Competition policies have long been based on a scholarly tradition focused on static models and static analysis of industrial organisation. However, recent developments in industrial organisation literature have led to significant advances, moving beyond traditional static models and a preoccupation with price competition, to consider the organisation of industries in a dynamic context. This is especially important in the field of information and communication technology (ICT) network industries where competition centres on network effects, innovation and intellectual property rights, and where the key driver of consumer benefit is technological progress. Consequently, when an antitrust intervention is contemplated, a number of considerations that arise out of the specific nature of the ICT sector have to be taken into account to ensure improved consumer welfare. This book considers the adequacy of existing EU competition policy in the area of the ICT industries in the light of the findings of modern economic theory. Particular attention is given to the implications of these dynamic markets for the competitive assessment and treatment of the most common competitive harms in this area, such as non-price predatory practices, tying and bundling, co-operative standard setting, platform joint ventures and co-operative R&D.

Competition policies have long been based on a scholarly tradition focused on static models and static analysis of industrial organisation. However, recent developments in industrial organisation literature have led to significant advances, moving beyond traditional static models and a preoccupation with price competition, to consider the organisation of industries in a dynamic context. This is especially important in the field of information and communication technology (ICT) network industries where competition centres on network effects, innovation and intellectual property rights, and where the key driver of consumer benefit is technological progress. Consequently, when an antitrust intervention is contemplated, a number of considerations that arise out of the specific nature of the ICT sector have to be taken into account to ensure improved consumer welfare. This book considers the adequacy of existing EU competition policy in the area of the ICT industries in the light of the findings of modern economic theory. Particular attention is given to the implications of these dynamic markets for the competitive assessment and treatment of the most common competitive harms in this area, such as non-price predatory practices, tying and bundling, co-operative standard setting, platform joint ventures and co-operative R&D.

This book addresses the question of how competition authorities assess mergers in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector so as to promote competition in innovation. A closer look at the question reveals that it is far more complex and difficult to answer for the ICT, telecommunications and multi-sided platform (MSP) economy than for more traditional sectors of the economy. This has led many scholars to re-think and question whether the current merger control framework is suitable for the ICT sector, which is often also referred to as the new economy. The book pursues an interdisciplinary approach combining insights from law, economics and corporate strategy. Further, it has a comparative dimension, as it discusses the practices of the US, the EU and, wherever relevant, of other competition authorities from around the globe. Considering that the research was conducted in the EU, the practices of the European Commission remain a key aspect of the content.Considering its normative dimension, the book concentrates on the substantive aspects of merger control. To facilitate a better understanding of the most important points, the book also offers a brief overview of the procedural aspects of merger control in the EU, the US and the UK, and discusses recent amendments to Austrian and German law regarding the notification threshold. Given its scope, the book offers an invaluable guide for competition law scholars, practitioners in the field, and competition authorities worldwide.

Over the last decade, the European Union has undertaken major market-opening reforms in the area of network industries. The liberalization process has now been completed in the air transport and electronic communications sectors and has achieved considerable progress in other network industries, such as postal services, energy (electricity and gas), and rail transport. Creating competition in network industries is not an easy matter, however. Because they benefit from certain advantages such as a large initial market share and control of essential facilities, incumbents typically retain substantial market power in a number of relevant markets and may even use their position to prevent others from engineering such markets. Controlling market power is thus one of a number of key concerns in network industries. It can be achieved in two main ways; either through the adoption and implementation of sector-specific rules or through the application of competition rules. There are advantages and disadvantages to both options, but it is a combination of the two that generally prevents incumbents from abusing their market power in liberalized markets. Competition law and sector-specific regulation provide for the application of remedies on incumbents or other operators holding significant market power. Such remedies are either structural or a behavioural. In some occasions they will apply ex ante, while in others ex post. This book comprises a collection of outstanding essays dealing with the complex legal and economic issues raised by remedies in network industries. While some of these essays analyse remedies from a generic point of view, others focus on specific remedies applied specifically in particular sectors. The sectors covered in this volume include electronic communications, postal services, energy (electricity and gas), and air transport. The final paper also presents a discussion of the United States approach to remedies in network industries. The essays comprised in this book have been written by leading academics (lawyers and economists), as well as private practitioners.

