Did Melway Publishing have a substantial degree of power in a market?
7. The principles to determine whether a firm has market power are well established and involve a linked, two-stage analysis – (1) what is the market in which the firm operates? and (2) what is the structure of that market? It is the structure of the market, particularly the firm’s market share and the height of any barriers that might make entry into the market difficult, that determines the extent to which the firm is free from competition, that is, whether it has market power. 8. Although the definition of the relevant market was disputed at first instance, Merkel J’s findings were not challenged in the Full Federal Court nor are they the subject of appeal before the High Court and so this issue is dealt with briefly here. A market is the ‘field of rivalry’ in which competitors and potential competitors operate: Queensland Co-op Milling Association Ltd & Defiance Holdings Ltd (1976) ATPR 40-012 (QCMA). To identify a firm’s competitors and potential competitors, we ask whether there
