Innovation Key in Competition Enforcement, Not Behavioral Remedies or Short-Term Prices, Delrahim Says

Competition law enforcement worldwide needs to pay less attention to short-term pricing issues and more to innovation and growth that deliver long-term value to consumers, DOJ antitrust head Makan Delrahim said Thursday at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, according to prepared remarks. He said remedies to antitrust violations must be approached cautiously, calling himself "generally skeptical" of behavioral remedies "and even more so" of licensing requirements that could disincent technological developments. Innovation "can be unsettling and disruptive," but ultimately it will result in the most consumer benefit, he said: But there can be situations where the exercise of patent rights "should attract antitrust scrutiny," and patent holders aren't immune from antitrust laws. He said China's establishment of dedicated IP courts is "a very positive step" toward engendering faith in the patent system, and such changes likely are connected Chinese companies moving from implementers of IP rights to innovators and holders of them. As China increasingly becomes an innovation economy, its progress "can be amplified -- and its prosperity increased" via promotion and protection of IP rights, he said. The Antitrust Division head's general skepticism of behavioral remedies makes it less likely to settle so AT&T can buy Time Warner (see 1801260002).