Comment from Alden Abbott (Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University)
Mercatus Center at George Mason UniversitySupportAcademic
Summary: Alden F. Abbott, a Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, argues that the Agencies should provide clearer guidance that distinguishes between procompetitive R&D collaborations and anticompetitive collusion. He specifically advocates for a regime that favors innovation and infrastructure coordination while criticizing the Draft Merger Guidelines for relying on outdated, structuralist case law instead of modern economic analysis and consumer welfare.
As I explain in the attached Public Interest Comment, the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice should use this inquiry into collaboration among competitors to provide modern guidance that promotes innovation without compromising traditional antitrust safeguards against naked collusion and exclusion. For AI and related nascent technologies, the sound economic presumption is that bona fide R&D collaboration,
infrastructure coordination, standards and interoperability work, and privacy- and portability-related information sharing are often procompetitive and welfare enhancing.
A legal regime that leaves such conduct perpetually uncertain will predictably discourage
investment, delay capacity expansion, impede interoperability, and slow the development of safety and
privacy tools. A clearer regime would instead allow firms to cooperate where cooperation expands output
and innovation, while continuing to prohibit coordination that substitutes collusion for competition. The
Agencies should adopt guidance that reflects that distinction with candor and precision.