Study On The Qualification Of Plaintiff In Anti-monopoly Civil Action

In order to solve the problem of which subjects can be qualified as plaintiffs in civil antitrust lawsuits in our country to bring antitrust civil lawsuits,especially with regard to the qualifications of indirect purchasers as plaintiffs and whether the defendants are allowed to transfer defenses,this article adopts an empirical analysis,Sorted out the 560 anti-monopoly civil litigation cases that were publicly available on the Chinese Judgment Documents website from the implementation of the Anti-Monopoly Law on August 1,2008 to April 1,2021,and focused on the plaintiffs among them.The question of qualification.The study found that my country’s current anti-monopoly civil litigation is mainly based on the "direct interest" standard and damage standard stipulated in Article 119 of the Civil Procedure Law in determining whether a private entity has the qualifications of a plaintiff.This use of general standards in the field of civil procedure law to stipulate that the plaintiff’s eligibility in the field of anti-monopoly civil litigation has severely restricted the litigation by private entities in the market economy environment.Specific to the type of litigation subject,it is more difficult to determine whether the indirect purchaser is qualified as a plaintiff.In the case of Tian Junwei v.Abbott and Beijing Carrefour,the court determined that indirect purchasers have the right to file a lawsuit as consumers whose interests have been infringed,mainly from the perspective of the objectives and functions of antitrust civil litigation.Protecting the interests of consumers is one of the value goals pursued by my country’s AntiMonopoly Law.However,in the "Qualcomm Monopoly Case" filed by consumers(indirect purchasers),the qualifications of the majority of consumers who purchased mobile phones equipped with Qualcomm chips have not been confirmed.Different judgments in different cases lead to a lack of guidance in the law.In the process of investigating the qualifications of the plaintiffs of indirect purchasers,it can be seen from the development of the adjudication of the US Apple monopoly from 2011 to 2019 that in the era of the Internet economy,the qualifications of the plaintiffs of indirect purchasers are higher than that of traditional vertical distribution.It is more difficult to identify under the model.The U.S.District Court and the Ninth Circuit have different opinions on whether the four i Phone owners who filed a lawsuit are qualified as plaintiffs.Even in the Federal Supreme Court,there have been completely different opinions between the two parties.However,most people believe that the four i Phone owners who filed the lawsuit are qualified as plaintiffs as direct purchasers.After eight years,the problem concerning the qualification of the plaintiff was finally resolved,and the trial proceeded to the next step.It can also be seen that the determination of the qualification of the plaintiff is a threshold element for the beginning of the litigation procedure,and is related to the dynamic development of the entire litigation procedure.The United States has established a compulsory triple damage compensation standard in the field of antitrust civil litigation,and has established a class action mechanism to protect the interests of the majority of vulnerable groups.In addition to the United States,the European Union,Japan and other countries have also formulated regulations on indirect purchaser rules,transfer of defense theory,and collective litigation mechanisms.It has become an international trend to protect the interests of consumers whose interests have been infringed.It is only when applying specific systems that countries must integrate their own national conditions.In our country,when the market economy is not yet mature and the antimonopoly civil litigation system started relatively late,there is a long way to go to improve the plaintiff qualification system in anti-monopoly civil litigation.It is necessary to clarify the value and function of anti-monopoly civil litigation,and when stipulating all systems,we must use this as a prerequisite,adhere to the combination of strict and lenient,and the combination of principles and exceptions under special circumstances.The qualification of indirect purchasers as plaintiffs Adequate attention should be paid to the research on the theory of transfer and defense.