Antitrust and Trade Regulation Commons^™

Entire Issue Vol. 8 No. 6

internetowy Kwartalnik Antymonopolowy i Regulacyjny (internet Quarterly on Antitrust and Regulation)

Vol. 8(6)

Passenger Platforms As A Part Of The Railway Infrastructure. Cjeu Judgment Of 10 July 2019 In Case C-210/18 Westbahn Management Gmbh V Öbb-Infrastruktur Ag, Iwona Miedzińska

internetowy Kwartalnik Antymonopolowy i Regulacyjny (internet Quarterly on Antitrust and Regulation)

The purpose of this article is to discuss the judgment of the CJEU of 10 July 2019 in case C-210/18 WESTbahn Management GmbH. In this judgment, the Court stated that the passenger platforms referred to in Annex I to Directive 2012/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a single European railway area (recast) are part of the railway infrastructure, and therefore their use is included in the minimum access package. The classification of a platform infrastructure as part of the railway infrastructure or service infrastructure facility is important in the context of the principles of charging rail …

About The Law On Bonds And Its Amendments (From The Volume Editors), Angelina Stokłosa, Szymon Syp

internetowy Kwartalnik Antymonopolowy i Regulacyjny (internet Quarterly on Antitrust and Regulation)

From the volume editors.

Jurisdiction Over Claims For Damages Caused By Competition Law Infringements – Conclusions In The Light Of The Cjeu Judgment Of 29 July 2019 In Case C-451/18 Tibor-Trans V Daf Trucks, Aleksandra Mariak

internetowy Kwartalnik Antymonopolowy i Regulacyjny (internet Quarterly on Antitrust and Regulation)

The article addresses the issue of jurisdiction over claims for damages caused by an infringement of competition law. The paper examines the case-law of the CJEU regarding the application of special jurisdiction stated in Art. 7(2) Regulation 1215/12 in private enforcement cases, with a particular focus on the judgment in case C-451/18 Tibor-Trans. This analysis has shown that the case-law is not yet settled, as the interpretation of the place where the damage arising from competition law violation took place is determined on a case-by-case basis. The judgment in the Tibor-Trans case provided further clarifications in this regard by stating …

Citizen Capitalism: How A Universal Fund Can Provide Influence And Income To All (2019), Lynn A. Stout, Sergio Gramitto, Tamara Belinfanti

Books

Corporations have a huge influence on the life of every citizen--this book offers a visionary but practical plan to give every citizen a say in how corporations are run while also gaining some supplemental income. It lays out a clear approach that uses the mechanisms of the private market to hold corporations accountable to the public.

This would happen through the creation of what the authors call the Universal Fund, a kind of national, democratic, mega mutual fund. Every American over eighteen would be entitled to a share and would participate in directing its share voting choices. Corporations and wealthy …

Trade Openness And Antitrust Law, Anu Bradford, Adam S. Chilton

Faculty Scholarship

Openness to international trade and adoption of antitrust laws can both curb anti-competitive behavior. But scholars have long debated the relationship between the two. Some argue that greater trade openness makes antitrust unnecessary, while others contend that antitrust laws are still needed to realize the benefits of trade liberalization. Data limitations have made this debate largely theoretical to date. We study the relationship between trade and antitrust empirically using new data on antitrust laws and enforcement activities. We find that trade openness and stringency of antitrust laws are positively correlated from 1950 to 2010 overall, but the positive correlation disappears …

The Separation Of Platforms And Commerce, Lina M. Khan

Faculty Scholarship

A handful of digital platforms mediate a growing share of online commerce and communications. By structuring access to markets, these firms function as gatekeepers for billions of dollars in economic activity. One feature dominant digital platforms share is that they have inte­grated across business lines such that they both operate a platform and market their own goods and services on it. This structure places domi­nant platforms in direct competition with some of the businesses that de­pend on them, creating a conflict of interest that platforms can exploit to further entrench their dominance, thwart competition, and stifle innovation.

This Article argues …

Competition Enforcement, Trade And Global Governance: A Few Comments, Petros C. Mavroidis, Damien J. Neven

Faculty Scholarship

The debate on international antitrust has come from two perspectives. On the one hand, the trade community has emphasised the interface between trade policy and competition (policy and) enforcement. This interface, which was recognised from the outset of multilateral efforts to liberalise trade in what would become the GATT and eventually the WTO, focuses on the prospect that trade liberalisation through border instruments should not be undone by restrictive business practices (RBPs), placing a particular responsibility in this respect on competition enforcement. On the other hand, the antitrust community has emphasised the risk of inefficient enforcement when several jurisdictions can …

Comment On Daniel A. Crane: A Premature Postmortem On The Chicago School Of Antitrust, Lina M. Khan

Faculty Scholarship

A central question raised by the recent surge of neo-Brandeisian scholarship and advocacy is whether the nascent movement will deliver any form of lasting change to antitrust. In his essay for this issue of Business History Review, Daniel Crane is doubtful. He argues that critiques of the Chicago School are often simplistic and misunderstand its legacy, which includes institutionalizing economic theory in antitrust analysis in ways that even its post-Chicago critics absorbed and built on. The “consumer welfare” standard, Crane notes, still draws wide support across the ideological spectrum and may be capacious enough to accommodate a variety of approaches …

Occupational Licensing And The Limits Of Public Choice Theory, Ryan Nunn, Gabriel Scheffler

Articles

No abstract provided.

