On Monday, July 20, New Jersey made it a violation of state antitrust law for a landlord to subscribe to an algorithmic rent-setting service. The violation is paying for the software. Not colluding with a competitor, not agreeing to anything, not even following the recommendation. Writing the check.

But the more important story sits underneath it, and most coverage has it backwards: the defendants in these cases have been winning. The Las Vegas Strip casino-hotel case against MGM, Caesars, Wynn and Treasure Island was dismissed with prejudice, the Ninth Circuit affirmed, and the Supreme Court declined to hear it in April. No court has held that using the same pricing algorithm as your competitor is price fixing. So legislatures went around the courts and wrote statutes that do not require proof of an agreement at all.

Which brings up  ...