The fundamental right to personal data protection has been in the centre of diverse academic discussions since its enshrinement in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Meanwhile, it has also been facing an unsettled treatment within European case law. Its tight connection...

Network neutrality refers to a policy principle regarding access for online content and service providers to broadband infrastructures. It implies a general and ex ante obligation of non-discrimination for network operators when granting access to providers of online services, with the aim of...

Because of their multi-sided and dynamic nature, the application of competition law to online platforms may prove challenging. The paper maintains that existing competition concepts are flexible enough to be adequately applied to search engines and social networks. It is argued that, in order to...

This paper presents a legal and economic analysis of business-to-business (B2B) data markets. It starts from the economic characteristics of data and explores to what extent private B2B data markets result in a socially optimal degree of data sharing, or whether there are market failures in data...

Digitale Plattformen sind auf vielen Märkten aktiv und spielen deshalb auch bei Innovationen eine entscheidende Rolle. Sie selbst bringen Innovationen hervor, können aber auch bei den Plattformnutzern und anderen Akteuren des Plattformökosystems Innovationen incentivieren. Plattformen...

Under the essential facilities doctrine, intellectual property right holders are forced to license their exclusive right to competitors when certain conditions established by the European Court of Justice are met. In the Microsoft case, the Court of First Instance applied the doctrine, but it...

The boundaries between the fields of competition, consumer and data protection law have become blurred in the digital economy. This is particularly the case for the rules governing practices of market players relating to the collection and use of personal data of individuals. In addition to...

The paper illustrates how the EU and U.S. antitrust systems are coming closer to each other in their extent of federalism or decentralization. It explores how plural antitrust enforcement models can be made future-proof, also considering the involvement of courts and legislators as evaluators in...

Data portability has a hybrid nature. What emerged as a data protection concept is now also becoming part of policies aiming to stimulate competition and innovation. To reap the full benefits of data portability, this article argues that there is a need for regulators to steer its implementation...

With the emergence of data as an asset for market players operating in the digital economy, questions have risen about the relevance of data for competition enforcement. This article focuses on the role of data in the competitive process between online platforms including search engines, social...