Procompetitive Justifications In Antitrust Law, John M. Newman

Articles

The Rule of Reason, which has come to dominate modern antitrust law, allows defendants the opportunity to justify their conduct by demonstrating procompetitive effects. Seizing the opportunity, defendants have begun offering increasingly numerous and creative explanations for their behavior.

But which of these myriad justifications are valid? To leading jurists and scholars, this has remained an "open question," even an "absolute mystery." Examination of the relevant case law reveals multiple competing approaches and seemingly irreconcilable opinions. The ongoing lack of clarity in this area is inexcusable: procompetitive-justification analysis is vital to a properly functioning antitrust enterprise.

This Article provides answers …

Unlocking Access To Health Care: A Federalist Approach To Reforming Occupational Licensing, Gabriel Scheffler

Articles

No abstract provided.

Antitrust In Digital Markets, John M. Newman

Articles

Antitrust law has largely failed to address the challenges posed by digital markets. At the turn of the millennium, the antitrust enterprise engaged in intense debate over whether antitrust doctrine, much of it developed during a bygone era of smokestack industries, could or should evolve to address digital markets. Eventually, a consensus emerged: although the basic doctrine is supple enough to apply to new technologies, courts and enforcers should adopt a defendant-friendly, hands-off approach.

But this pro-defendant position is deeply- and dangerously- flawed. Economic theory, empirical research, and extant judicial and regulatory authority all contradict the prevailing views regarding power, …

Blind Spot: The Attention Economy And The Law, Tim Wu

Faculty Scholarship

Human attention, valuable and limited in supply, is a resource. It has become commonplace, especially in the media and technology industries, to speak of an "attention economy" and of competition in "attention markets.” There is even an attentional currency, the "basic attention token," which purports to serve as a medium of exchange for user attention. Firms like Facebook and Google, which have emerged as two of the most important firms in the global economy, depend nearly exclusively on attention markets as a business model.

Yet despite the well-recognized commercial importance of attention markets, antitrust and consumer protection authorities have struggled …

Energy Competition: From Commodity To Boutique & Back, James W. Coleman

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Energy products such as power, gas, and oil have long been the world’s premier commodities. Consumers demand that power and fuel are available when they want it and they prefer to pay less for it. Few know or care where their fuel or power comes from. So for years energy companies believed that efforts to differentiate their products were mostly ineffective — they were re-signed to compete on price in fierce global commodity markets. But in recent years, a new focus on regulating how energy commodities are produced has begun to splinter previously integrated energy markets, creating markets for boutique …

The Global Dominance Of European Competition Law Over American Antitrust Law, Anu Bradford, Adam S. Chilton, Katerina Linos, Alex Weaver

Faculty Scholarship

The world’s biggest consumer markets – the European Union and the United States – have adopted different approaches to regulating competition. This has not only put the EU and US at odds in high-profile investigations of anticompetitive conduct, but also made them race to spread their regulatory models. Using a novel dataset of competition statutes, we investigate this race to influence the world’s regulatory landscape and find that the EU’s competition laws have been more widely emulated than the US’s competition laws. We then argue that both “push” and “pull” factors explain the appeal of the EU’s competition regime: the …

6th International Phd Students’ Conference On Competition Law, University Of Białystok, 27 April 2017, Magdalena Knapp, Paulina Korycińska-Rządca

internetowy Kwartalnik Antymonopolowy i Regulacyjny (internet Quarterly on Antitrust and Regulation)

University of Białystok, 27 April 2017

International Seminar Reform Of Regulation 1/2003: Effectiveness Of The Ncas And Beyond, Competition Law Scholar Forum And Centre For Antitrust And Regulatory Studies, University Of Warsaw, 28 April 2017, Marcin Mleczko

internetowy Kwartalnik Antymonopolowy i Regulacyjny (internet Quarterly on Antitrust and Regulation)

Competition Law Scholar Forum and Centre for Antitrust and Regulatory Studies, University of Warsaw, 28 April 2017

Attention Market. The Concept And Challenges In A Merger Assessment, Krzysztof Kanton, Jarosław Łukawski, Szymon Murek

internetowy Kwartalnik Antymonopolowy i Regulacyjny (internet Quarterly on Antitrust and Regulation)

The article focuses on the issue of ‘attention’ paid by consumers to internet and mobile apps content, which from the economic perspective is a resource that falls short. The authors analyze attention as a commodity and present the characteristics of the markets on which it is traded. The publication indicates the challenges faced by competition authorities in assessing concentrations between entities active on the attention market – the so-called attention brokers. In the latter part of the article, the authors analyze the methodology used by competition authorities to assess concentrations between the biggest modern attention brokers. Conclusions and postulates regarding …

Favouring One’S Own Products Or Services By Vertically Integrated Online Platforms As A Discriminatory Abuse Of A Dominant Position, Artur Szmigielski

internetowy Kwartalnik Antymonopolowy i Regulacyjny (internet Quarterly on Antitrust and Regulation)

The practice of favouring one’s own vertically integrated services by a dominant online platform can be assessed as an independent practice of discrimination (prohibited under Article 102 paragraph 2 point c TFEU). This does not mean, however, that a dominant undertaking has an absolute obligation to treat products or services of its trading partners equally to its own offer. Such practices should be considered abusive if they create unfavourable conditions of competition and have significant anti-competitive effects. What is prohibited by a discriminatory practice does not refer to the fact of favouring one’s own services, but to a situation where …