This book presents the most thoroughgoing model yet offered to ensure the emergence of a genuinely competitive electronic communications industry in Europe. In the course of its in-depth analysis the discussion focuses on such factors as the following: EU telecommunications policy as revealed in liberalization and harmonization legislative measures; the EU electronic communications framework; case law covering issues of refusal to supply and the essential facilities doctrine; application of Article 82 EC to bottlenecks; specific types of an undertakings unilateral behaviour that may often occupy NRAs and competition authorities in the context of their ex post competition law investigations under Article 82 EC; strategic alliances and mergers in the move toward multimedia; access to premium content and the emergence of new media; the scope of content regulation in the online environment; and broadband (regulation of local loop unbundling and bitstream access). The book also provides practical guidance on issues concerning the complicated market definition and analysis mechanism promulgated by the European Commission's Recommendation and Guidelines.

This book brings satisfying definition and clarity to this field at last. Exploring the substantive differences between competition law and sector-specific regulation after the methodological integration, it presents the first detailed analysis of the many hundreds of notifications and Commission letters generated under the Article 7 procedure, identifying the most relevant cases dealing with market definition, market power, and remedies. It compares these decisions with relevant competition law cases and highlights elements with a bearing on sector-specific regulation. It also offers hugely valuable guidance through the vast amount of documents in the Commission’s CIRCA database. Topics and issues raised include the following: definition of product markets; delineation of geographic markets (including sub-national); different practices in relation to assessing single market power and collective market power; and competition problems such as refusal to deal, margin squeeze, non-price discrimination, and excessive pricing. There can be little doubt that this is the new reference point for researchers and practitioners in this domain. By systematically categorizing the concepts and legal criteria and building a solid theoretical framework on the intersection of competition law and sector-specific regulation, the author has created a resource that is sure to be welcomed by all those involved in regulation of electronic communications markets and network industries in general: academic scholars, telecommunications regulators at the EU and Member State levels, competition authorities, law firms specializing in IT/communications law, practitioners in IT and telecommunications companies, and consultants in the sector. The book will also prove very useful for scholars and practitioners in other parts of the world interested in comparing the EU system with their own.

The intersection between Competition law and intellectual property has always been a subject matter of controversy because of the very nature of the two subject areas. On the one hand, competition law seeks to protect the interest of traders and consumers by way of abuse of monopoly power on the part of an enterprise or an individual, and on the other hand, the grant of an intellectual property right to a person, automatically excludes other persons from making use of the property on which the right has been vested.

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. With technology standards becoming increasingly common, particularly in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector, the complexities and contradictions at the interface of intellectual property law and competition law have emerged strongly. This book talks about how the regulatory agencies and courts in the United States, European Union and India are dealing with the rising allegations of anti-competitive behaviour by standard essential patent (SEP) holders. It also discusses the role of standards setting organizations / standards developing organizations (SSO/SDO) and the various players involved in implementing the standards that influence practices and internal dynamics in the ICT sector. This book includes discussions on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing terms and the complexities that arise when both licensors and licensees of SEPs differ on what they mean by “fair”, “reasonable” and “non-discriminatory” terms. It also addresses topics such as the appropriate royalty base, calculation of FRAND rates and concerns related to FRAND commitments and the role of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in collaborative standard setting process. This book provides a wide range of valuable information and is a useful tool for graduate students, academics and researchers.

