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This document is the assignment of the course government law and regulation, topic 3 EU Competition Law and the Definition of the Relevant Market.
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ECB2GLRThe EU competition rules in the digital market –
How can we assess anti-competitive behaviour of
Google’s operating system Android ?
Topic 3 - EU Competition Law and the Definition of the Relevant Market
Teacher: Matteo Gargantini (m.gargantini@uu.nl)
, Introduction
In many antitrust cases is the definition of a relevant market crucial. Whether a firm is in a dominant
position or not depends highly on the market in which it has been defined. One of these ongoing
cases of the European commission is against Google’s mobile operating system Android. This
system has been launched in 2007, and has become a worldwide dominant mobile operating system.
Because of this position, competition authorities have given Android many substantial attention. This
case includes a very specific type of product: multi-sided platforms, the most common methods of
market definition are useless and inappropriate within the nature and functioning of such platforms.
To reveal and to understand how Android works, a close contemplation of Google’s general business
strategy will help. Within this general overview a closer look will be given to the competitive
environment in which these products are operating and what role other neighbouring software play in
googles business strategy.
The word “market” is one of the most used words when we are talking about the current economic
reality. With the word market we describe sets of economic transactions, in different graphical area’s
and of more specific kind. Words like branch, sector and industry are well know synonyms for the
economic term “market”. It includes all products in a geographic area which exert competitive
constraints on each other. 1 In the concept of relevant markets, the geographic market and the product
market are combined. The official journal of the European communities states the definition of a
relevant product market and a relevant geographic market as follows: “a relevant product market
comprises all those products and/or services which are regarded as interchangeable or substitutable
by the consumer by reason of the products' characteristics, their prices and their intended use; a
relevant geographic market comprises the area in which the firms concerned are involved in the
supply of products or services and in which the conditions of competition are sufficiently
homogeneous.”2 An important part in merger cases or abuses of a dominant position is the definition
of the market relevant. The market in which a firm is operating is one of the main aspects to consider
whether a firm can be found as being dominant.
Multisided platforms – Definition and aspects
1
Lamesch, J. (2015). Market Definition in the Google Android Case. l’Université de Liège. Retrieved from:
https://matheo.uliege.be/bitstream/2268.2/1812/4/MarketDefinitionGoogleAndroid_LameschJoé.pdf
2
European Commission. (09/12/1997). Official Journal of the European Communities (97/C 372/03). Retrieved from:
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=celex:31997Y1209(01)
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