Antitrust Magazine: Two Sides to Every Story: Trying and Winning a Two-Sided Market Case

O’Melveny partners Ian Simmons and Sergei Zaslavsky and counsel Patrick Jones co-authored an article for the American Bar Association's Spring 2024 edition of Antitrust Magazine. Following the overwhelmingly negative response to the outcome of Ohio v. American Express where Justice Thomas concluded that “[o]nly other two-sided platforms can compete with a two-sided platform for transactions,” the authors explore specific scenarios where the Amex ruling can in fact benefit the plaintiff and assert that the ruling instead of “foreclosing opportunities for plaintiffs, may have actually broadened them.” 

The article provides both a Plaintiff’s Toolkit and Defendant’s Toolkit, which take into account net price, elasticity of demand, and indirect network effect, in delivering successful advocacy. The authors address key allegations in US Airways v. Sabre to successfully illustrate the impact of defining single-homing and multi-homing for both plaintiff and defendant as well as their importance in understanding competitive dynamics in two-sided market trials. The article also covers the significance of necessary restraints to maximize platform output, which has the potential to encourage increased competition rather than reduce or restrict it.

Read the full article here.