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Tying Practices
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Prof. Dr. H. Ercument Erdem
Introduction
In general, tying practices indicate the cases in which the sale of a
product is tied to the sale of another product. The first product demand-
ed by the buyer is defined as the ‘tying product,’ and the product pur-
chased together with the tying product is called the ‘tied product.’
There can be a variety of motivations prompting undertakings to per-
form tying. The intention to increase the sale of less appealing prod-
ucts is an example of such motivations.
Tying practices do not always create anticompetitive results.
Undertakings usually choose to perform tying in an attempt to serve
higher quality products to their customers and to reduce the costs. The
anticompetitive outcomes of such practices that are frequently
observed in business life occurs when evaluated within the scope of the
fourth article of the Law on Protection of Competition (“LPC”) gov-
erning agreements restricting competition, and the sixth article regu-
lating abuse of dominant position. Within this context, the anticompet-
itive impacts of tying practices, such as exclusion of competitors, fore-
closure of the market, restriction of entry to the market, and endamag-
ing of buyers, may lead to competitive concerns.
Types of Tying
In business life, tying practices may be performed in numerous
forms. Such types may be exemplified as contractual tying, requiring a
buyer to exclusively purchase the tied product from the specific under-
taking, tying via refusal to supply, technical tying in which the tied
product is physically integrated into the tying product, and bundling
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COMPETITION LAW
133
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Article of September 2015
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Whish, Bailey
, Competition Law, Oxford, 689.