Competition, or anti-trust, law concerns the regulation of competition and is designed to ensure that the competitive dynamic on a market is maintained. Given the rise in market based economies, the jurisdictions which have adopted competition law regimes have expanded significantly over the last decade. In this way competition law can be seen as the combination of law, policy and economics.
This book considers the competition regimes operated by the European Union, the United States and the United Kingdom. It focuses on three broad areas of regulation within these jurisdictions: anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominance and merger control. Within these broad categories other important issues are considered, such as the enforcement of competition rules, the relationship with intellectual property rights and the underlying economic and commercial considerations on which the law is based.