Mark Patterson was quoted in a Cleveland.com article about the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling against Ohio’s challenge to an American Express policy that the state said violated antitrust law.
Mark Patterson, a Fordham University law school professor who specializes in antitrust law, predicted the decision will have a big impact on future antitrust cases, particularly those that affect “two-sided markets” where an intermediary facilitates transactions between parties on two sides, such as merchants and cardholders for American Express.”
“The Court held that it’s not enough to look at just one side of such a market in bringing an antitrust case, but the plaintiff must show overall harm considering both sides,” said a statement from Patterson. “There are many such two-sided markets, including not just credit cards but also Google and Amazon when they connect other sellers with buyers, and now it will be much more difficult to prevent harm to competition in those markets.”