Competition Law and Regulation of Technology Markets

Abstract

It is common place that technology markets (also often referred to as ‘new economy’, ‘innovative’ or ‘information technology’ markets) play an important role in the global modern economy. Therefore, it is no surprise that US and EU antitrust authorities look at these markets very closely and, more and more often, intervene, although with some relevant differences, to sanction violations of competition law. Indeed, the last decade or so has seen some of the most important competition cases, not to mention some of the highest fines,1 concerning technology markets. The increased intervention of competition authorities in this field has revitalized the at least fifteen-years old debate on how far competition intervention should go in these innovative markets and if, and to what extent, competition law can be seen as a real alternative to sector specific regulation.2 Against this background, Kevin Coates’ Competition Law and Regulation of Technology Markets discusses how EU and US competition law, intellectual property law, telecoms regulation and data protection law apply to the telecoms, online services, and IT sectors. The idea behind the decision to look at these particular economic sectors through the lens of this set of laws is that these areas of law, by applying at different levels of the value chain, from underlying technology, through infrastructure and to services and applications, provide the necessary tools to understand the competitive dynamics of technology markets. Furthermore, the author claims that all these laws are a form of ‘market regulation’, namely a type of regulation aimed at encouraging or promoting competitive markets. Needless to say, the examination carried out is not exhaustive in terms of the law and of the sectors covered. The author, in fact, presents the principal elements of the areas of laws and then discusses how they apply to selected aspects of technology sectors.

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