信用卡平台竞争案件中双边市场理论的适用——美国联邦最高法院“俄亥俄州诉美国运通公司案”评述

The Application of Two-sided Market Theory in Credit Card Platform Competition-Comments on U.S. Supreme Court Ruling of “Ohio v. American Express Co.”

"俄亥俄州诉美国运通公司案",是美国联邦最高法院首次在其判例中明确运用经济学的双边市场理论,将信用卡平台的相关市场"创造性"地界定为"交易型平台"的案例。本文通过比较美国联邦地方法院、巡回上诉法院和最高法院就该案的判决,分析和讨论了平台模式下相关市场界定、市场力量评估和竞争损害问题,以期通过经典案例的研究,为我国互联网平台中纵向限制行为的反垄断规制带来若干启示。

Ohio v. American Express Co. is the first case that U.S. Federal Supreme Court specifically applied Two-sided Market Theory of economics in its ruling which “creatively” defined the relevant market of credit card platform as “a transaction platform.” By comparing the ruling of U.S. Federal District court, 2nd Circuit Court and Supreme Court, this article analyzes and discusses the definition of relevant market under platform business model, evaluation of market power and competition harm. It is intended to stimulate some thoughts and inspirations for the antitrust study of vertical restraints in China’s internet platform with this type of classical case study.