Making Digital Markets Work for People – Fairness, Efficiency and Consumer Welfare in Dialogue

Event description

Have you also been totally immersed in discussions about competition law and economics of digital markets and artificial intelligence, more narrowly, issues relating to fairness and consumer welfare in those contexts?

The intersection of fairness and competition law has noted a revival with added focus on digital markets and tech giants in the EU through the enactment of e.g. Digital Markets Act and a range of ongoing investigations against e.g. Apple and Google.

The conference thus seeks to explore the implication of fairness as a competition law and regulatory concept applied to e.g. digital and AI markets, focusing on the normative implications for enforcement of competition law and regulatory tools such as the Digital Markets Act and the EU AI Act in digital and algorithmic markets.

The conference also involves selected presentations from leading and emerging Nordic and European scholars relate to the European regulation and intervention in the digital economy, with a particular interest in the normative justification and practical implications of specific measures (e.g., DSA, DMA, AI Act) and the interconnection between fairness, efficiency and consumer welfare regarding competition law and economics of digital and AI markets.

The conference is organized by Behrang Kianzad and Johan Axhamn at LUSEM and Fabrizio Espostio of Nova Law School, Lisbon, in collaboration with ACLU. The conference is made possible by generous grants by Center for European Studies at Lund University, AI Lund as well as Riksbankens Jubileumsfond and Johan & Jakob Söderbergs Stiftelse.

Keynote speakers include a range of leading names in the field, such as Prof. Alexander Cappelen, FAIR, University of Bergen, Kalpana Tyagi, Maastricht University, Björn Lundqvist, Stockholm University, Fabiana di Porto, University of Salento as well as Johan Sahl, Head of Unit at Swedish Competition Authority. The round table discussion will feature Jörgen Hettne, Head of Department of Business Law, LUSEM, Amir Mohseni, Partner, Bokwall and Rislund, Behrang Kianzad, Department of Business Law, LUSEM (moderator).

In addition to the keynote- and round table speakers, the conference will also feature several other speakers, see full programme below: 

Invitation and conference program

Click here to see the invitation (PDF, new window).

Full programme: 

08.30 Registration & Morning Coffee

09.00 Welcome Adress by Prof. Joakim Gullstrand, Dean Lund University School of Economics and Management, LUSEM

09.05 Practical info by conference organisers 

09.10 Keynote 1 - Alexander Cappelen (FAIR, Bergen University)

Fairness and Paternalism

09.30–11.00 Session 1 - Working Towards What?

Juliane Mendelsohn et alia
Fairness in the DMA – Challenging a New Era of Monopoly Conduct

Nada Ina Pauer
Philosophical Impetus to Determine Fair Market Conduct – Ascertaining Fairness Theorems for Digital Markets

Mario Iacovides et alia
The New Goals of EU Competition Law: Sustainability, Labour Rights, and Privacy

Fabrizio Esposito 
Consumer Welfare Standard, fairness and Efficiency in Dialogue

Chair: Dr. Behrang Kianzad, Departement of Business Law, Lund University

11.00 Swedish Fika

11.30–13.00 Session 2 - AI and Data for the People

Luca Arnaudo
Algorithmic Pricing and Price Controls: Ways Ahead

Sarah Al Jashi
Lessons about Art. 102 TFEU and Excessive Data Extractions in the Era of Big Data

Thomas Eger et alia
Artificial Intelligence and Copyright Law in the EU – An Economic Perspective

Ruben Verdoodt
Scrutinising AI partnerships: win-win or winner-takes-all?

Chair: Dr. Johan Axhamn, Departement of Business Law, Lund University

13.00–14.00 Lunch

14.00 Keynote 2 - Fabiana di Porto (University of Salento)

14.30–16.00 Session 3 - Competition, Regulation & Innovation

Behrang Kianzad and Johan Axhamn
Abuse of data as an unfair practice between competition and regulation of digital markets

Elisabeth Wondracek
Fundamental rights in digital markets – a theory of harm or an isolated Facebook-phenomenon?

Maria Jose Schmidt
The Role of EU Platform Regulation and Competition Law in Enhancing Fairness on Digital Music Markets

Hedvig K Schmidt
The Interface between Intellectual Property Rights and Competition Law - Fairness, Market Power and Innovation

Chair: Dr. Fabrizio Esposito, Nova Law School

16.00 Swedish Fika 

16.20 Keynote 3 – Prof. Kalpana Tyagi (Maastricht University)

When Fairness, Innovation and Access met: A trilateral dilemma at the convergence of pharma & digital innovation

16.40 Keynote 4 – Prof. Björn Lundqvist (University of Stockholm)

Self-preferencing under Competition Law 

17.00 Closing Roundtable Discussion

Johan Sahl (Swedish Competition Authority), Prof. Jörgen Hettne (Lund University), Prof. Alexander Cappelen (University of Bergen), Prof. Kalpana Tyagi (Maastricht University), Prof. Fabiana di Porto (University of Salento), Prof. Björn Lundqvist (University of Stockholm), Amir Mohseni (Bokwall och Rislund), Behrang Kianzad (Lund University).

18.00 Final Remarks by Prof. Jörgen Hettne, Dean of Department of Business Law, Lund University 

18.05 End of Conference 

20.00 Conference Dinner for speakers and Keynotes

Registration

Please click here to register.

The total number of on site participants is limited to 55 persons. Online participation is unlimited.

Deadline: February 3rd 2025.