Online RPM and MFN Under Antitrust Law and Economics

Pinar Akman () and D. Daniel Sokol ()
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Pinar Akman: University of Leeds
D. Daniel Sokol: University of Florida Levin College of Law

Review of Industrial Organization, 2017, vol. 50, issue 2, No 2, 133-151

Abstract: Abstract The legal framing of a firm’s pricing strategy can determine whether it constitutes online resale price maintenance (RPM) or online most favored nation (MFN). Together, cases that involve online RPM and MFN can be viewed as a natural experiment of how antitrust economics and law may adapt to an online world. Thus far, legal theories that have been inconsistent with economic theories have dictated enforcement across jurisdictions, which has led to confusion that thwarts potentially efficient business practices. This paper distinguishes issues of online RPM from traditional RPM and online RPM from online MFN. We apply the economics learning to RPM and analyze the antitrust cases of online RPM and MFN to date in the United States, Europe, and Australia. Finally, we offer policy recommendations that reduce the confusion in current legal doctrine.

Keywords: Antitrust; Competition law; Economics; Most favored nation; MFN; Resale price maintenance; RPM (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: K21 L11 L42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11151-016-9560-x

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