Introducing Diversity in EU Merger Control /Yvan Desmedt & Philippe Laconte --Summary of Recent U.S. Enforcement Decisions in Communication/Entertainment Industry Transactions /Ilene Knable Gotts --Competition and Regulatory Aspects of Convergence, Takeovers and Mergers in the Communications and Media Industries /Thomas Janssens & Joep Wolfhagen --Brazil's Antitrust and Regulatory Reviews of TIM/Telefónica: Lessons Learned /Ana Paula Martinez & Alexandre Ditzel Faraco --Changes in the Global Telecommunication Market and Its Implications in Brazil /Gesner Oliveira & Wagner Heibel --Mergers in the Canadian Communications Sector: An Increasingly Curious Situation /Lorne Salzman --In Search of a Competition Doctrine for Information Technology Markets: Recent Antitrust Developments in the Online Sector /Jeffrey A. Eisenach & Ilene Knable Gotts --The Internet of Things in the Light of Digitalization and Increased Media Convergence /Anna Blume Huttenlauch & Thoralf Knuth --Dynamic Markets and Competition Policy /Bernardo Macedo & Sílvia Fagá de Almeida --Recent Antitrust Developments in the Online Sector/ Federico Marini-Balestra --Mobile Payments and Mobile Banking in Brazil: Perspectives from an Emerging Market /Márcio Issao Nakane, Camila Yumy Saito & Mariana Oliveira e Silva --Internet of Things: Manufacturing Companies Industry and Use of 'White Spectrum': Ghost in the Machine? /Kurt Tiam & Andy Huang --Competitive Aspects of Cloud-Based Services /Fabrizio Cugia di Sant'Orsola & Silvia Giampaolo --Standard-Essential Patents and US Antitrust Law: Light at the End of the Tunnel? /Leon B. Greenfield, Hartmut Schneider & Perry A. Lange --IP and Antitrust: Recent Developments in EU Law /Miguel Rato & Mark English --Antitrust Cases Involving Intellectual Property Rights in the Communication and Media Sector in Brazil /Barbara Rosenberg, Luis Bernardo Cascão & Vivian Terng --Patents Meet Antitrust Law: The State of Play of the FRAND Defense in Germany /Wolrad Prinz zu Waldeck und Pyrmont --The Role of Privacy in a Changing World /Chris Boam --The Transatlantic Perspective: Data Protection and Competition Law /Pamela Jones Harbour --Power over Data: Brazil in Times of Digital Uncertainty /Floriano de Azevedo Marques Neto, Milene Louise Renée Coscione & Juliana Deguirmendjian --Big Data and the Cloud: Privacy and Security Threats of Mass Digital Surveillance? /Lyda Mastrantonio & Natalia Porto --Net Neutrality Regulation: A Worldwide Overview and the Chilean Pioneer's Experience /Alfonso Silva & Sebastian Squella --Net Neutrality in Singapore: A Fair Game /Chung Nian Lam --Internet Regulation in Brazil: The Network Neutrality Issue /Lauro Celidonio Gomes dos Reis Neto, Fabio Ferreira Kujawski & Thays Castaldi Gentil --The New Brazilian Internet Constitution and the Netmundial Forum /João Moura --The Brazilian Telecom Regulatory Scenario and the Proposals of the Internet Law /Regina Ribeiro do Valle --Competition in the Brazilian Telecommunication Market /rMaximiliano Martinhão, Guido Lorencini Schuina, Haitam Laboissiere Naser & Leonardo Fernandez Zago --A New Horizon for Competition Advocacy in Brazil /Adriano Augusto do Couto Costa, Marcelo de Matos Ramos & Roberto Domingos Taufick --Overlaps and Synergies between Regulators in the Brazilian Telecommunications Market /Marcelo Bechara de Souza Hobaika & Carlos M. Baigorri --The New Competition Law in Brazil and the New Framework for Merger Analysis in Telecom /Carlos Emmanuel Joppert Ragazzo & Cristiane Landerdahl de Albuquerque --Chapter 31: Regulatory Policy Round Table: A Dialogue between Telecommunications and Antitrust Authorities /Denis Alves Guimarães.