For over 30 years, CCIA has supported competition policies and enforcement that ensure a level playing field for all participants in computer and communications markets.

Competition and vibrant markets fuel economic growth and reinforce our industry's leadership in innovation and technology development. CCIA advocates for open markets, open systems, open networks, and full, fair and open competition. Public antitrust and competition policy should be designed to advance this goal.

On Telecommunications and New Technology

Technological innovation, lighter regulatory restrictions, and the emergence of viable competitive models are transforming the telecom industry. Simultaneously, telecom mergers and acquisitions have boomed. The search for new business models in a changing world motivates this activity. Some merger activity may inspire increased inter-modal competition and help the United States to catch up to its global competitors.

Nevertheless, market power may result from consolidation and the abuse of such power is unacceptable. To ensure robust competition in the communications marketplace, policymakers must protect against undue discrimination and ensure that all market participants have access to the national information infrastructure.

On Tying and Bundling in Software and Hardware

While tying and bundling practices may efficiently combine two distinct products into one, more desirable product, antitrust enforcement in the information technology markets must be especially stringent in punishing anticompetitive leveraging. Software and hardware markets, due to their reliance on interoperability and layering, can be especially vulnerable to this dynamic. Software markets, typified by the network effects phenomenon and being so reliant on interoperability, are particularly susceptible to this conduct. Accordingly, a robust technology marketplace requires oversight and vigilance against attempts to leverage market power into adjacent markets, giving due weight to the economic consequences of network effects and tipping.

On Intellectual Property

Intellectual property is a limited 'monopoly,' but should not be used to construct monopolies in fact. Anticompetitive companies are increasingly using patent, copyright, and related rights to leverage themselves and freeze competition out of secondary markets or "aftermarkets." CCIA has participated as amicus curiae in patent litigation and Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) litigation in order to bring attention to anticompetitive behavior. CCIA has also petitioned government policy makers to protect against the anticompetitive use of intellectual property rights.

Where intellectual property rights apply to technology interfaces, they are particularly susceptible to use for anticompetitive purposes. Because interoperability is essential to competition in high-technology industries, IP disputes concerning proprietary interfaces and interface specifications merit special consideration. Prohibiting competitors from accessing the de facto standard interface specifications would lock users into a particular operating system, software platform, or network software environment, and would inhibit the transfer of data between different computing environments. In this way, the intellectual property right on the interface can lead to a prohibition against interoperability and monopolization of the aftermarket. An appropriate antitrust framework must account for these risks.



CCIA's involvement in Antitrust Modernization Commission:
CCIA's involvement in US v. Microsoft:

Tunney Act
CCIA participated in the Tunney Act phase of the Microsoft trial. This hearing was to determine if the settlement was in the public interest, and is currently on appeal.
CCIA's three-part Tunney Act submission.

CCIA briefs in Microsoft trial
EU Case Against Microsoft: