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TCH Files Amicus in Ohio, et al. v. American Express

The Clearing House (TCH) filed an amicus brief in support of American Express in Ohio, et al. v. American Express with the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court granted certiorari to decide whether, in considering antitrust claims in a two-sided market under the rule of reason, a plaintiff can prove anticompetitive effects by showing that price competition was stifled on only one side of a two-sided market platform, such as that operated by American Express, in which merchants operate on one side of the platform and cardholders operate on the other. 

TCH’s brief emphasizes the importance of requiring plaintiffs to demonstrate net competitive harm, taking into account both sides of a two-sided market, so as not to reduce competitive and consumer benefits provided by the two-sided market in its entirety. TCH’s brief also notes that requiring a plaintiff to establish in the first instance anticompetitive effects in connection with the entire product could limit claims directed to the operation of all networks in which banks participate.