Two decisions this year in the United Kingdom concerning Leicester City Football Club (Leicester City) and Newcastle United Football Club (Newcastle United) show that competition law may be becoming a more prevalent part of...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
Labor Market Meets Competition Law - In a labor market where companies are competing to attract and retain talent, the rising shortage of highly-skilled employees, high mobility, and high salary demands in certain market...more
Businesses intending to undertake substantial mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions or participate in major public procurement projects in the European Union (EU) will soon need to prepare for an additional layer of...more
To date, private equity (PE) deals have seldom attracted serious scrutiny by the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and other antitrust regulators. However, this looks set to change; in particular with...more
In March 2022, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) fined the lighting products supplier, Dar Lighting Limited (Dar), £1.5 million for engaging in resale price maintenance (RPM), in breach of the UK prohibition...more
On 10 May 2022, the European Commission (the Commission) finally published the official final version of the European Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) and guidelines (Vertical Guidelines). The new rules will come...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
On 6 October 2021, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU or the Court) issued a judgment in case C-882/19 following a request for a preliminary ruling by the Court of Appeal of Barcelona (the Referring Court). ...more
Following the recent surge in consumer panic buying of fuel, the UK government announced on 27 September 2021 that it had suspended UK competition law to allow companies to share information so that fuel could continue to be...more
The announcement from twelve of Europe’s top football clubs of their plan to form a breakaway league (the so-called European 'Super League') sparked an impassioned response from many quarters. One of the threatened sanctions...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
INTRODUCTION - Behaviors such as excessive pricing and refusal to supply are often well understood to create potential issues if the company is dominant. However, under the national laws of some EU member states, such conduct...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 European Commission ("Commission") has invited manufacturers and other interested market participants to provide their input on the laws that govern how products are sold in Europe, in particular the sorts of restrictions...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)
Following the recent warning by the European Commission (“Commission”) in its Preliminary Report on the e-Commerce Sector Inquiry, the Commission has announced that it has launched a full fledged investigation into four major...more
On 28 November, the Council of the EU (‘Council’) reached an agreement (‘Common Position’) on the draft Regulation intended to ban “unjustified” geo-blocking and other discriminatory practices that prevent end user customers...more
In the lead up to “Black Friday”, one of the busiest times of the year for online sales, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched a campaign to remind online sellers of products that discussing and...more
In September, the European Commission published its much-awaited Preliminary Report in the e-Commerce Sector Inquiry, launched last May 2015. Although the primary focus of the Commission’s Inquiry is on restrictions limiting...more
The European Commission (“Commission”) this week sent a statement of objections to the International Skating Union (“ISU”) alleging that its rules, which impose severe penalties on skaters who participate in events not...more
On 7 July 2016, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that, provided that a licensee is free to terminate a licence agreement on reasonable notice, it can be obliged to pay royalties even after the patent...more
7/15/2016
/ Arbitration ,
Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ,
EU ,
European Patent Office ,
Genentech ,
IP License ,
License Agreements ,
Patents ,
Popular ,
Royalties ,
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)
On 9 June 2016, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced that it had sent a statement of objections to Ping Europe Limited, a golf equipment manufacturer, alleging that Ping had breached EU and UK...more