Just in time for the Hanover Trade Fair, the "Law" working group of the Industry 4.0 platform has published its Industry 4.0 – Antitrust Considerations ( PDF-Download ) paper. The paper's authors examine German and European antitrust law issues arising from the digital networking of cooperating companies – including with their (potential) competitors. Among other things, its five chapters address the following questions: Who is allowed to cooperate with whom and un-der what conditions? Where is data ownership associated with market power, and as of which point can this result in misuse? Who is responsible for the antitrust-related behavior of auton-omous systems with artificial intelligence?

Each chapter is clearly subdivided into three parts. Part A covers the relevant questions and fields of action. Part B discusses judicial assessments and thematic complexes. Finally, part C presents possible courses of action for the legislator regarding each topic and provides specific recommendations for action. The individual chapters are accompanied by so-called topic spon-sors from science, law firms, industry and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy , which also acts as the publication's editor.