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Denna uppsatts ämnar ge bättre förståelse för företagsstrategier som kan, och har blivit be-visade, strida mot konkurrenslagarna i USA samt Europa. Konkurrenslagarna har skapats för att upprätthålla perfekt konkurrens på marknaden. Konsumentnytta står ofta i fokus när vi ska definiera den perfekta marknadsplatsen. Vi kommer att se hur perfekt konkur-rens är skapad och sedan krossat med fusioner, kombinationsförsäljning och försök att bygga monopolistiskt övertag. För att vinna marknadsandelar och differentiera från kon-kurrenter på marknaden använder sig företag av olika strategier. Här kommer vi att se kvantitetsättade strategier samt produktbindande strategier. Denna studie fokuserar på Microsoft fallet där vi får följa företaget genom rättsprocesserna i USA och Europadomstolen, där företaget har använt sig av tekniska inställningar för att tvinga konsumenter fortsätta använda deras produkter. Microsoft har större delen av marknaden för persondatorer och har bevisligen utnyttjat sin monopolistiska position på marknaden för att exkludera konkurrenter från marknaden. Många ekonomer har påstått att Shermanakten är tillräckligt utförlig för att döma alla konkurrensfall, medan andra påstår att man inte kan applicera konkurrenslagarna vid Microsoft fallet då nätverkseffekter skapar en odefinierbar marknad. Utmaningen visar sig vara att jämföra värdet och standardiseringsfördelarna med skadan mot marknadskonkurrenter. De nuvarande konkurrenslagarna förutsätter, i de flesta avse-enden, att det är fler än en aktör som tillsammans agerar för att bestämma prissättningen på marknaden. Det har därför varit svårt att se hur Microsoft skulle kunna bryta mot dessa la-gar som en ensam aktör. Konkurrenslagarna är skapade för kunders nytta, och det finns inga bevis att Microsoft hämmar detta, tvärtom har Microsoft bara främjat konsumentnyt-tan.

The emergence of biotechnology necessitating change in traditional pharmacological research, cost cutting by hospitals and health insurers, and an increasing number of patent expirations have posed a considerable challenge to the pharmaceutical industry, which hitherto had been considered recession-proof. Responding to this challenge, the industry has undergone tremendous consolidation through mergers and acquisitions (M&As). These M&As have resulted in high concentration within the therapeutic classes of drugs, thereby raising anticompetitive concerns. / In order to allow the mergers to proceed, the Federal Trade Commission in the U.S. had required the merging entities to divest their R&D assets. The European Commission, on the contrary, had taken more permissive approach. / The thesis has argued that R&D divestitures in pharmaceutical cases have not been appropriate as anticompetitive concern arises owing to the acquisition of market power with drug purchasers, rather than the combination of R&D assets. The innovative nature of the industry, and the costs and risks involved in drug discovery make it hard to analyze the likely future state of the market. Ex-post analysis shows that divestiture in these cases proved counterproductive. / It is suggested that ex-post remedies like compulsory licensing and price regulation are preferable in pharmaceutical mergers, as they do not disrupt the companies' R&D structure. Moreover, these remedies could be applied once the anticompetitive concerns become apparent the merger is consummated, thereby allaying the uncertainty involved in the assessment of the future state of innovation markets.

Globalization has had two major implications for national merger control regimes: national competition authorities are called more and more to examine transactions with cross-border dimensions and secondly, domestic business practices may be scrutinized by foreign nations. In light of this, divergent substantive standards have become a source of international friction, notably between the two most mature merger control regimes, the European Union and the United States. / Facing this new reality, it has become clear that some sort of international arrangement will be needed in order to reduce the inefficiencies created by multijurisdictional review. Various proposals have been made, ranging from ambitious ones that would include the creation of an international competition code and enforcement agency, to more realistic proposals of achieving international coordination of merger control regimes through bilateral and multilateral cooperation amongst antitrust agencies. / This thesis argues that the path of large-scale cooperation is the most appropriate way to cope with the problems raised by globalization. As such, cooperation does not imply the harmonization of merger control regimes. The future lies in the hands of the International Competition Network which, despite considerable achievements, must evolve in the near future.

The assessment of joint venture appears to be one of the most difficult issues in European competition law. A rational and well-balanced treatment is long awaited. Indeed, the artificial distinction between co-operative and concentrative joint ventures was based on complex and contradictory criteria. The European Commission applied them flexibly at the expense of predictability, damaging the legal certainty that is so necessary for these transactions. The existence of two distinct regimes, one for concentrative and one for co-operative joint ventures, with more favourable treatment for the former, explains why firms wished to subject their transactions to the Merger Regulation rather than article 81 of the Treaty. The reform of the Merger Regulation, which entered into force in 1998, modifies the boundaries between the different types of joint ventures, now focusing on structural criterion. It gives birth to a new distinction between structural and behavioural joint ventures. This simplification of the qualification phase, however, raises new questions relating to the content and the relevance of the chosen criterion. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

This thesis examines the impact of transnationalization on U.S. American merger review. It commences by outlining the principles of U.S. merger control, the notion of competition, and effects to be prevented. The study then proceeds with an analysis of transnationalization and gives an evaluation of its influence on firms, markets, and economic systems. The adjacent part holds a description of significant merger decisions made by the U.S. authorities during the recent years thereby covering important markets. An analysis focussing on a possible inequality of the treatment between mergers involving U.S. and foreign firms in order to meet exigencies generated by transnationalization that are not congruent with the objective of maintaining competition follows. The thesis concludes with an examination of extraterritorial application of U.S. antitrust law, the problems generated thereby and the various suggestions produced for a solution of the discrepancy between world-wide markets and enterprises and nationally confined legal systems.

Universiẗat, Diss., 2006--Augsburg.

Originally presented as the author's Thesis (doctoral), Universität Frankfurt am Main, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 13-30).

Zugl.: Tübingen, Univ., Diss., 2006

Zugl.: St. Gallen, University, Diss., 2008. / Includes bibliographical references and bibliography (p. 219-231).