The Antitrust Standard for Unlawful Exclusionary Conduct

Exclusionary Conduct Testimony Before the Antitrust Modernization Commission

Refusals to deal come in many different forms. Appropriate legal standards differ across these forms. A vertical refusal to deal arises when a dominant input supplier refuses to sell its input to downstream rivals. A complementary refusal to deal arises when the dominant supplier of one product sells that product to customers as part of a bundle but refuses to sell that product alone to a rival...

Unilateral Conduct Workbook Chapter 2: Analytical Framework for Evaluating Unilateral Exclusionary Conduct

Standard-setting Abuse: the Case for Antitrust Control

This Policy Brief identifies and discusses the main sources of direct harm to European consumers that can arise as a consequence of standardisation. Harm can occur through too-high prices for consumers, but can also be incurred if incentives to innovate are undermined. A consistent policy by the European Commission capable of tackling all sources of harm should simply be based on Article 102 of...

Evaluating Appropriability Defenses for the Exclusionary Conduct of Dominant Firms in Innovative Industries

In response to antitrust cases challenging the exclusionary conduct of dominant firms, some dominant firms offer an “appropriability defense”: a claim that prohibiting the challenged conduct would harm innovation by lessening the dominant firm’s return to investment in research and development (R&D) and, in consequence, undermining that firm’s incentive to innovate. This paper explains that an ...

Antitrust, Intellectual Property, and Standard Setting Organizations

The role of institutions in mediating the use of intellectual property rights has long been neglected in debates over the economics of intellectual property. In a path-breaking work, Rob Merges studied what he calls "collective rights organizations," industry groups that collect intellectual property rights from owners and license them as a package. Merges finds that these organizations ease so...