Aurelien Portuese
Aurelien Portuese is director of the Schumpeter Project on Competition Policy, which advances a dynamic framework for competition policy in which innovation is a central concern for antitrust enforcement, not a secondary consideration. He is also an adjunct professor of law at the Global Antitrust Institute of George Mason University, and at the Catholic University of Paris.
As an expert in U.S. antitrust and EU competition law and economics, Portuese has published extensively on these issues and has presented his research at international conferences. With 10 years of university experience (UK, France, Belgium, US), his research encompasses U.S. and European perspectives on the regulation of competition.
A doctor in law from the University of Paris II (Sorbonne), Portuese has graduated from the London School of Economics, Sciences Po Paris, and from the University of Hamburg. He regularly speaks at conferences and seminars and regularly writes op-eds and academic articles. His book Antitrust Populism: Competition Policy in the Digital Era will be published in 2021 by Oxford University Press.
More about Aurelien Portuese: aurelienportuese.com
Recent Publications
The Revised (But Uncorrected) Version of the Klobuchar Bill
The revised version of the Klobuchar bill (S.2992), aimed at prohibiting a few large tech companies from self-preferencing their services and forcing them to grant their rivals access to vital proprietary assets, fails to correct the critical deficiencies of the bill’s original version. This report provides a legal analysis of the new, yet uncorrected, pitfalls of the Klobuchar bill.
The Digital Markets Act: The Path to Overregulation
European regulation is on a collision course with innovation, and looms in the hazards of overregulation.
How an Antitrust Bill May Harm Consumers: The AICOA Bill Illustrated
It is time for members of Congress to reflect on the numerous unintended consequences of the AICOA bill, or else the passing of this bill will weaponize antitrust laws at the expense of innovation and consumer welfare.
Reason, Not Resentment, Should Inform Antitrust Legislation
These bills are punitive: They would decrease consumer welfare, stifle innovation, and deter the process of creative destruction, which characterizes the dynamism of capitalist societies and underpins the march toward progress through technological changes.
Comments to the National Telecommunications Information Administration Regarding Competition in the Mobile App Ecosystem
The Biden administration should withdraw its support of S.2710 at least until the NTIA provides evidence of alleged anticompetitive conduct in a failing mobile apps market through its study. Until then, support for the S.2710 is rushed and undermines the effectiveness of the fact-finding exercise carried out by the NTIA via its RFC.
Biden Antitrust: The Paradox of the New Antitrust Populism
Biden antitrust is nothing but the Progressives’ agenda to endorse a populist “big is bad” stance and advocating for firms to be trimmed down so that none can ever exercise market power, even if such exercise benefits consumers and promote innovation.
Antitrust Bills Under Fire From Former Chief Economists
The best way to regulate competition and enforce antitrust to prevent anticompetitive conduct remains the judicial process: Judge-made law better preserves adherence to the rule of reason, efficiency considerations, and, more generally, to the rule of law, which provides greater legal certainty. In other words, the enforcement of antitrust laws ought to remain predominantly dynamic, using the evolutionary process of the court system.
Five False Claims Underscore the Case Against the Senate’s Leading Antitrust Bills
The Senate’s main antitrust bills—the American Innovation and Choice Online Act and the Open App Markets Act—emulate a stalled House package and the EU’s deeply flawed Digital Markets Act. They err on many fronts, and the main arguments for them are at odds with reality.
Amicus Brief in the Matter of Epic Games v. Apple
Accepting Epic’s arguments and preventing Apple from continuing to operate its closed mobile ecosystem would eliminate a signature attractive feature of Apple’s products, to the detriment of consumer welfare, competition, and innovation.
Amicus Brief in the Matter of State of New York et al. v. Facebook
Facebook’s business justification for limiting platform access for rival app developers was self-evident: It did not want to help them replicate its core functions, nor did it want to share its intellectual property—certainly not for free. That is rational competition, not unlawful anticompetitive behavior.
Why Antitrust Should Be off the Table for Content Moderation on Social Media Platforms
Antitrust is the wrong tool to address content moderation—and weaponizing antitrust because of animus to certain companies is simply wrong.
