The Method And The Trend Of Relevant Market Definition In Internet In China

With the development and expansion of the Internet industry,the Internet industry chain develop to the depth of the direction,the field of Internet antitrust cases have gradually entered the scope of the judiciary.since the famous US Microsoft anti-monopoly lawsuit,the need to formulate regulation about of the Internet industry in antitrust field has become increasingly prominent.And the judgment of the monopoly position is based on whether the operator has the dominant position in the relevant market.Therefore,the legal definition of the “relevant market”becomes the logical starting point of the analysis of the competitive behavior in the antitrust case of the Internet industry.However,the Internet industry because of its own unique development model to make it a bilateral market characteristics,the analysis of “related market”has become more complex.Prior to 2010,the study on the definition of relevant market is mainly based on the traditional economic development model,and the traditional industry definition method can not fully reflect the characteristics of the bilateral market of Internet industry.And thus when defining the relevant market in Internet industry uses the traditional industry definition method,it seems stretched,not reasonable,so to explore the new ways to assist to define the relevant market definition in Internet industry is of necessity.The relevant market definition of Internet industry in China is still in infancy,and China's law enforcement ability and judicial resources are in a serious shortage in antitrust area,coupled with the “Antitrust Law”“Guideline”is too much in principle,so that there is no clear definition of the relevant market for antitrust cases.Therefore,this thesis argues that when defining the related market in Internet industry,it is necessary to start to analyze the characteristics of the Internet industry,taking into account the externality of the cross-network,the Consumers' lockout effect,the user's multi-attribution of the platform and other factors;learn from Europe and the United States the relevant market definition experience in the Internet industry;use the bilateral market's theory;discriminate the differences of Internet products and services.This thesis consists of six parts:The first chapter puts forward the problems of “relevant market” definition in the Internet field.Whether from a global perspective,the Internet industry giants such as Microsoft,Google,Yahoo are repeatedly subject to antitrust complaints,or focus on the Chinese area,the case such as Baidu case,Tencent case appears,all of the above phenomena embody the controversial.Because the Internet industry is different from the traditional market and has the characteristics of bilateral market,it also has he externality of the cross-network,the Consumers' lockout effect,the user's multi-attribution of the platform and other factors,and these characteristics make the traditional methods of defining the relevant market definition non-applicable,coupled with the definition of the relevant market in the implementation of anti-monopoly law is self-evident,so to explore the new ways to assist to define the relevant market definition in Internet industry is of necessity.The second chapter introduces the traditional methods of defining the relevant market definition,and analyzes the theory of demand substitution analysis,the theory of supply substitution analysis,the SSNIP test method,as well as the core of content and the advantages and disadvantages of each application in practice.And the Internet products replace frequently,the differences between the product make some part of the demand for substitution,the offline market,the online market,the Internet industry's own profit model and the effect of the platform appear,so that the above Theories encounter difficulties and challenges in Internet industry.Chapter 3 outlines the development of the Internet market definition in Europe and the United States.When the United States defines the market for related products in the Internet industry,if the definition of the relevant market for antitrust cases involving technology,the relevant market is often relatively narrow.If the Internet products or services involved offline markets,the market will tend to define a large range.conversely,the scope of the definition is narrower.As each Internet industry is dominated by market parameters of different products,online advertising,social networking sites and online retail and auction markets are defined in different ways.The EU defining the relevant geographic market definition varies from the changes of main factors.Whether it is from the United States or from the EU,antitrust agencies are facing the challenge of how to correctly delineate the relevant market,and thus at the same time to correctly assess the Internet companies in the relevant market's power has become the actual consideration of antitrust institutions.The complexity of the market description based on the general rules or theory is difficult to determine the specific market in Internet industry,so we need to combine the characteristics of the industry to carry out specific analysis in specific circumstances.The fourth chapter summarizes the current situation of “related market” definition in China's Internet field in the context of the antitrust cases,and analyzes the existing problems in the relevant market,such as the difficulty of proof,Reasoning through the cases lightly,understanding the theory bias and so on.Chapter 5 puts forward the trend of the definition of the Internet relevant market in China,and puts forward the solutions for the definition of the relevant market in the Internet field.Analysis the possibility of dilution the meaning of relevant market definition in Internet industry;and consider that the definition the relevant geographic market in the Internet field should be cautious,combined with the specific characteristics of the case;and also from the bilateral market Logical,adhere to the principle of transparency.