The Definition Research To The Relevant Geographic Market Of Internet Companies

With the development of the Internet economy, cases of Internet companies which abuse its dominant position continue to occur, as a result it needs “anti-monopoly law” to regulate. At the time of regulating the behavior of Internet companies abusing its dominant position, the definition of relevant geographic market becomes very important, the results may ultimately determine the nature of the behavior of Internet companies. Therefore, it needs to be scientifically defined. However, due to the impact of the Internet market characteristics, such as the bilateral nature of the Internet industry, the virtuality of products, and the dynamics of competition, the traditional methods of defining the relevant geographic market meets the bottleneck. Defining methods based on the price are difficult to apply to Internet companies. According to the new characteristics of Internet market, we should make the definition research to the relevant geographic market of Internet companies. This paper follows the general idea: “find the problem, analyze problems, and solve the problem”. First, through the relevant case study we can find the problems of identifying the relevant geographic market of Internet companies that are in the traditional definition methods and consideration factors. Second, applying comparative research methods to find the particularity of Internet companies, and to find the deep-seated reasons why the traditional definition methods of the relevant geographic market can not be applied to Internet companies. For this, the stated writer mainly start from the bilateral nature of the Internet industry, the virtuality of products, and the dynamics of competition. In the part of countermeasures, I will put forward a perfect suggestion from two aspects of guiding ideology and defining method.There are four parts besides the introduction and conclusion in the thesis.Part I: Relevant geographic market definition and its important role in the implementation of antitrust law. It mainly introduces the meaning of relevant geographic market definition and traditional definition methods, such as the alternative analysis method, the supply alternative analysis method, and the practical index method and the SSNIP test method. We can analysis the specific definition model of the four traditional definition approach of the relevant geographic market to find out the facts that need to be considered to apply the four methods for further analysis of the impact on the traditional definition methods as well as many new challenges of Internet companies to define the relevant geographic market for bedding.Part II: The plight of Internet companies relevant geographic market definition. On the basis of above analysis about the traditional definition methods, the stated writer points out the difficulties of Internet companies in applying to the traditional definition methods and some new problems, including the identify difficulty of sales volume, supply increment and price, the failure in traditional definition indicators, significant differences in understanding the Internet "without borders", and the great importance of language preferences and habits of being questioned, etc.Part III: Reasons for Internet companies to define the relevant geographic market difficulties. The study found that the main cause of these difficulties is that the bilateral nature of the Internet industry, the virtuality of products, and the dynamics of competition which indicate the bilateral nature of the Internet industry is the main reason for definition difficulties in the above. Deep analyze in the Internet industry bilateral characteristics: positive and negative cross-network externalities, the interdependence between two sides and the asymmetry of the price structure. While further illustrating the bilateral nature of the Internet industry the stated writer states that it is the reason for the selection difficulty of SSNIP test method benchmark price, modest price increases can lead to changes in the bilateral market, and the test failure of price test; The virtuality of Internet products led to the arbitrary definition of Internet companies relevant geographic market, it’s simply defined as "Internet space" or "global market"; The dynamics of competition on the Internet led to the identification of alternative become more complex.Part IV: The strategies for relevant geographic market definition of Internet companies. Firstly, the stated writer points out the guiding ideology of the relevant geographic market definition of Internet companies while adhere to the ideas that "give consideration to both sides and focus on one side" and the thinking pattern that "typed analysis". Next, the stated writer adjusts the traditional definition methods, introduce s the product performance test, and according to whether the bilateral market charges, we should apply SSNIP test method selectively; propose a new method regard "typed analysis " as a guide. Looking from Internet products, they will be divided into pure virtual products and Internet products which overlap physical market. Pure virtual products are further subdivided into the Internet access service products and Internet content service products, the relevant geographic market of Internet access service products may be the territory of a country, it also could be a global market, and the relevant geographic market of Internet content service products generally is the global market. The relevant geographic market of Internet products which overlap physical market must be considered with restrictions to the physical market. Looking from the perspective of Internet users, it needs a comprehensive analysis to language preferences and habits, technical barriers, and the Internet regulatory policies.