Dominance and digital markets

Advice to help you balance dominance and innovation

Winning a position of market dominance is not unlawful. In fact, it typically reflects a business that is delivering innovative goods or services that consumers desire. Competition law is designed to ensure that consumers continue to benefit from the rigour of competition. This is because businesses have to continually innovate and offer better products to win or maintain their market share. What competition law does not permit is dominant companies unfairly using their market strength to restrict or distort competition.

The dominance rules require market leaders to behave responsibly and understand when they may be at risk of harming effective competition. In contrast, for companies operating in markets characterised by having a dominant leader, competition law may offer a route to challenging abusive behaviour that places their own business at risk.

Regulating strong market positions in the digital economy

Competition in digital markets is a priority for policymakers. In particular, governments and regulators are interested in companies that are seen as 'gatekeepers' to the digital economy. Businesses are facing fast-evolving regulations, increased investigative activity and a steady stream of market studies across multiple jurisdictions. More and more, you need specialist guidance to stay compliant with competition law and other linked areas, such as consumer welfare and data protection.

Our multi-jurisdictional team is a recognised leader in digital markets. We have worked on high-profile European Commission and national investigations and have represented leading and emerging international online businesses. Our clients value our expertise in helping them embrace the opportunities that the digital economy brings. This includes advising on the sustainability of data-driven business models and helping create robust future-proofing strategies.

How we can help you

Our Competition team can advise, assist and support you with a range of dominance and digital market-related issues, including:

• helping dominant companies ensure their competitive strategies are compliant
• defending your interests in the event of company and market investigations
• representing challengers in bringing complaints before the appropriate authorities

Our competition lawyers

We act for businesses of all sizes and at every stage of their journey. Our clients operate in a range of sectors in domestic and global markets, including retail and consumer, media and life sciences.  The organisations we work for are often driving change – they choose us because of our strong track record of advising on the risks and opportunities that new technology and digitalisation brings.