ABSTRACT
This chapter examines whether a doctrination of single "essential facility" cases has ever occurred. Additionally, it seems useful to take a closer look at the economic, political or philosophical rationales that could justify the doctrination. The term "essential facility doctrine" describes the antitrust idea of sharing monopolist-owned facilities—mainly infrastructures and networks—with competitors to enable competition on up- or downstream markets. The origin of the doctrine can be found to lie in the antitrust history in the United States on the one hand and in Europe on the other hand. A comparative look at both US and European law suggests a mostly disconnected development of the doctrine. The European Court of Justice developed its doctrine without recourse to antitrust traditions in its Member States or US jurisdiction. The investment in a new facility might be lost if an existent rival facility is working well, and the investment will be unavailable for different and macro-economically more desirable purposes.
