Stanford Digital Economy Lab Seminar Series talk
with Riitta Katila

Abstract: We analyze the relation between regulatory intervention against a dominant technology platform and complementor performance. Using a new, hand-collected dataset on enterprise infrastructure software firms from 1998-2004, we examine the relationship between the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft (a dominant  enterprise platform owner) and value creation and value capture among infrastructure software firms (complementors) and Microsoft itself. The data show that citation-weighted patents by complementors is increased following the antitrust settlement but profitability is reduced. The findings suggest a social benefit to antitrust enforcement in the form of increased innovation but caution that disrupting the “order” of an industry may lead to losses in efficiency.