Joseph Farrell, DPhil

Joseph Farrell is a Professor of the Graduate School in the Department of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. From 2009 to 2012, Dr. Farrell served as Director of the Bureau of Economics at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), where he was responsible for economic analysis relating to the Bureau’s antitrust and consumer protection portfolios. He oversaw important antitrust matters such as FTC v. Intel, In re Omnicare, In re OSF Healthcare System, FTC v. Promedica Health System, and FTC v. Watson Pharmaceuticals, and he was a key member of the team that revised the FTC/Department of Justice Horizontal Merger Guidelines. His prior government experience includes serving as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economic Analysis for the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice and as Chief Economist for the Federal Communications Commission.

Dr. Farrell is an experienced expert witness who has been retained by US and international government and private clients for internal advice and expert testimony. His widely cited academic research has focused on the economics of competition, mergers, innovation, and network effects. He is an internationally recognized leader for his contributions in industrial organization, regulation and antitrust enforcement, intellectual property, and game theory.

Previously, Dr. Farrell was Chair of the Competition Policy Center at UC Berkeley. Dr. Farrell is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, past President of the Industrial Organization Society, former Editor of the Journal of Industrial Economics, and former Board Member for the National Academies’ Computer Science and Telecommunications Board. In 2016, the Industrial Organization Society awarded him the Distinguished Service Award, which is given annually in recognition of professional leadership in the scholarship and practice of industrial organization. Dr. Farrell has been named to the Lexology Index (formerly Who’s Who Legal) list of leading competition economists since 2015 and is also on its Global Elite Thought Leaders–Competition list. In 2022, he was named on Global Competition Review’s inaugural list of Antitrust Academics.

DPhil, Economics, Oxford University, United Kingdom

MSc, Mathematics, Oxford University, United Kingdom

BA, Mathematics, Oxford University, United Kingdom

• On behalf of Apple in Optis Cellular Technology LLC et al. v. Apple Retail UK Limited et al., in a dispute over telecommunications patents used in Apple devices including iPhones and iPads, testified in a UK court and provided written testimony regarding the process for determining FRAND royalties.   
• In the Phonorecords IV rate setting proceeding, submitted written expert testimony on behalf of Spotify regarding royalty payments under Section 115 of the Copyright Act. Soon after the latest expert testimony was filed, Spotify and other interactive streaming services reached a settlement with music publishers.
• On behalf of health insurer Anthem, Inc., provided expert testimony in the case concerning Anthem's proposed $54 billion merger with Cigna Corp. Both Anthem and Cigna sued for substantial damages regarding the terms and termination of the merger agreement.
• Retained to assist in responding to a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation into AdvoCare’s multilevel marketing model of product distribution. Authored a white paper addressing marketing model concerns and submitted it to the FTC.
• Submitted expert reports in the Canadian class action case Stephanie Difederico and Jameson Edmond Casey v. Amazon.com, Inc. et al. on behalf of plaintiffs who allege that Amazon and third-party sellers agreed on a most favored nation provision, which prohibits third-party sellers from offering their products on platforms other than Amazon at prices that are lower than the prices they charge on Amazon.
• Submitted two expert reports and prepared to testify on behalf of Songkick in Complete Entertainment Resources LLC v. Live Nation Entertainment, Inc., et al. Two weeks before trial , Songkick settled its antitrust suit against Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation.
• Provided rebuttal expert testimony on behalf of Sirius XM in the SARS III proceeding before the Copyright Royalty Board.
• Provided expert analysis and testimony on behalf of Herbalife International of America related to a Federal Trade Commission investigation into the company’s multilevel marketing model in which products are sold through a member network. 
• Provided expert analysis to the FCC on behalf of Cogent Communications regarding the proposed merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable.
• Submitted two declarations on behalf of Comcast in an FCC proceeding on business data services. 
• On behalf of T-Mobile USA, filed a declaration with the FCC that discusses possible incentives for a mobile wireless network operator to raise rival costs for wholesale data roaming services, and analyzes several pricing benchmarks that the FCC might consider in resolving disputes about whether contract terms for roaming services meet the ‘commercially reasonable’ standard.