Databases

Databases

This Overview guides practitioners to key competition law materials on databases, signposting analysis, legislation and regulator guidance. Databases and control of data are central to market power in digital and data‑rich sectors, raising issues under the Chapter I and Chapter II prohibitions of the Competition Act 1998 and, where applicable, Articles 101 and 102 TFEU. Core questions include whether restricting access to a dataset or database amounts to a refusal to supply by a dominant undertaking, when interoperability or data portability should be mandated, and how information stored or shared through databases can facilitate prohibited coordination. The interface with intellectual property is significant, including the UK’s retained sui generis database right and case law on exceptional circumstances for compulsory licensing. Practitioners should understand the CMA’s approach to information exchange, the use of pricing algorithms trained on shared data, and the design of clean teams, confidentiality rings and data rooms. In merger control, theories of harm and remedies may focus on data concentration, foreclosure via access terms, and commitments to grant data access on FRAND‑like conditions. The UK’s Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 and the EU Digital Markets...

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