Cellular Phone Customer Class Certified
The Court of Common Pleas of Cuyahoga County, Ohio recently certified a consumer class in an antitrust case alleging that cellular phone service buyers paid higher prices due to Ameritech’s price discrimination among wholesale purchasers of cellular service. EI economist John M. Gale’s testimony for the class included discussions of the elements of a simulation model to estimate non-discriminatory retail market prices. Dr. Gale’s report was quoted and relied upon in the Court’s decision on the predominance criteria. Plaintiffs were represented by Gary, Naegele and Theado, LLC; Randy J. Hart, LLC; Law Offices of Mark Griffin; and Hahn Loeser Parks LLP.
Report on Copyright Industries
A report titled “Copyright Industries in the U.S. Economy” was written by Stephen E. Siwek of EI for the International Intellectual Property Alliance. The report describes the economic contribution of the copyright sector, including books, music, videogames, computer software, motion pictures, TV and radio broadcasting, newspapers, periodicals, and journals. Core copyright industries’ value added in 2015 was approximately $1.2 trillion, 7% of U.S. Gross Domestic Product. In that year, they employed over 5.5 million workers, about 4% of the U.S. labor force.
Monopolization Case Against Sports League
EI economists John Gale and Michael Baumann assisted Nspire Sports League, LLC, in its monopolization case against National Physique Committee of the USA Inc., the major amateur bodybuilding league in the United States, and against the International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) Professional League and IFBB International. Following the filing of Dr. Gale’s report, the parties reached a settlement and agreed to dismiss the suit. Nspire was represented by Haynes and Boone.