Minor Digital IP and Law

The digitalization of society raises new concerns related to the protection of the competition process and of the consumers, as well as labour law rights.

This course covers four Law and Economics topics related to competition law, consumer law, labour law digitalization, and artificial intelligence:

• Abuse of dominance applied to digital markets 

In the words of the Crémer Report: “the specific characteristics of platforms, digital ecosystems, and the data economy require established concepts, doctrines and methodologies, as well as competition enforcement more generally, to be adapted and refined” (Crémer J., de Montjoye Y.-A. & Schweitzer H., « Competition Policy for the Digital Era », Final Report, 2019, p. 3). As the attention economy has become a central part of our daily lives, it raises concerns in terms of competition law, fairness in commercial relations in digital markets, and anticompetitive practices. 
This module will thus firstly focus on the anticompetitive practices’ legal prohibition (their criterion, the sanctions…) and secondly explore the difficulties that have arisen regarding digital platforms and their characteristics that make public enforcement extremely more complex. A few notable cases, such as Google Shopping, Microsoft, or more recently the Apple cases, will be studied, as well as ongoing investigations. 
Finally, as the European Union has recently adopted the Digital Markets Act, a regulation aimed at digital “gatekeepers” providing “core platform services” to ensure fair and contestable markets, this change of paradigm from an ex post sanction to an ex ante regulation will enclose this module, with the first non-compliance decisions having been issued in March 2025. 
 

• Career Path and Algorithmic Processing: Regulation and Legal Challenges

The course “Career Path and Algorithmic Processing: Regulation and Legal Challenges” offers a cross-cutting analysis of the transformations of labor law in the digital age. It examines the growing use of algorithmic systems and artificial intelligence in managing the employee’s career path, from entry into the company through automated recruitment and preselection tools, to professional development via performance monitoring, digital evaluation, and career management, and finally to the exit stage, questioning contract termination procedures and unemployment protection.
The course will cover the existing legal framework, in particular the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and emerging European provisions such as the Artificial Intelligence Act, as well as the specific constraints related to the protection of workers’ fundamental rights. Special attention will be given to the broader transformations brought by the “platformization” of the economy and the rise of digital employment, in order to assess the relevance and effectiveness of current legal norms in addressing new forms of algorithmic governance and the regulation of employment relations.

• Competition law confronted to artificial intelligence 

-    This course addresses the contemporary transformations of competition law in light of algorithms and artificial intelligence.
-    Its primary objective is to analyze how economic practices are evolving under the influence of automation and big data, and how the law is responding to these changes. The following topics will be covered:
-    An introduction to the issues related to the digital economy, along with a review of the fundamental principles of competition law, notably anti-competitive practices, abuses of dominant position, and merger control.
-    Subsequent sessions focus on the specificities of digital markets, algorithmic pricing, algorithmic discrimination, the use of AI in anti-competitive strategies, and the challenges posed by mergers involving data flows. The course also examines legal liability issues arising from algorithmic opacity and the evidentiary challenges it presents. It concludes with a forward-looking discussion on ethical concerns and potential regulatory developments.
-    Recent legislative texts such as the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Digital Services Act (DSA) are analyzed to assess their impact, along with landmark decisions (e.g., Google Shopping, Amazon, etc.).
-    The pedagogical approach is designed to develop students’ critical thinking and practical legal skills through a combination of lectures, case studies, and structured debates.
 

• Consumer protection and digital manipulations 

This introductory lecture will establish the foundations of the economics of data and the core principles of digital markets. It will also introduce the concept of digital platforms, with a particular focus on the competition issues they raise.
Building on this foundation, we will explore the behavior of online consumers. Like all consumers, they are subject to cognitive biases that affect their decision-making. While consumer manipulation is not a new phenomenon, the digitalization of the economy has amplified its scale and complexity. This analysis will address three key dimensions:
1. Consumer Decision-Making and Data Awareness We will begin by examining the challenges consumers face when making decisions in digital environments, their awareness of how personal data is used, and the economic value of that data.
2. Platform-Specific Manipulation Risks, we will differentiate the risks and forms of manipulation across four types of digital platforms: social networks, marketplaces, payment systems, and app stores. Special attention will be given to dark patterns, online choice architecture, user reviews and endorsements, and algorithmic tools that may facilitate unfair or deceptive commercial practices.
3. Regulatory Responses and Consumer Protection: The final section will focus on regulatory approaches to consumer protection. We will compare ex-ante measures—such as conformity-by-design obligations—with ex-post mechanisms, including judicial remedies available to public authorities or consumers seeking damages. This discussion will explore how the European regulatory framework addresses these issues, particularly through the interplay of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, and competition law enforcement. We will also consider the evolving role of consumer protection within the context of new digital regulations, including the Digital Markets Act, the Digital Services Act, and the Artificial Intelligence Act.
 

