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Competition and New Technologies (LAWS90046)
Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5Not available in 2021
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About this subject
Overview
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The high-tech sector represents an increasingly important part of the world economy and is challenging the boundaries of orthodox competition law rules and approaches. Many of the most significant cases adjudicated by competition authorities around the world involve high-tech corporations (Microsoft, Intel, Google, Apple, etc). The high-tech industry is highly dynamic and raises particularly complex issues that need to be addressed by competition lawyers. This subject will grapple with these issues at a sophisticated level so that students understand the complex legal and economic challenges raised by the new economy. The lecturer is one of the world’s leading experts in this field. He has been involved in some of the most significant high-tech cases as a partner in international law firms in Europe, as an expert witness in numerous arbitration and litigation proceedings, and as an academic, currently with posts at Tilburg University, George Mason University and University College London.
Principal topics include:
- The role of innovation as a goal of competition law
- The influence of dynamic efficiency in competition law rule design and application, including in the areas of market definition, merger review and exemptions
- The intersection between competition law and intellectual property rights, specifically as it arises in the high-tech sector
- The intersection between competition law, consumer protection and privacy law, specifically as it arises in the high-tech sector
- Competition law issues in multi-sided markets, including, for instance, search engines and the internet economy
- Competition law issues raised by disruptive business models, such as Uber and Airbnb
- Major cases, including the United States and European Union Microsoft cases, the EU Qualcomm case, the US Apple e-book case and the EU Google case.
Intended learning outcomes
A student who has successfully completed this subject will:
- Have an advanced understanding of the competition law issues relevant to the high-tech sector
- Be able to critically analyse and reflect on the role of innovation and dynamic efficiency as a goal of competition law and the trade-offs between different efficiencies
- Have a sophisticated appreciation of the interface between competition law and intellectual property rights as it relates to the high-tech sector
- Have had an opportunity to discuss in a systematic and sophisticated way major competition law cases that have arisen in the high-tech sector
- Be able to assess the types of economic evidence likely to be of assistance in high-tech competition law cases
- Be able to apply the advanced knowledge that they develop in the subject in the context of problems that arise in legal practice in international competition law cases in the high-tech sector.
Last updated: 7 June 2024