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The essential facilities doctrine (sometimes also referred to as the essential facility doctrine) is a legal doctrine which describes a particular type of claim of monopolization made under competition laws. In general, it refers to a type of anti-competitive behavior in which a firm with market power uses a "bottleneck" in a market to deny competitors entry into the market. It is closely related to a claim for refusal to deal. The doctrine has its origins in United States law, but it has been adopted (often with some modification) into the legal systems of the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, and the European Union. ==Overview== Under the essential facilities doctrine, a monopolist found to own “a facility essential to other competitors” is required to provide reasonable use of that facility, unless some aspect of it precludes shared access.〔Abbott B. Lipsky, Jr. & J. Gregory Sidak, ''Essential Facilities'', 51 STAN. L. REV. 1187, 1190–91 (1999), ''available at'' http://www.criterioneconomics.com/essential-facilities.html〕 The basic elements of a legal claim under this doctrine under United States antitrust law, which a plaintiff is required to show to establish liability, are: #control of the essential facility by a monopolist #a competitor’s inability to practically or reasonably duplicate the essential facility #the denial of the use of the facility to a competitor; and #the feasibility of providing the facility to competitors The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in ''Verizon v. Trinko'', 540 U.S. 398 (2004), in effect added a fifth element: absence of regulatory oversight from an agency (the Federal Communications Commission, in that case) with power to compel access. These elements are difficult for potential plaintiffs to establish for several reasons. It is quite difficult for a plaintiff to demonstrate that a particular facility is "essential" to entry into and/or competition within the relevant market. The plaintiff must demonstrate that the "facility" must be something so indispensable to entry or competition that it would be impossible for smaller firms to compete with the market leader. Likewise, the plaintiff must show that compelling the dominant firm to permit others to use the facility would not interfere with the ability of the dominant firm to serve its own customers. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Essential facilities doctrine」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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