出版社：AHRC Research Centre for Studies in Intellectual Property and Technology Law
摘要：The face of communication technology is changing rapidly – fixed-line telephony is in decline, while fourth-generation fully-mobile services are coming to the fore and will be widely available in the near future. Some say, “You cannot store new wine in old bottles,” and “Let bygones be bygones,” but I suggest that it is by exploring the old that we are able to understand the new. Many countries’ merger guidelines were enacted years ago, and these guidelines will continue to be applied to specific merger cases now and in the future. The discussion of merger cases in high-innovation markets contributes not only to understanding the real-world enterprise’s competitive ability to survive the technology war, but also to confirming that traditional rules and assessment standards remain valid in a rapidly changing market and technological environment. In support of this argument, I describe current developments in the mobile communications market and introduce a Korean mobile communications firm merger case. I then review the criteria of merger assessments and analyse the competition issues. I discuss the exceptions where mergers are permissible and the corrective measures taken where they are not. I conclude that the traditional approach to the assessment of merger cases is still valid in a high-innovation market. The standards argued for do not necessarily represent a view as to what the law is or should be. Rather, they reflect an assertion regarding what firms may successfully argue in terms of legal, technological, and economical issues without running risks of antitrust liability under any conceivable standard. We should keep in mind that the fastest route to a destination is not always the best
