The European Commission Opens Investigation into an Allegedly Anticompetitive Agreement Between Two Global Tech Companies Active in Online Display Advertising Services - On 11 March 2022, the European Commission (Commission)...more
The European Commission has invited interested parties to comment on the revised competition rules applicable to vertical arrangements under the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation and the Vertical Guidelines. It comes as no...more
The European Commission (EC) has published a draft revised Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) and Vertical Guidelines (the Guidelines) for public consultation. The draft revised VBER and Guidelines are an important...more
The e-commerce sector inquiry and inconsistent national case law and enforcement practice have illustrated the need for clarifications and/or reform regarding e-commerce restrictions. Even after the ECJ's Coty judgment, a...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
The European Commission (the “Commission”) issued four separate decisions on 24 July 2018, fining consumer electronics manufacturers Asus, Denon & Marantz, Philips and Pioneer a total of €111 million for imposing fixed or...more
The increasing importance of the internet has caused EU and US antitrust regulators to look closely at a range of trading policies including restrictions on internet sales, geo-blocking, use of on line platforms, MFN clauses...more
Lights Back On: Territorial Limits in EU Cartel Damages Claims - The Court of Appeal has ruled that iiyama's 1bn EUR cartel damages claims, against the participants of the cathode ray tube ("CRT") market and liquid...more
The growth of e-commerce and the resulting increase in price transparency and price competition have a significant impact on companies’ distribution strategies and consumer behavior. While the emergence of e-commerce has the...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
In what is being hailed as landmark case in distribution law, the Court of Justice of the European Union (the ‘CJEU’) on 6 December 2017 gave a judgment confirming that luxury goods suppliers can ban sales through online...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
The final report indicates future enforcement trends related to vertical restraints, pricing and big data. On 10 May 2017, the European Commission (Commission) published its final report on the E-commerce Sector Inquiry...more
Portugal Asks European Court to Determine the Criteria Required for Discriminatory Pricing to Be an Abuse Under Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union - Portuguese Court has asked the...more
On 2 February 2017, the EU Commission simultaneously launched three investigations into the e-commerce sector. What is significant about this latest development is that it shows that e-commerce is a clear priority area in...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
BREXIT – THE NEXT STEPS - Despite the UK’s vote to leave the European Union, companies doing business in the UK can still continue to trade with the European Union in exactly the same way as they have done in the past –...more
The Commission’s proposals aim to drive cross-border e-commerce in the EU and level the regulatory field across audiovisual media services and online platforms. On 25 May 2016 the European Commission (Commission)...more
A company that helps with or facilitates a cartel is at just as much risk of sanctions and penalties as are the actual cartelists. This was confirmed by the EU’s highest court (the European Court of Justice (ECJ)) on 22...more