The Archives

Everything written by Nicolas Petit on law, economics, and more

Nicolas Petit

Nicolas Petit is professor of European Union competition law and head of the law department at European University Institute (EUI). From 2007 to 2020, he was a professor at the University of Liege's School of Law and the Liege Competition and Innovation Institute. He is also a former visiting fellow at The Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

Prior to joining the EUI, Nicolas Petit held a public office position as a part-time judge with the Belgian competition authority, and has also worked in private practice with a leading U.S. law firm in Brussels.  In 2005, he was a member of Harvard Law School’s visiting researchers program and, since 2017, has been a member of the European Commission High Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence.

He received his bachelor's from Université Paris Cité, his master's from KU Leuven, LLMs from the College of Europe and Paris-Pantheon-Assas University, and his PhD from the University of Liège.

Posts

Antitrust Statutorification

Nicolas Petit Jul 15, 2021

A lot of water has gone under the bridge since my book was published last year. To close this symposium, I thought I would discuss the new phase of antirust statutorification taking place before our eyes. In the United States, Congress is working on five antitrust bills that propose to subject platforms to stringent obligations, ... Antitrust Statutorification

AdvertisingAI & Big DataAntitrust

A few thoughts on the European Commission decision against Google

Nicolas Petit Jun 29, 2017

Regardless of the merits and soundness (or lack thereof) of this week’s European Commission Decision in the Google Shopping case — one cannot assess this until we have the text of the decision — two comments really struck me during the press conference. First, it was said that Google’s conduct had essentially reduced innovation. If ... A few thoughts on the European Commission decision against Google

AI & Big DataAntitrustEU

Antitrust review of ag-biotech mergers: Appropriability versus cannibalization

Nicolas Petit Mar 31, 2017

This symposium offers a good opportunity to look again into the complex relation between concentration and innovation in antitrust policy. Whilst the details of the EC decision in Dow/Dupont remain unknown, the press release suggests that the issue of “incentives to innovate” was central to the review. Contrary to what had leaked in the antitrust ... Antitrust review of ag-biotech mergers: Appropriability versus cannibalization

Agriculture & BiotechAntitrustEconomics

The Apple tax case: Plain vanilla competition policy?

Nicolas Petit Mar 29, 2017

Since Brussels has ordered Ireland to recover 13€ billion from Apple, much ink has been spilled on the European Commission’s (EC) alleged misuse of power and breach of the “rule of law.” In the Irish Times, Professor Liza Lovdahl-Gormsen wrote that the EC has been “bending” competition law to pursue a corporate taxation agenda in disguise. ... The Apple tax case: Plain vanilla competition policy?

AntitrustEconomicsEU

Significant Impediment To Industry Innovation: A novel theory of harm in EU merger policy?

Nicolas Petit Mar 21, 2017

In Brussels, the talk of the town is that the European Commission (“Commission”) is casting a new eye on the old antitrust conjecture that prophesizes a negative relationship between industry concentration and innovation. This issue arises in the context of the review of several mega-mergers in the pharmaceutical and AgTech (i.e., seed genomics, biochemicals, “precision ... Significant Impediment To Industry Innovation: A novel theory of harm in EU merger policy?

Agriculture & BiotechAntitrustEconomics