re: Wal-Mart

Barry Lin writes in Harper's about Wal-Mart, discussing the downstream effects of Wal-Mart's monopoly power and U.S. antitrust policy.  I always appreciate observations about the full impact/costs of what looks like free market actions.  I'm not sure this article does the best job with the topic.  I need to give it a more careful review.

I know on first reading that he hasn't accurately described the White Cloud trademark situation.  P&G didn't merely forget to maintain a trademark registration; they opted to abandon it and it had been abandoned for many years before Wal-Mart started using it.  Wal-Mart didn't do anything predatory to take ownership of it.  And it's a trademark issue, not a copyright one.  So that kind of sloppiness in the writing makes me suspicious of the rest of the piece, but since we're talking Walmart...