AngelGate: Top Silicon Valley VC’s Hold Secret Meeting In Bar
Last week, some of Silicon Valley’s top movers and shakers (in the VC world) had a discreet meeting at a bar in San Francisco. Whether these meetings will have antitrust implications or not is debatable, but one thing is for sure: these “secret” meetings indeed took place and at least some of the discussions therein were about competition.
My antitrust professor’s words echo in my head, “just attending the meeting is half way to a violation.” At least one attendee has already renounced his involvement and aired his concerns in the public fora.
Right now, most of the attendees are on the hot seat at TechCrunch’s Disrupt 2010, where they are undoubtedly being barraged with questions and allegations.
Some of the attendees have been willing to speak publicly about the meetings. If nothing else, this entire story is a testament to the Internet industry’s ability to disseminate information and facilitate dispute resolution.
On the other hand, some of these guys’ statements could probably be seen as party admissions. I guess these guys should seek counsel before going out for a drink (or hitting the ‘Tweet‘ button).
Tags: antitrust, attempts to monopolize, internet, Law, sherman act
