The More Technological Approach: Competition Law in the Digital Economy

Abstract

The claim that the internet has changed everything is a commonplace in blogs and presentations. It is definitely untrue, though, for competition law. If one compares the rules and the application of the rules in Europe in 2014 and in 1994 it is hard to spot a principal difference that is causally linked to the rise of the internet—apart from the facts of some cases: nowadays, mobile phones are more important than landlines, media houses fight for advertising budget in the net, and big brands force their distributors to polish their virtual stores instead of brick-and-mortar-stores. So, mainstream competition law has it that a website essentially is nothing but a high-street shop.