Although both in US antitrust and European competition law there is a clear evolution to a much broader application of rule of reason (instead of per-se rules), there is also an increasing awareness of the problems of a case-by-case approach. The error costs approach (minimizing the sum of...

The vertical allocation of regulatory powers within the European two-level system of network sector regulation is analysed from the perspective of the economic theory of legal federalism. The analysis shows that sophisticated combinations of harmonised European rules along with sufficient scope...

In this empirical study all mergers that have been challenged by the U.S. antitrust agencies FTC and DOJ between 1995 and 2008 were analyzed in regard to the question to what extent and how the agencies assessed the innovation effects of mergers. Theoretical background is the still open question...

Obwohl es dem Konzept des Soft Paternalismus gelang, die Aufmerksamkeit auf die Bedeutung verhaltensökonomischer Erkenntnisse und die verhaltensbeeinflussende Wirkung von 'weichen' Politikinstrumenten wie Default rules zu lenken, wird gezeigt, dass der Soft Paternalismus nur einen sehr...

Patent settlements between originator and generic firms in the pharmaceutical industry have been challenged by antitrust and competition authorities in the U.S. and the EU. Particularly settlements with large "reverse payments" to generic firms raise the concern of collusive behaviour for...

Through the application of the technological solution of the "extended vehicle" con-cept the car manufacturers can capture exclusive control of the data of connected cars leading to serious concerns about negative effects on competition, innovation and consumer choice on the markets for...

Since the patent system relies on private litigation for challenging weak patents, and patent settlements might influence the incentives for challenging patents, the question arises whether the antitrust assessment of patent settlements should also consider their impact on the incentives to...

Interoperability has become a buzzword in European policy debates on the future of the digital economy. In its Digital Agenda, the EU Commission has identified a lack of interoperability as one of the significant obstacles for the thriving of the digital economy. The EU Commission and a number...

In its Communication "Building a European data economy" the EU Commission discusses the introduction of a new exclusive property right on data ("data producer right") for non-personal (or anonymised) machine-generated data, and mandatory access rights to privately held data for achieving more...

The digital revolution has reinvigorated the discussion about the problem how to consider innovation in the application of competition law. This raises difficult questions about the relationship between competition and innovation as well as what kind of assessment concepts competition...