Handbook

This course provides a comparative overview of the principles underlying competition regulation in Australia, the United States, Europe and China. The lecturers do not assume students have had any previous exposure to competition law in any of these jurisdictions or to the study of economics. The course looks at the meaning of competition; the rights and obligations of actual or would be competitors; the role that competition law is generally expected to play in society and the nature of markets and market power. All these issues are examined in a global context since businesses of all sizes are increasingly operating across borders and may be forced to modify their conduct and tailor their marketing and distribution systems to fit quite different competition regimes. The course does not cover consumer protection, price control provisions or industry specific regulations developed for the electricity, telecommunications or other industries.

Main Topics

• The difference between rules of reason and per se rules in competition analysis and the rational for their adoption or rejection in different jurisdictions
• Convergence and divergence in the treatment of the pivotal concepts of market definition; market power; structural and behavioural barriers to entry
• The importance and interaction of competition, efficiency and consumer welfare
• The ways in which various commercial practices based on exploitation of intellectual property rights may impact differently on competition regimes in different jurisdictions.
• Differing approaches to the concept of misuse of market power, in particular the course examines: 
  • refusals to deal with or license would-be competitors
  • predatory pricing
  • tying or bundling products or services