With summer kicking in, it may be tempting to enjoy a Portuguese beer and relax far from competition law. Instead, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) choses to recall the basics of resale price maintenance (“RPM”) and...more
The European Commission published the new Vertical Block Exemption Regulation and related guidelines on May 10, 2022. The purpose of the block exemption is to generally exempt agreements between market players at different...more
ANTITRUST AND COMPETITION - The French Competition Authority (FCA) Fined a Watchmaker for Obstruction of an Antitrust Investigation - On 9 July 2021, the FCA fined a watchmaker for failing to respond to a request for...more
The European Commission has taken a significant step toward the revision of the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) and the Vertical Guidelines. With its evaluation phase ending, the Commission has recently presented...more
Part 1: Expected Policy Changes in a Rapidly Changing World – and What this Means for Business - The European Commission has taken a significant step towards the revision of the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER)...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
EU, UK Competition, State Aid and Public Procurement Law During COVID-19 - While not the most important concern, it should be appreciated that antitrust/competition law, plus the state aid and public procurement rules,...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
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
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
Antitrust enforcement agencies in the U.S. and Europe were once again busy in 2018, particularly in the area of merger review. In the U.S., despite new leadership at both the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade...more
On 24 July 2018, the European Commission announced that it had fined four consumer electronics manufacturers – Asus, Denon & Marantz, Philips and Pioneer – a total of €111 million (c.$126 million) for imposing fixed or...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
Early attention to the antitrust considerations of a given transaction can go a long way towards promoting the chances of timely or even early clearance of a transaction. As an initial matter, parties should focus their...more
French cosmetics company Caudalie had previously made headlines in a case decided on February 2nd 2016. In that case, Caudalie had applied for an injunction against an online marketplace to compel it to cease selling Caudalie...more
In both the U.S. and the EU, it is generally acknowledged that the enforcement and commercialization of IP rights must comply with the applicable antitrust laws. This is particularly true for IP licensing. While the majority...more
More EU Investigations Into Licensing and Distribution Practices - During June 2017, the European Commission launched yet more competition law investigations into licensing and distribution practices in the EU. The four...more
European Commission Investigates Online Sales Practices - On 2 February 2017, the European Commission (EC) announced three separate investigations into online sales practices in the EU. It will assess whether various...more
FTC takes another look at merger remedies - On 3 February 2017, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) released its Merger Remedies Study, which analyzed the success of merger remedies imposed by the FTC from 2006 to...more