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S. Robson Walton, Chairman of Wal-Mart Stores, will address the antitrust community’s hottest issue – the power of mega-buyers and their impact on the marketplace – at this year’s conference of the American Antitrust Institute scheduled for Tuesday, June 22 at the National Press Club. Antitrust theory has traditionally focused on the power of sellers, but with the emergence of companies such as Walton’s Wal-Mart, buyer power has become the focus of the antitrust community in recent years.
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and FTC Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour will present AAI’s Antitrust Achievement Award to Lloyd Constantine, managing partner of Constantine and Partners in New York City, for his leadership role in developing the states as an effective antitrust enforcement mechanism.
The morning sessions of the conference will feature panel discussions on the emergence of market power in the hands of a small number of very large buyers.
Welcome & Introduction
Robert H. Lande – Venable Law Professor, University of Baltimore School of Law
Opening Session
Buyer Power in The U.S.
S. Robson Walton – Chairman of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
The Treatment of Buyer Power in the European Union
Lars-Hendrik Rőller – Chief Economist, Directorate General for Competition
The Concept of Vertical Competition: A Peripatetic Observer’s Summary of the AAI’s Roundtable on Combining Horizontal and Vertical Analysis in Antitrust
Stephen Calkins – Professor of Law, Wayne State University
What is Buyer Power? An Economist’s Perspective
Roger G. Noll – Professor of Public Policy, Dept. of Economics, Stanford University
Buyer Power and Exclusionary Conduct
John B. Kirkwood – Professor of Law, University of Seattle
Concerted Buying Power In Standard-Setting: Part Of A Solution To The Patent Holdup Problem
Robert Skitol – Drinker, Biddle & Reath
Concerted Buying Power In Standard-Setting: Part Of A Solution To The Patent Holdup Problem
Robert Skitol – Drinker, Biddle & Reath
Breakout Sessions
Buyer Power in Specific Sectors Food & Agriculture
Facilitator:
Douglas O’Brien, Senior Staff Attorney, the National Agricultural Law Center; formerly, staff, Senate Agriculture Committee
Resources:
Michael Stumo, Organization for Competitive Markets
Peter Carstensen, University of Wisconsin Law School
Gregory Gundlach, Marketing Department, University of North Florida
Daniel Small, attorney, Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll
Healthcare
Facilitator: Ellen Cooper, Assistant Attorney General, Maryland
Resources:
William Comanor, UCLA and UCSB
Barbara Bergmann, University of Maryland
Robert Bloch, Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw
Retail
Facilitator: Warren Grimes, Southwestern University School of Law
Resources:
James Fishkin, Swidler Berlin Shereff Friedman, LLP
David Balto, formerly, attorney, Federal Trade Commission
Peter de la Cruz, Keller Heckman
Luncheon
Greetings from AAI President Albert A. Foer
Presentation of Second Annual Jerry S. Cohen Memorial Award for Antitrust Scholarship
Remarks on the Antitrust Achievement of Lloyd Constantine
Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General of New York
Pamela Jones Harbour, Commissioner, Federal Trade Commission
Presentation of AAI Antitrust Achievement Award to Lloyd Constantine
Response by Mr. Constantine.
