ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the complex structures of business networks from an antitrust point of using the example of networks with potential market power, which may fall under the scope of the European prohibition of abuse of a dominant position. A company network is every legally voluntary connection based on an economic and legal network aim of a minimum of three legally independent companies which induce a network-specific demand for organisation. In competition law, the so-called functional definition of "undertaking" is applied according to which an undertaking is a legal independent unit performing a permanent economic activity irrespective of its legal form or kind of financing. The assessment of possibly existing market power by means of applying the market power criteria to company networks can ultimately only happen on a case-by-case basis. Basically, the resources bundled in the network and not the entire resources of the network companies are to be taken as a basis for the assessment of market power.
