Polish Competition and Consumer Protection Authority v Microsoft: Enforcement of Competition Law in the New Economy and the Risk of Regulatory Error

PSEAP Working Paper No. 3

16 Pages Posted: 11 May 2010 Last revised: 12 May 2010

See all articles by Lukasz Gorywoda

Lukasz Gorywoda

Jagiellonian University in Krakow - Faculty of Law and Administration; Covington & Burling

Agnieszka Janczuk-Gorywoda

Tilburg Law and Economics Center (TILEC); Tilburg University Law School

Date Written: March 1, 2009

Abstract

In August 2008, the Polish Competition and Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) referred to the European Commission the results of its proceedings concerning the conditions of sale of laptops with a pre-installed Windows operating system. According to the CCPA, Microsoft and laptop manufacturers might have entered into an agreement prohibited under Article 81 of the EC Treaty. This paper claims that the effects of the Microsoft‘s practice may go beyond the computer software market. Yet, enforcement of competition law in the sectors of new economy is a complex task due to the high risk of false positive and false negative errors, both of them resulting in efficiency loss. The overall aim of the paper is to stress that in order to be an effective tool for the regulation of competition, antitrust analysis should go deep into the understanding of the economic consequences of the practice involved.

Note: Downloadable document in Polish.

Keywords: Microsoft, abuse of a dominant position, tying, new economy, information goods, regulatory errors, economic analysis of competition law

JEL Classification: L40, L41

Suggested Citation

Gorywoda, Lukasz Jan and Gorywoda, Lukasz Jan and Janczuk-Gorywoda, Agnieszka, Polish Competition and Consumer Protection Authority v Microsoft: Enforcement of Competition Law in the New Economy and the Risk of Regulatory Error (March 1, 2009). PSEAP Working Paper No. 3, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1603567 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1603567

Lukasz Jan Gorywoda (Contact Author)

Jagiellonian University in Krakow - Faculty of Law and Administration ( email )

Golebia 24
31-007
Cracow
Poland

Covington & Burling ( email )

Brussels
Belgium

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.cov.com/en/professionals/g/lukasz-gorywoda

Agnieszka Janczuk-Gorywoda

Tilburg Law and Economics Center (TILEC) ( email )

Warandelaan 2
Tilburg, 5000 LE
Netherlands

Tilburg University Law School ( email )

Tilburg, 5000 LE
Netherlands

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/webwijs/show/?uid=a.a.janczuk

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