Regulating Digital Platform Markets and Unfair Trade Practices under the Japanese Antimonopoly Act

摘要

Digital platform businesses are growing rapidly worldwide. Notably, indirect network effects would create a monopoly on markets and non-rivalry of data could limit the price of data and the possibility to access data. The traditional way of regulating a monopoly consumes a huge amount of time and money. Competition authorities are straggling with how to tame the Digital Giants, In the two-sided or multi-sided markets, it should be sought to find a simple and quick method of resolving cases. This article clarifies regulations on vertical restrictions under the unfair trade practices (UTPs) regulations and offers a comparative analysis from the viewpoint of European Union, United States and Japanese laws. In Japan, legal action can be taken at an early stage by issuing a cease and desist order under UTPs regulations. This provides quick and flexible legal enforcement, which is less prone to the false positive. It is best to revolve situations and create consistency in the digital platform market at this early stage.