William E. Kovacic
Director, Competition Law Center
Global Competition Professor of Law and Policy
Professor of Law
Department: School of Law
Colleges / Universities: George Washington University
Contact
2000 H Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20052
Email: wkovacic@law.gwu.edu
William Kovacic is a Professor of Law at George Washington University. Before joining the George Washington University Law School in 1999, Professor Kovacic was the George Mason University Foundation Professor at the George Mason University School of Law. He is a recognized expert in the fields of antitrust law and government contracts law. From January 2006 to October 2011, he was a member of the Federal Trade Commission and chaired the agency from March 2008 to March 2009. He was the FTC’s General Counsel from June 2001 to December 2004. In 2011 he received the FTC’s Miles W. Kirkpatrick Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Professor Kovacic is co-editor (with Ariel Ezrachi) of the Journal of Antitrust Enforcement, and his writings can be found in such publications as George Mason Law Review, Journal of Regulatory Economics, Michigan Law Review, European Competition Journal, Minnesota Journal of International Law, and Antitrust Law Journal. He is co-author (with Andrew Gavil & Jonathan Baker) of Antitrust Law in Perspective: Cases, Concepts and Problems in Competition Policy (2d ed. 2008) and Antitrust Law & Economics in a Nutshell (5th ed. 2004) (with Ernest Gellhorn & Stephen Calkins).
Since August 2013, Professor Kovacic has served as a Non-Executive Director with the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority. From January 2009 to September 2011, he was Vice-Chair for Outreach for the International Competition Network. Since 1992, he has served as an adviser on antitrust and consumer protection issues to the governments of Armenia, Benin, Egypt, El Salvador, Georgia, Guyana, Indonesia, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Panama, Russia, Ukraine, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe.
Degrees
J.D. Columbia University, 1978
B.A. Princeton University, 1974
Recent Academic Article Summaries
Root and Branch Reconstruction: The Modern Transformation of U.S. Antitrust Law and Policy?
Advocates for the transformation of antitrust policy in the United States support the revival of egalitarian goals for enforcers. Reformers have gained in influence, but several factors will limit their impact.
Antitrust reformers should study history to better understand obstacles to reform.
Ensuring Integrity and Competition in Public Procurement Markets: A Dual Challenge for Good Governance
Authors argue that balancing measures to prevent corruption and promote competition are best for procurement systems.
Measures to prevent corruption are generally consistent with measures to prevent collusion, but measures to prevent corruption have received greater attention. There must be a balancing of anti-corruption and pro-competition measures in order for them to be mutually reinforcing.
Intellectual Property Policy and Competition Policy
Article analyzes FTC recommendations on reforming the patent system and the resulting effects on competition policy.
In order to properly reform the U.S. patent system, it is necessary for policy makers to both limit the number of questionable patents that are issued and to consider competition policy goals moving forward.
Antitrust Law in Perspective: Cases, Concepts and Problems in Competition Policy (2nd edition)
The book covers antitrust law in a flexible format and is an update of the first edition.
The book is divided into four parts: Introduction to the Study of Antitrust Law, Conduct Having Collusive Anticompetitive Effects, Conduct Having Exclusionary Effects, and Constructing the Modern Antitrust Case. The book presents antitrust in a way that is consistent with modern antitrust practice.
Antitrust Law and Economics in a Nutshell (5th ed.)
This book reviews and evaluates antitrust law from legal and economic perspectives.
Antitrust policy continues to evolve, and this process can be guided by economic theory.
Blog Posts
Quotes in the News
Kovacic, W. (2022, January 22). CNBC.“If you don’t do it right now in the coming twelve months, you will never get this opportunity again. And I think not only do they realize they have to deliver, they want to deliver.’”
William E. Kovacic
Director, Competition Law Center
Global Competition Professor of Law and Policy
Professor of Law
School of Law
George Washington University
Kovacic, W. (2020, December 19). The Guardian.“There’s not been a cluster of cases of this significance since the 1970s. This is a big deal.”
William E. Kovacic
Director, Competition Law Center
Global Competition Professor of Law and Policy
Professor of Law
School of Law
George Washington University
Kovacic, W. (2020, December 18). The Washington Post.“In prosecuting the Google and Facebook cases, the government’s lawyers will have to walk a fine line between realism and ambition.”
William E. Kovacic
Director, Competition Law Center
Global Competition Professor of Law and Policy
Professor of Law
School of Law
George Washington University
Kovacic, W. (2020, December 11). National Public Radio.“Even to a jaded reader of antitrust-like documents over time, [this] opens your eyes and causes your jaw to drop.”
William E. Kovacic
Director, Competition Law Center
Global Competition Professor of Law and Policy
Professor of Law
School of Law
George Washington University
Kovacic, W. (2020, December 11). Fast Company.“Can the FTC and the states prove harm—actual harm or likely harm—and if yes, then will they be able to give the court confidence in a breakup? That, in my opinion, is the central point of contention in this case.”
William E. Kovacic
Director, Competition Law Center
Global Competition Professor of Law and Policy
Professor of Law
School of Law
George Washington University
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