Aftermarkets, Systems, and Antitrust: A Primer

• Author: Gregory T. Gundlach
• DOI: 10.1177/0003603X0705200102
• Published date: 01 March 2007
• Date: 01 March 2007
• Subject Matter: Article

THE

ANTITRUST

BULLETIN:

Vol.

52, No. ljSpring 2007 :

17

Aftermarkets, systems,

and antitrust: a

primer

ByGREGORY T.

GUNDLACH*

I.

INTRODUCTION

The

American

Antitrust

Institute's

Invitational

Symposium

on

the

Future

of Aftermarkets in Systems

Competition

is extremely timely

in

light of a

number

of

developments

in

business

theory

and

practice

and

in

antitrust

law.IFor those unfamiliar

with

the

area,

some

of the

questions

that

may

initially

come

to

mind

when

aftermarkets,

sys-

tems,

systems

competition,

and

antitrust

are

considered

include:

What

is

an

"aftermarket"?

What

is a

"system"

and

how

do

aftermar-

kets relate to "systems competition"?

How

are

aftermarkets, systems,

and

systems competition relevant to antitrust?

Why

is

the

study

of the

antitrust

aspects

of

aftermarkets

important

now?

What

are

some

examples of

current

developments

in aftermarkets

and

their

antitrust

concerns?

What

features

of

aftermarkets

and

systems

competition

complicate

their

antitrust

analysis?

How

do

(should)

these

features

affect the

antitrust

analysis of aftermarkets?

Given

my

introductory

objective, each of these questions is

addressed

in

a

manner

that

pro-

*Visiting Eminent Scholar, University of

North

Florida: Senior Research

Fellow &Advisory Board Member, American Antitrust Institute.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I am

indebted

to

those

who

participated

in the

symposium

and

espe-

cially

those

whose

contributions

appear

in this

special

issue.

This

article

draws

upon

and

has

benefited

enormously

from

their

work.

See

infra

section

V.

©2007by

Federal

Legal

Publications,

Inc.