Competition Policy International: A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing: Predatory Pricing, Platform Antitrust, and the Risk of False Positives

O’Melveny partner Sergei Zaslavsky and associate Tyler Helms co-authored this article discussing the doctrine of predatory pricing and possible reform of policies governing predatory pricing. “With the pendulum swinging toward policies favoring more enforcement, it is no surprise that there are calls to make predatory pricing standards more plaintiff friendly,” the authors wrote. “But any potential reform should consider both the risk of false positives and false negatives. For predatory pricing enforcement involving multisided platforms, the risk of false positives is very real: procompetitive conduct that can help entrants jump-start their platforms may superficially resemble predatory pricing, even under the current standards that reformers say are too lax. Dismissing the risk of false positives can lead to chilling procompetitive conduct and less competition—a fact that is no less true for being out of fashion.”

Read the full article here.