This article provides an overview of the competitive issues surrounding online platforms. The general theme is that while much has been made of the structural features of online platforms there is little hard evidence that these are durable monopolies. Nonetheless, there are concerns about the...

This foreword reviews the law and economics of an anti-competitive margin squeeze adopted by European and national competition authorities together with a critical assessment of the European Court of Justice's Telia/Sonera judgment in early 2012

This chapter sets out the principles and emerging practice governing cartel damages in the EU and UK. It identifies the types of damages available; the issue surrounding causation, pass-on, volume effects, and mitigation; and the methods that have been be used to estimate overcharges, volume...

The European Commission's decision to block the GE/Honeywell merger in 2001 ignited a wave of criticism from US antitrust authorities and commentators not seen since the Boeing/McDonnell Douglas merger in the mid-90s. This revealed deep differences in the substance and enforcement of EC and US...

The English courts in Sainsbury's v. MasterCard and Morrisons v. MasterCard came to opposite conclusions on the illegality of MasterCard's multilateral interchange fees (MIFs). While both courts posited bilateral counterfactuals, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) in Sainsbury's held that...

Sainsbury's v. MasterCard establishes the pass-on “defence” in English/UK law. The Competition Appeal Tribunal set out a two-part test which it erroneously distinguished from the economists' notion of pass-on. It then went on the develop key elements of legal test for pass-on in price fixing...

The standard of proof required in merger cases has become the centre of considerable controversies and confusion following the Australian Federal Court's decision in Metcash. This paper reviews the use of counterfactuals and the inherent contradictions in adopting the real chance standard of...