors the traditions of the Austrian School of economics. We are a strictly nonpolitical organization that does not support or oppose any candidate for office or any legislation pending before Congress. 

VTC is a tax-exempt charitable organization organized under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions to VTC are tax-deductible to the full extent permitted by law. Per IRS regulations, copies of VTC's organizing documents and documents related to our tax exemption are available for inspection. 

The Voluntary Trade Council, Inc. (formerly Citizens for Voluntary Trade) is a nonstock, nonprofit corporation organized under the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia.  

Last Updated ( Sunday, 11 May 2008 18:06 )
 

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Featured Sections

Suggested Reading

Antitrust: The Case for Repeal
Dominick T. Armentano
2nd ed. 1999
Purchase from Mises.org

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Markets Don't Fail!
Brian P. Simpson
2005
Purchase from Amazon

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The Antitrust Religion
Edwin S. Rockefeller
2007
Purchase from Cato.org
Read the review

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Winners, Losers & Microsoft
Liebowitz & Margolis
1999
Purchase from Independent Institute

 
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