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Book Chapters

American and European Monopolization Law: A Doctrinal and Empirical Comparison

2011, Regulating Innovation: Competition Policy and Patent Law under Uncertainty

Haizhen Lin, Keith Hylton

Abstract

This paper provides a general overview of the differences between American and European monopolization law. American courts have taken a relatively conservative approach toward monopolization law, in the sense of showing reluctance to penalize a firm simply because of its monopoly status, and of allowing wide scope, at least at the level of pure legal doctrine, for efficiency defenses to be asserted. Europe, in comparison, has taken an interventionist approach. Error-cost analysis provides a justification for the American approach. A preliminary empirical examination suggests that the scope of a country's monopolization law is inversely related its degree of trade dependence. 

Citation

Lin, Haizhen and Keith Hylton (2011), "American and European Monopolization Law: A Doctrinal and Empirical Comparison," in Regulating Innovation: Competition Policy and Patent Law under Uncertainty, Cambridge University Press, pp. 252-283.