The ECJ’s recent preliminary ruling in C-211/22 - Super Bock Bebidas (“Super Bock”) is significant for businesses and competition authorities. It is well-established that categorisation of conduct as a ‘by object’...more
On 10 May 2022, the European Commission adopted new EU competition rules for vertical distribution agreements that entered into force on 1 June 2022, bringing important amendments to the current rules by partly narrowing the...more
On 1 June 2022, the European Commission’s revised Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (“VBER”) and the accompanying Guidelines on Vertical Restraints entered into force. Adding to our article on the highly controversial issue...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
The Ruling: On December 6, 2017, the Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU") issued its long-awaited judgment in the Coty case, which clarifies the extent to which an online platform ban within a selective...more
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has handed down its much-anticipated judgment in Case C-230/16 Coty Germany GmbH v Parfümerie Akzente GmbH (Coty). The case concerns the legality of a prohibition of sales on...more
The Ruling: On October 4, 2017, the Amsterdam District Court upheld Nike's ban on authorized distributors selling Nike products on the online platforms of unauthorized resellers. The Result: Under this Dutch ruling, a...more
On 14 June 2017, the EU Commission announced that it was opening an investigation into Sanrio, owner of the Hello Kitty brand. Sanrio have been accused by the Commission of an infringement of Article 101 TFEU, the prohibition...more
On 18 July 2016, Germany moved another step closer to enshrining a right for distributors in selective distribution systems to sell over online marketplaces. This is not sudden move by the German courts, in fact we have...more