Comments to the Justice Department and FTC Regarding Merger Enforcement
In revising merger guidelines, antitrust agencies should refrain from embracing the populist narrative that pursues market deconcentration and corporate disintegration at the expense of companies’ innovation, efficiency, and competitiveness.
Recent Events and Presentations
Assessing the Neo-Brandeisian Revolution: Looking for Mr. Schumpeter?
Join ITIF for an expert discussion about how to integrate the Schumpeterian perspective into competition policy as an alternative to the Neo-Brandeisian movement agenda.
Dynamic Antitrust Discussion Series: “The Regulatory Revolution Against Mergers”
Please join ITIF for the latest in a series of discussions on “dynamic antitrust,” in which ITIF’s Schumpeter Project on Competition Policy hosts leading scholars and antitrust enforcers to discuss the path forward in making antitrust a foundation for innovation.
Precautionary Antitrust: Competition Without Innovation
Dr. Aurelien Portuese delivered a guest lecture for Judge Douglas Ginsburg’s course on antitrust at George Mason University.
Dynamic Antitrust Discussion Series: “The FTC Rulemaking Agenda—Dwindled Innovation Through Regulation?”
Please join ITIF for the latest in a series of discussions on “dynamic antitrust,” in which ITIF’s Schumpeter Project on Competition Policy hosts leading scholars and antitrust enforcers to discuss the path forward in making antitrust a foundation for innovation.
What Does the New Biden Antitrust Team Mean for Big Tech?
With new leadership at the Federal Trade Commission and a new antitrust chief at the Department of Justice, what does this mean for Big Tech?
Book Launch: “Algorithmic Antitrust”
Marking the release of the new book “Algorithmic Antitrust,” ITIF’s Portuese moderated as the authors discussed their respective essays and debated how companies compete through algorithms and what it means for competition agencies.
Dynamic Antitrust Discussion Series: “Innovation”
Join ITIF for the twelfth in a series of discussions on “dynamic antitrust,” in which Aurelien Portuese, ITIF’s director of antitrust and innovation policy, sits down with leading scholars and antitrust enforcers in Washington, Brussels, and elsewhere to discuss the path forward in making antitrust a foundation for innovation. Join us to discuss the interaction between antitrust and innovation with Professor Thomas Lambert and ITIF's Julie Carlson.
Dynamic Antitrust Discussion Series: “FTC Rulemaking Authority: Toward Precautionary Regulations?”
ITIF hosted a discussion about the new FTC's priority with Professors Daniel Crane and Andrew Gavil. This is the eleventh in a series of discussions on “dynamic antitrust,” in which Aurelien Portuese, ITIF’s director of antitrust and innovation policy, sits down with leading scholars and antitrust enforcers in Washington, Brussels, and elsewhere to discuss the path forward in making antitrust a foundation for innovation.
Dynamic Antitrust Discussion Series: “Self-Preferencing”
Join us to discuss this report and the proposal of banning self-preferencing with Professor Herb Hovenkamp. This is the tenth in a series of discussions on “dynamic antitrust,” in which Aurelien Portuese, ITIF’s director of antitrust and innovation policy, sits down with leading scholars and antitrust enforcers in Washington, Brussels, and elsewhere to discuss the path forward in making antitrust a foundation for innovation.
The Meaning of Competition: Assertive Antitrust Enforcement and the Digital Economy
Jointly organized by ITIF's Schumpeter Project on Competition Policy and the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) and held at the IEA's offices at Lord North Street in the heart of Westminster, this conference features world-leading experts, officials, and scholars. The conference debated current concepts and misconceptions of the meaning of competition in the digital era.
Dynamic Antitrust Discussion Series: “Biden’s Executive Order on Competition”
ITIF hosted the ninth in a series of discussions on “dynamic antitrust,” in which Aurelien Portuese, ITIF’s director of antitrust and innovation policy, sits down with leading scholars and antitrust enforcers in Washington, Brussels, and elsewhere to discuss the path forward in making antitrust a foundation for innovation.
Comments by Aurelien Portuese at the FTC's Open Commission Meeting
The FTC should advocate for a national privacy law that applies to all U.S. companies instead of being willing to unilaterally enforce sector-specific privacy standards that would distort competition across industries.