Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1 Assistant Professor of Law, Shahid Beheshti University
2 LL.M in Intellectual property law from Shahid Beheshti university
Abstract
Common barriers for entering the digital marketplaces, i.e. the platform users' network effect and service providing economies of scale, leave newly established marketplace platforms with few strategies for user acquisition and competition with pioneers to achieve market share. Accordingly, analyzing digital marketplaces agreements with commercial users reveals some clauses which may impede market entry strategies and weaken inter-platform competition. However, these contractual conditions can also have some important efficiency. The commercial user parity clause (MFNs) towards the platform, the exclusive dealing condition and clauses offering loyalty incentives are the most significant clauses which digital marketplaces operating in Iran, such as "Snappfood", "Digikala", "Alibaba", "Fidibo" and "Café-Bazaar," may include in their commercial users agreement.
This article aims to evaluate these contractual clauses from Iran’s competition law perspective through considering their potential anti-competitive effects and possible efficiencies by studding recent anti-competitive cases in Iran, European Union and the U.S. The findings show that in the newly published competition policy document of Iran Supreme Council of Cyberspace in 1399 and some of the Iran Competition Council's decisions, these clauses have not been properly distinguished and consequently some adopted positions have been inefficient and without considering important legal and economic components. This article seeks to rectify these deficiencies.
Keywords
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