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2019 Colum. Bus. L. Rev. 35 (2019)
Platforms and the Rule of Reason: The American Express Case

handle is hein.journals/colb2019 and id is 41 raw text is: PLATFORMS AND THE RULE OF REASON: THE AMERICAN EXPRESS CASE Herbert Hovenkamp* I. Introduction: Antitrust on Two-Sided Platforms ........ 35 II. The Amex Case in the Supreme Court ...................... 46 III. Observations: Applying the Rule of Reason to Platform Exclusion .................................................... 56 A. The Significance of Burden Shifting ................. 56 B. Platform Market Delineation .............................. 57 C. Complements in Use or Production .................... 64 D. Free Rider Concerns ............................................ 65 E. Use of the Record ................................................ 68 F. Inattentiveness to Economic Analysis ............... 71 G. Marginal Harms and Benefits ............................ 75 H. Implications for Market Definition ................... 81 IV . Conclusion ................................................................... 88 I. INTRODUCTION: ANTITRUST ON TWO-SIDED PLATFORMS In Ohio v. American Express Co. (Amex),1 the Supreme Court had its first explicit opportunity to apply antitrust's rule of reason to an allegedly anticompetitive practice on a two-sided platform. The writ of certiorari petition asked the Court to consider how Section 1 of the Sherman Act, which bans unreasonable restraints of trade, applies to 'two-sided' * James B. Dinan University Professor, Penn Law and the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Thank you to Dennis Carlton, Harry First, Irving Scher, and Erik Hovenkamp for comments. A version of this paper was delivered at the William Howard Taft Lecture, September 14, 2018, to the New York State Bar Association, Antitrust Law Section. © 2018. Herbert Hovenkamp. All rights reserved. 1 Ohio v. Am. Express Co., 138 S. Ct. 2274 (2018).

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