1,721,421 research outputs found
Google il conquistatore : note sull'istruttoria della Commissione europea
No full textThe paper illustrates the main allegations that have led the European Commission to start an investigation against Google for abuse of dominance. These are related to the manipulation of Google's algorithm; the imposition of exclusivity clauses in contracts with web- publishers and advertisers; behaviour aimed at preventing advertisers from investing in alternative platforms; and refusal to deal with rivals. The paper discusses the likely outcome of the case, as well as the impact that the Commission's decision might exert on the future of competition on the Internet. The paper casts rather dark shadows on the current application of antitrust in cyberspace, which seems even more problematic today than it was already in 2004, when the Commission adopted its controversial decision in the Microsoft case. At the same time, the author argues that the ongoing quest for neutrality and pluralism on the Internet should be neither subject to extremist pro-regulatory stances, nor left exclusively to the remit of antitrust law
Lo scambio di embrioni e il dilemma della maternità divisa
No full textLa nota esamina criticamente l’ordinanza cautelare del Tribunale di Roma 8 agosto 2014, relativa ad un caso di scambio di embrioni verificatosi nel corso della sottoposizione da parte di due coppie a tecniche di PMA omologa in vitro. Mentre il Tribunale assume che secondo l’ordinamento vigente la maternità spetti alla donna che ha partorito i gemelli, l’autore ritiene che si sia in presenza di una lacuna normativa, da colmare attraverso un principio generale dell’ordinamento. Dopo aver argomentato l’impossibilità di dimostrare la prevalenza tanto del criterio del parto quanto di quello genetico nell’identificazione della maternità, propone conseguentemente di risolvere il caso riconoscendo lo status di madre sia alla donna che ha partorito che a quella alla quale è riferibile il contributo genetico.This note to judgement examines in a critical way the provisory measure issued by the Court of Rome (August 8th, 2014) on a case of mistaken embryos, occurred while two couples were undergoing homologous in vitro fertilization. While the Court assumes that under the laws in force the woman who gave birth to the twins is entitled to be recognized as the mother, the A. holds that in this case the legal system shows a regulatory gap, to be filled through a general principle. Having argued the impossibility of proving that the criterion of childbirth prevails over the genetic one, and vice versa, in order to identify motherhood, the author consequently proposes to solve the case by granting the status of legal mother at the same time to the woman who gave birth to the children and to the one to whom the genetic contribution refers
Legal and Economic Approach to Tying and Other Potentially Unfair and Anticompetitive Commercial Practices: Focus on Financial Services
No full textThis paper analyses the economic and legal aspects related to practices such as tying, bundling and other potentially unfair commercial practices widely used in the financial services industry. Authors draw special attention to the European financial services market. Their law and economics approach aims at illustrating the rationales for applying both antitrust and consumer protection legislation to the practices subject to analysis in this paper and observed in the retail financial services market. The author explores the main findings of the legal and economic theory as regards the applicability of antitrust rules to the practices at hand, and the possibility to treat new commercial practices under antitrust law. The paper then illustrates the economics of tying, bundling and other unfair commercial practices from a consumer policy perspective, and reports some empirical data on switching costs and patterns of consumer behaviour in retail financial services and in other sectors of the economy. Cognitive biases that may cause irrational behaviours in judgement and decision-making processes of a retail consumer are widely assessed. Finally, the author proposes a new multi-stage test for the joint assessment of selling practices under competition and consumer policy
L’accertamento della maternità: anonimato materno e responsabilità per la procreazione
No full textL'articolo si interroga sull'ambito applicativo e la ratio iuris della norma, posta all'art. 30 dell'ordinamento dello stato civile, che attribuisce alla madre la facoltà di non essere nominata nell'atto di nascita, per poi inserire la questione nell'ambito del diritto europeo della filiazione
Microsoft: cronaca di una condanna annunciata
No full textL'articolo commenta la decisione relativa al tying tra Microsoft Windows e Internet Explorer che ha portato all'introduzione di una rule of reason nell'approccio alle pratiche leganti nell diritto della concorrenza statunitense
Competition-regulation interface in telecommunications: what's left of the essential facility doctrine
No full textThe essential facility doctrine lies at the core of telecoms regulation since its very first steps in the United States and in the European Union. Later, the doctrine spread around the world and currently stands as a key pillar of the liberalization efforts underway in several countries. However, the concept of essential facility is a very dynamic one in the telecoms field, which makes it hard for regulators and regulated stakeholders to strike the right balance between incentives to invest in new infrastructure and securing access-based competition in the short run. Experiment such as the ''stepping stones'' approach in the US and the ''investment ladder'' approach in the EU have led to very mixed results, in the US, the FCC eventually abandoned this approach to stimulate investment in new high-speed infrastructure through ''access holidays''. The decline of the essential facilities doctrine in the US was not echoed by any relaxation of regulatory obligations in the EU, Canada and other countries, to the contrary, the US now seems likely to reconsider the essential facilities doctrine, at least in the application of antitrust law. Whether this will lead to a revival of the doctrine in the US and around the world, especially for next generation access networks, remains to be seen. The paper argues that interpreting the concept of essential facilities too broadly is likely to lead to insufficient incentives to invest in the future, it is thus advisable to get back to a narrow interpretation of this doctrine, in order to strike the right balance between the incentives to engage in infrastructure-based competition and the goal of boosting service-based competition in the short-term. Several debates that are currently raging around the world-including the debate over NGA deployment and the net neutrality querelle-are likely to be affected by the essential facilities doctrine in the years to come
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