The European Commission (EC) has launched a formal investigation under its abuse of dominance rules into US life sciences company Zoetis in the area of novel veterinary medicines. The EC alleges that the discontinuation of a...more
On 16 March 2023, the ECJ published its judgment in Towercast (C-449/21), confirming that Article 102 TFEU (which prohibits abuses of a dominant market position) may apply to transactions which fall below national and EU...more
On March 16, in a preliminary ruling requested by the Paris Court of Appeal regarding Towercast’s appeal of the French Competition Authority’s decision in the TDF case, the Court of Justice of the European Union decided ...more
The long-awaited European Court of Justice's judgment in Towercast confirmed that national competition authorities (and national courts) can apply abuse of dominance rules to mergers that did not trigger EU and national...more
In our super-connected age, we are inundated with information. It can be difficult to select what is really relevant to one’s business. The purpose of this Review is to provide legal counsel and their teams easy...more
The ruling is also a reminder of the circumstances in which the court may order indemnity costs for such failures. On 29 July 2022, the UK High Court ruled in Cabo Concepts Limited v. MGA Entertainment (UK) Limited that...more
On July 29, 2020, the German Monopolies Commission published its 2020 biennial Report on Competition (Hauptgutachten XXIII: Wettbewerb 2020) under Section 44(1) Act against Restraints of Competition (“GWB”). ...more
The ruling may point to a trend that English courts are ever more willing to intervene in managing confidentiality rings. In Infederation Limited v Google LLC and others the English High Court considered the extent to...more
The European Court of Justice's ruling in Paroxetine, handed down in record time just before Brexit, confirms the narrow interpretation of restrictions by object given in other recent cases. It also clarified certain issues...more
McDermott’s Annual European Competition Review summarizes key developments in European competition rules. During the previous year, several new regulations, notices and guidelines were issued by the European Commission. There...more
For a second time in 18 months the EU Commission has slapped a large antitrust fine on Qualcomm, the world’s largest chip manufacturer. On 18 July 2019, the European Commission announced that it has imposed a fine of EUR 242...more
On 14 March 2019, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) decided to close its investigation into a discount scheme by Merck Sharp & Dohme Limited (MSD). The CMA concluded that there were no grounds for it to take...more
The UK may leave the EU on 29 March 2019 without a transition period or agreed arrangements on the terms of its exit. There are multiple implications: - Businesses subject to an ongoing EU antitrust investigation on the...more
On 12 December 2018, the General Court (“Court”) partially annulled the European Commission’s decision of 9 July 2014 in the Servier case and consequently reduced Servier’s fine by more than 30%, from €330.99 million to...more
On 28 June 2018, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced that it has applied to the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) for permission to appeal against the CAT’s judgment on appeals by Pfizer and Flynn against...more
On 7 June 2017, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (“CAT”) set aside parts of the Competition & Market Authority’s (“CMA”) decision in relation to the CMA’s finding that Pfizer and Flynn charged excessive and unfair prices for...more
The Situation: The Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU") has provided guidance in assessing the validity of discriminatory pricing practices under EU competition law. The Result: The CJEU followed its recent...more
The Court of Justice of the EU has confirmed that price discrimination by a dominant firm is not in itself illegal under competition law. However, it will infringe Article 102 TFEU if it is capable of distorting competition...more
The European Commission (EC) and other national competition authorities (NCAs) have traditionally shied away from investigating allegations of excessive pricing and appearing as price regulators. Commissioner Vestager warned...more
Large online platforms such as Amazon, Facebook and Google have a strong presence in Europe. Although general competition law principles apply to them, cases concerning online platforms give rise to a lot of novel questions...more
We reported in January 2017 on how a Portuguese Court has asked the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) to provide guidance on when “discriminatory pricing applied to equivalent transactions” amounts to an abuse...more
The Ruling: A recent European General Court decision provided valuable guidance on applying abuse of dominance rules (Article 102 TFEU) in the context of software products and provided some welcome clarifications regarding...more
The Background: In September 2017, the European Court of Justice (Case C-413/14 P) reversed the ruling of the General Court, which had upheld the European Commission's €1.06 billion fine on Intel for abusing its dominant...more
On September 6, 2017, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) quashed the 2014 judgment of the General Court (GC) that upheld a fine of €1.06 billion ($1.5 billion) on Intel Corporation Inc. (Intel) for abusing a...more
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has quashed a ruling by the EU’s General Court which had upheld the European Commission’s (EC) 2009 finding of abuse of dominance by Intel Corporation Inc. Intel was fined...more