• Chloé Djamdji (Université Côte d’Azur, GREDEG) – PhD student 

Chloé Djamdji is a PhD candidate in Private Law at Côte d’Azur University and a member of the GREDEG 7321 UMR CNRS laboratory. Her research field covers competition law, digital law, privacy law, new technologies and regulation, with a focus on the regulation of AI in competition Law.
@: chloe.djamdji@univ-cotedazur.fr

• Constant Richard (Université Côte d'Azur, GREDEG) – PhD student

Constant RICHARD is a contractual PhD candidate in private law at Université Côte d’Azur and a member of the GREDEG 7321 UMR CNRS research laboratory.
His research focuses on algorithmic decision-making in French labor law and on the use of AI-driven algorithms by employers. He also examines the normative systems associated with algorithms and the legal challenges raised by the dematerialization of procedures in the field of labor law.
@: constant.richard@gredeg.cnrs.fr 

• Nathalie Nielson (Université Côte d’Azur, GREDEG) – Doctor in private law 

"Nathalie Nielson is a Doctor in private law at Côte d’Azur University. She defended her thesis on December 19, 2024, on the topic of abuse of dominance and monopolization in competition law facing the challenges of the Digital Economy. She has also a wide interest in international law, regarding for example International Trade Law or International Private Law. 
During her PhD, she has published articles in antitrust law, covering a wide range of subjects: mergers, sanctions, due process of law, the actuality of competition law etc. She has also attended multiple conferences such as the GREDEG PhD Workshop, a Symposium in Würzburg University and in Aix-en-Provence, the 2022 ASCOLA conference in Porto, 2023 in Athens and 2024 in Würzburg.
@: nathalie.nielson@hotmail.fr

• Christian Rusche (Ruhr University Bochum) – Doctor in Microeconomics, Professor 

Christian Rusche studied economics at the University of Magdeburg, graduating in 2010. He earned his PhD in Theoretical Microeconomics from TU Dortmund University (Technische Universität Dortmund) in 2015.
From 2016 to 2024, he worked as a Senior Economist at the German Economic Institute in Cologne, within the Research Unit for Digitalization, Competition, and Structural Change. His research during this period focused on competition in digital markets, the value and economics of data, digital platforms, and the issue of self-preferencing by such platforms. Between 2020 and 2025, he taught the course Law and Economics of Data Protection and Privacy in Europe at the College of Europe in Bruges.
Since January 2025, he has been employed at Ruhr University Bochum (RUB), specializing in the field of resource economics.
@: christian.rusche@rub.de
 

Nathalie Nielson

• Regulation (EU) 2022/1925 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 September 2022 on contestable and fair markets in the digital sector and amending Directives (EU) 2019/1937 and (EU) 2020/1828 (Digital Markets Act): L_2022265EN.01000101.xml (europa.eu)
• Crémer J., de Montjoye Y.-A. & Schweitzer H., « Competition Policy for the Digital Era », Final Report, 2019: https://ec.europa.eu/competition/publications/reports/kd0419345enn.pdf
• Deborah Healey, Abuse of dominance, Competition Law Dictionary, Concurrences, Art. N° 20101: https://www.concurrences.com/en/dictionary/abuse-of-dominant-position-en
• Conseil d’analyse économique : Plateformes numériques et pratiques anti‐concurrentielles et déloyales (2020) : https://www.cae-eco.fr/plateformes-numeriques-et-pratiques-anti-concurrentielles-et-deloyales
• Conseil d’analyse économique : https://www.cae-eco.fr/plateformes-numeriques-reguler-avant-qu-il-ne-soit-trop-tard (2020) / English version https://www.cae-eco.fr/staticfiles/pdf/cae-note60-en-2.pdf

• Akman, Pinar. "A Web of Paradoxes: Empirical Evidence on Online Platform Users and Implications for Competition and Regulation in Digital Markets." Va. L. & Bus. Rev. 16 (2021): 217.
• Büchel, J./ Rusche, C. (2021). On Gatekeepers and Structural Competition Problems, in: Intereconomics, Vol. 56, No. 4, P. 205-210.
• European Commission, Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers, Lupiáñez-Villanueva, F., Boluda, A., Bogliacino, F., et al., Behavioural study on unfair commercial practices in the digital environment : dark patterns and manipulative personalisation : final report, Publications Office of the European Union, 2022, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2838/859030
• Helberger, N., Lynskey, O., Micklitz, H. W., Rott, P., Sax, M., & Strycharz, J. (2021). EU consumer protection 2.0. Structural asymmetries in digital consumer markets. Joint Report from EUCP2. 0 Project BEUC.
• Demary, V./ Engels, B./ Rusche, C. (2020). Differentiated Treatment of Business Users by Online Platforms. Observatory on the Online Platform Economy. Analytical Paper 2. https://www.iwkoeln.de/studien/vera-demary-barbara-engels-christian-rusche-differentiated-treatment-of-business-users-by-online-platforms.html [06.07.2025].
• Podszun, R. (2022). The Digital Markets Act: What’s in it for Consumers?. Journal of European Consumer and Market Law, 11(1).
• Rusche, C./ Scheufen, M. (2018). On (Intellectual) Property and other Legal Frameworks in the Digital Economy. https://www.iwkoeln.de/studien/christian-rusche-marc-scheufen-on-intellectual-property-and-other-legal-frameworks-in-the-digital-economy.html [06.07.2025].

• Christian Rusche: On-site exam, 16/10/2025, 9h00-12h00, Campus Trotabas, room 404 - 25 % of the final grade
• Constant Richard: On-site exam, 23/10/2025, 9h00, Campus Trotabas, Passiflore room 14 - 25 % of the final grade
• Chloé Djamdji: On-site exam, 04/12/2025, 9h00, Campus Trotabas, room 404 - 25 % of the final grade
• Nathalie Nielson: Case analysis - Exam: 11/12/2025, 09h00, Campus Trotabas, room 404 - 25 % of the final grade