Connecting Competition Law Standards to the Internet of Things

The advent of the Internet of Things will entail a new Internet revolution and bring about profound changes that will rival the first wave of Internet innovation. This paper explores the competition law implications raised by this upcoming revolution. Starting by discussing the merits of open ecosystems as opposed to closed ecosystems (and the Commission policy in this respect), it moves on to address the legal tools at the disposal of litigants to unlock flawed ecosystems, be it through competition law (i.e. essential facilities theory and FRAND claims) or the new data portability right, before presenting the regulatory issues likely to arise from the rolling out of the IoT, that is, protection of privacy and practices committed by “things” (i.e. robots)