The MHRD Chair on Intellectual property Rights
NationalLawSchool of IndiaUniversity
Bangalore
Presents
Roundtable on
Competition Law and Privacy concerns in Emerging Digital Era
On
3rdJune 2011
VENUE
TRAINING CENTRE
NATIONALLAWSCHOOL OF INDIAUNIVERSITY
Nagarbhavi, Bangalore- 560242
Roundtable
On
Competition Law and Privacy Concerns in Emerging Digital Era
in Emerging Digital Era”
Concept Note
Amidst the worldwitnessing divergence in many ways, in last few decades it has converged dynamically in few respects, most significant among them being digital technology with a rapid growth of its market. The advance in technologies solves many of the existing problems and gives an impetus to the mankind for steady progress. In view of the fact thatthe pace of development of technology has been gaining exponential rate of acceleration in last two-three decades, there is equally strong pressure mounting on the regulation of their use in the society. Keeping pace with the changing marketcompetition laws have also been responding at a rapid pace, supported by technical assistance and recommendations from a diverse International Institutions and Domestic jurisdictions. There is no doubt that Competitive environments provide value and quality and most importantly they provide larger markets than those characterized by protection. The touchstone of competition law is the protection of consumer welfare and promotion of competition without making any special deference for particular competitors. Principles of competition policies must be maintained in the digital economy also with the same intensity that they are imposed elsewhere.
when the acceleration of dynamic nature of technology development have got some exponential rate, opponents of the competition laws contend that whatever merit the competition laws may have had in the past they have no place in a digital economy. According to them rapid innovation has made the accumulation of market power practically impossible. Whatever would be the pace of technology the markets including the Digital market cannot be left as a chaotic place, which may throw a challenge to the ordered society. We must therefore create the conditions for new economic activity to flourish with Sound and careful regulatory policy support and complementary competition policy in creating the appropriate environment for the digital economy.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In backdrop of world-wide growing concerns over concentrating of online and mobile advertising due to alleged anti-competitive practices and convergence of digital market the Centre for IPR Research and Advocacy (CIPRA) and MHRD Chair on IPR , National Law School of India University, Bangalore in association with Microsoft Corporation (India) Pvt. Ltd., and Amarchand Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co. will hold aRoundtable on “Competition Law and Privacy Concerns in Emerging Digital Era”.The objective of the Roundtable is to evaluate the world over position of antitrust regulators and regulations to deal with the new technologies evolving in digital marketplace and try to find solutions regarding those in special reference of
recentdevelopments.
The National Law School has succeeded to pioneer an unparallel approach of Legal education and research in India after a rigorous effort of more than two decades. CIPRA as a very active and prominent role player in IPR Research in India, under its auspices has distinctly been working in the said area. Feeling the high need to address the issues under the above objective the IPR Chair at NLSIU has taken this initiative to discuss multidimensional issues arising out of the advent of new digital technologies and searching the possibilities of balancing the societal norms with the pace of advancement of Digital technology in specific reference of antitrust law, within a conducive environment for new innovations.
We sincerely hope that you will join us in making this a success. We are looking forward to welcome you at National Law School of India University, Bangalore.
Sincerely
Prof.(Dr.) T. Ramakrishna
MHRD Chair Professor on IPR
NationalLawSchool of IndiaUniversity
Bangalore
E-mail:
Programme Schedule
25th APRIL 2011
Registration
08:30 AM- 09:00 AM
Inaugural Session
09:00 AM -10:00 AM
Tea/coffee Break
10:15 AM- 10:30 AM
Technical Sessions
Session I
10:30 AM- 12:00
Panel theme: Digital Market: Convergence vs. Divergence
The digital technology marketplace has given birth to diverse and innovative business models and solutions, a number of which have attracted the scrutiny of enforcement agencies worldwide for being anti-competitive, particularly those relating to online and mobile advertising, social networking, internet search technologies and interoperable software. In light of these developments, enforcement agencies are also faced with the problems of dealing with divisions across different legal systems, as divergence has the potential to create problems for both enforcers of competition law and the entities subject to their jurisdiction. This session will cover the worldwide Anti-competitive business practices in the digital marketplace and the current scenario of competition analysis.
Session II
12:00 - 01:30 PM
Panel theme: Role of competition policy in the digital technology market
With the expansion of digital technology marketplace the need for intervention to protect anti-competitive practices in such a dynamic industry is being felt more than ever. Recently in Europe and the US a number of anticompetitive business practices related to online advertising, search result manipulation, Google Book Search Project have attracted the attention of anti-trust regulators. The existing regulatory bodies are faced with the challenge of regulating such practices in a manner that the digital economy and innovation is strengthened and not weakened. In light of these this session will cover the role of competition policy in the digital technology market.
Lunch' Break – 01:30 PM 02:30 PM
Session III
02:30 PM- 04:15 PM
Panel theme: Evaluation of Jurisdictional Approaches--USA, EU-vis-a-vis application of competition law in the digital technology market
This session will cover the extent of anti trust enforcement by regulatory authorities under different jurisdictions, including the objective and policy behind competition laws in the USA, EU; major differences in approaches to business practices in the digital marketplace, and how Indian competition law is likely to evolve, based on the recent decisions of the Competition Commission of India.
Tea/coffee Break: 04:15 – 04:30
Session IV
04:30 – 06: 00 PM
Panel theme: Privacy concerns in the cloud computing
This session will deal with the privacy concerns in the cloud computing and associated legal and regulatory challenges. Increasing popularity of cloud computing has given rise to serious security and data privacy concerns relating to protection of information. However, cloud computing undoubtedly being considered the business solution of the future, issues such as collection of personal information, use and retention of such information, security and monitoring and enforcement are immediate issues which need an address, will be the issues for this session. Such issues shall be looked at not only from the viewpoint of existing statutory protectionsgoverning data collection and dissemination but also from the point of view of internet governance and policy.
Valedictory Session
06: 00 PM – 06:30 PM
Organising Partners
Microsoft Corporation (India) Pvt. Ltd.,
and
Amarchand Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co.