FTC Commissioner to Discuss Global Competition Policy Standards at UF Law
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A current commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission will be speaking at the University of Florida Levin College of Law on March 14, at noon in the new courtroom at the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center.
William E. Kovacic will present this spring’s Bayard Wickliffe Heath Memorial Lecture titled “From Dominance to Oligopoly: The United States and the Future Development of Global Competition Policy Standards.”
“Professor Kovacic is one of America’s most thoughtful and innovative scholars and policymakers in the fields of antitrust and consumer protection,” said UF Law Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Marshall M. Criser Eminent Scholar William Page. “He is also a provocative and entertaining speaker. UF is fortunate to have him as our second Heath lecturer.”
During the lecture Kovacic will look at ways in which the United States can remain a competitive force in influencing global policy standards. Where the U.S. was the preeminent force in setting global standards for many years, in today’s world powerful systems like the European Union have the ability to establish broad, international liability rules as well. Kovacic will also examine how the current U.S. system as a whole – with the broad decentralization of enforcement authority – affects the ability of the U.S. to exercise influence internationally.
Kovacic has been an FTC commissioner since 2006 and served as chairman from March 2008 to March 2009. Prior to his position as a commissioner, Kovacic served as the FTC’s general counsel. He has taught at the George Mason University School of Law and the George Washington University Law School. He has also practiced antitrust and government contracts law, and served on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Antitrust and Monopoly Subcommittee. He earned his bachelor degree from Princeton University in 1974 and his law degree from Columbia University in 1978.
The Heath Memorial Lecture Series was made possible by a gift from Inez Heath, Ph.D., widow of Bayard “Wick” Heath. Before his death in 2008, Heath was the senior competition consultant with Info Tech, a Gainesville firm specializing in statistical and econometric consulting, expert witness testimony and antitrust law.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
Contact:
Matt Walker, UF Law Communications
352-273-0650 or mlwalker@law.ufl.edu
