搜索引擎相关产品市场的界定——回到单边市场的再梳理

The Definition of the Market for Products of Search Engines-Reanalysis of the One-sided Markets

搜索引擎相关市场的界定一直是各国反垄断法理论与实践中争议的热点问题,而在学界相关讨论中,双边市场说已经成为这一问题上的显学。通过分析搜索引擎的商业模式和市场结构,在探讨双边市场的交叉网络外部性特征中,主张搜索引擎市场的“双边”,实质上是搜索引擎服务商面对的分别为上下游市场的“注意力—服务”易货市场和搜索广告市场的两个单边市场,尝试以此解答免费搜索服务与付费广告服务之间内在联系与区分界定的理论难题,并在此基础上进一步展开对搜索引擎所涉的两个相关市场的替代性分析。

The definition of the market for search engines has always been a global hot issue in antitrust theories and practices,and the two-sided-market theory has become a dominant doctrine in academic discussions on this issue. After having analyzed the search engines’commercial modes and market structure and studied the external features of the two-sided market’s crossing networks,this paper argues that the two“sides”of the market are essentially the search engine service providers’two one-sided markets:an upstream attention-service barter market and a down. stream advertisement search market. The paper attempts to theoretically explain the internal relationships and distinctions between free search services and paid advertising services and to further explore,on this basis,the substitutability of the two related markets involving search engines.