The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in a company’s work processes is not new. AI has automated, innovated, and optimized a business’s processes and outcomes. In recent years, tech firms and consultants have been touting...more
Price discrimination under the Robinson-Patman Act (RPA) involves charging different prices to competing buyers for the same product. This was the key issue recently before the Ninth Circuit in U.S. Wholesale Outlet &...more
In late June 2023, Europe’s highest court confirmed in a hotly anticipated judgment involving leading Portuguese beer and beverage producer Super Bock Bebidas that resale price maintenance (RPM)—namely the vertical fixing of...more
While government enforcement of the Robinson-Patman Act (the Act) was all but forgotten for nearly two decades, the Federal Trade Commission (the FTC) announced a second investigation over potential price discrimination in...more
On 18 May 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a policy statement announcing its intention to combat unfair and deceptive acts related to the collection and use of consumers’ biometric information. This comes in...more
While, historically, government enforcement of the Robinson-Patman Act has been virtually non-existent, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently announced its intention to dust-off the oft-forgotten Act to encourage...more
European antitrust regulators have shown a continued focus on scrutinizing manufacturers’ engagement with their distributors. The anticompetitive practices that have attracted the highest financial penalties primarily relate...more
In a decision made public on 4 May, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (the Court) determined that an asserted conspiracy claim concerning a price maintenance dispute should proceed to trial, despite Canada’s Competition...more
On 27 January 2021, the French competition authority (Autorité de la concurrence or ADC) adopted a decision accepting commitments from the building block producer Lego France (Lego) to amend its discount policy. The ADC...more
The events of 2020 have caused many brands to re-evaluate whether they are fully utilizing the internet as a tool to reach out to consumers with many enhancing and upgrading their own brand websites. Some brands are now also...more
Two recent developments in the European competition enforcement sphere provide a warning for brands when engaging with their retailers with whom they compete and when using price monitoring tools to monitor the third party...more
It is increasingly common for brands to track the prices of their products online using electronic price monitoring tools. While the practice itself is unlikely to attract antitrust risk, as we have previously reported, in...more
The legal landscape surrounding price gouging has changed dramatically over the past several weeks and continues to do so. When COVID-19 first reached the United States, several states had yet to enact price gouging...more
As consumer goods producers emerge from “fighting the first fires” of the COVID-19 shockwave, they will need to take stock of the long-term risks facing their brand equity and go-to-market strategies over the coming months...more
The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are affecting nearly every industry around the world, creating unprecedented issues and challenges for businesses. Given these challenges, it is understandable if antitrust compliance is...more
The COVID-19 outbreak is affecting businesses in the European Union (“EU”) in many different ways. Recognizing the scale of the impact, the Commission Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition,...more
Recent years have seen a surge in enforcement activity with national and supra-national antitrust regulators investigating and fining suppliers and manufacturers for the practice of imposing fixed or minimum resale prices and...more
Only days after the announcement by the Swedish competition authority that it was launching a sector inquiry into Digital Platforms, the European Commission has published an online questionnaire seeking feedback on the...more
The Swedish Competition Authority has launched a sector inquiry into Digital Platforms.
Interested parties have until the 30th of November to submit their views. ...more
Stakeholder submissions to the European Commission (Commission) on the EU competition rules governing distribution practices reveal widespread concern that the current framework is inadequate to meet the growing e-commerce...more
In an ever-growing online retail environment, brand owners are increasingly becoming concerned with tracking their brand’s online presence and ensuring consumers' experience of their brand continues to be positive....more
Over 99 years ago, on June 2, 1919, the United States Supreme Court held in U.S. v. Colgate & Co. that the Sherman Act does not prevent a manufacturer from: 1) unilaterally announcing prices at which goods may be advertised...more
On 8 November 2018, the European Commission published a “Roadmap” inviting manufacturers and other interested market participants to provide feedback on the Vertical Agreements Block Exemption Regulation (the “Block...more
On 24 July 2018, in four separate decisions, the European Commission (“Commission”) levied fines totalling EUR 111 million on four well-known manufacturers of consumer electronic products for imposing fixed or minimum resale...more
8/8/2018
/ Anti-Monopoly ,
Australia ,
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) ,
CCA ,
China ,
Competition ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Resale Pricing ,
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
This upcoming November, the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China and the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government will co-host China’s first-ever International Import Expo (the “Expo”)....more