Developing International Perspectives on Market Definition in Digital Markets

How should we think about market definition in digital markets? This is a practical question, as antitrust cases are often won or lost on market definition. As one of many examples, Judge Mehta remarked in FTC v. Sysco that market definition “has been the parties’ primary battlefield in this case.” Will market definition be the battlefield in cases involving digital markets? And should it be?

The year 2019 saw three major policy reports on digital markets by experts in the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States. These reports consisted of a review by an expert panel in the United Kingdom entitled “Unlocking Digital Competition”; a report commissioned by the European Commission entitled “Competition policy for the digital era, Report to the European Commission”; and, in the United States, a non-governmental report prepared under the auspices of the Stigler Center at the University of Chicago entitled “Committee on Digital Platforms, Market Structure and Antitrust Subcommittee Report.”

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