Suppliers and customers braced for new competition law block exemption
The European Commission has recently adopted a new exemption from breaching Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (previously Article 81 of the EC Treaty). Article 101...
View ArticleBA executives cleared for their careers to take off following collapse of...
Four British Airways executives have been cleared of dishonestly agreeing to make or implement arrangements whereby different entities would engage in prohibited cartel activity. A person convicted of...
View ArticleChips are down for DRAM cartel as they are fined €331m
Nine suppliers of Dynamic Random Access Memory chips to PC and server original equipment manufacturers have been fined a total of €331m for breaching European Union competition law. Those fines were...
View ArticlePrestressing Steel Producers fined €519m for price fixing and market-sharing...
17 producers of prestressing steel have been fined €519m by the European Commission for their involvement in a cartel in which they fixed prices and shared markets, contrary to Article 101 of the...
View ArticleEuropean Commission investigates allegations of abuse of dominant position by...
The European Commission is investigating a complaint by three of Google’s competitors that it has been abusing its dominant position, contrary to Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the...
View ArticleDirectors watch out: OFT vows to get tough with directors who should have...
The Office of Fair Trading has vowed to get tough with directors who should have know that their companies were breaking competition laws. The OFT wants to use powers under the Company Directors...
View ArticleToo wide a restriction on contractual non-compete clause between...
C assisted its clients in obtaining photocopying equipment. C put forward R as the preferred supplier for its clients. C was concerned not to get cut out of its relationship with its clients by those...
View ArticleSurvival of the fittest as one participant in animal feed cartel gets total...
Five members of an animal feed cartel have received a hefty €175m fine from the European Commission for breaching Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (formerly Article 81...
View ArticleIBM becomes latest IT giant to be investigated by European Commission over...
The European Commission is investigating whether IBM has abused its dominant position contrary to Article 102 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union (formerly Article 82 of the EC...
View Article‘Rate parity’ practice for online hotel sales under investigation for...
The Office of Fair Trading is investigating whether the practice whereby hotel chains demand that online resellers of their room bookings keep to minimum prices breaches competition law. The practice –...
View ArticleEnvelope cartel investigation signed, sealed but far from delivered
The European Commission has conducted unannounced raids on envelope manufacturers in France, Spain, Denmark and Sweden. The Commission has been suspicious that the companies involved have operated a...
View ArticleEuropean Commission closes investigation into alleged anti-competitive...
The European Commission has announced that it has closed two investigations relating to alleged breaches of European Union competition law by Apple in relation to its popular iPhone device. The first...
View ArticleOFT gives help to avoid being anti-competitive
Businesses can now turn to guidance from the Office of Fair Trading to help them to understand and comply with competition law. Two guidance documents have been produced. The first is aimed...
View ArticleGoogle investigated over allegations of abuse of dominant position in search...
Google is being investigated by the European Commission over allegations that it abused its dominant position in the search engine market, contrary to European Union competition law. The fact that...
View ArticleEuropean Commission sends clear message with €650m fine to non-EEA LCD cartel
The European Commission has sent a very clear message to businesses around the world that they can be fined huge amounts for breaching EU competition law. The European competition law regulator fined...
View ArticleECJ advised that pubs allowed to show Premier League football from foreign...
Juliane Kokott, one of the eight Advocates General to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), has given her opinion that pubs are not prohibited from showing live Premier League football from foreign...
View ArticleIt’s game over for Nintendo as it loses to Commission in anti-competitive...
The European Court of Justice has upheld a General Court ruling in favour of a European Commission fine of €168m in 2002 for a breach by Nintendo and some of its European distributors of Article 81 of...
View ArticleMicrosoft makes complaint against Google in heavyweight competition showdown
Microsoft has indicated that it intends to file a complaint with the European Commission against Google. The complaint alleges that Google has abused its dominant position in relation to the search...
View ArticleOFT issues largest ever fine for abuse of dominance – to Reckitt Benckiser...
The Office of Fair Trading has issued its largest fine for an abuse of a dominant position, contrary to the Chapter II Prohibition of the Competition Act and Article 102 of the Treaty on the...
View ArticleEuropean competition law defence needs to be supported by detailed evidence...
Nelsons supplied Bach Flower Remedies. Guna had been its distributor in Italy. Their distribution agreement had included several restrictions including a ban on Guna from advertising for orders from...
View ArticleOFT points to successful impact of first abuse of dominance fines under...
The Competition Act 1998 came into force in 2000. Under it, the Office of Fair Trading can impose large fines and declare void arrangements that are either agreements between undertakings whose object...
View ArticleUK ban on sale of foreign decoders in breach of European law, but is this the...
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has released its ruling in the case of a pub landlady in England who used a decoder card from Greece to show the Premier League football matches live. Karen Murphy...
View ArticleECJ says ban on Internet sales took selective distribution system outside of...
PFDC makes and markets cosmetics and personal care products under certain brands. It requires sales to be made in a physical space in the presence of a qualified pharmacist. The French Competition...
View ArticleChiquita plays competition law regime leniency card successfully again as...
The European Commission has fined Pacific Fruit nearly €9 million for co-ordinating prices with rival banana importer, Chiquita, over a nine month period in respect of imports into Portugal, Italy and...
View ArticleOFT investigates pharma sector patent settlement agreements
The Office of Fair Trading has announced that it is investigating patent litigation agreements relating to paroxetine. Paroxetine is a medicine used in the treatment of disorders such as depression...
View ArticleEuropean Commission investigates whether Apple’s arrangements with book...
The European Commission is investigating whether Apple’s arrangements with book publishers for the sale of e-books amount to anti-competitive agreements contrary to Article 101 of the Treaty on the...
View ArticleHigh Court issues ruling over ban on sale of foreign decoder cards – Football...
The High Court has given its ruling in relation to the use of foreign decoder cards in pubs following the guidance issued by the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Three test cases were brought by the...
View ArticleEuropean Commission opens investigation to see whether US car software...
The European Commission has opened a formal investigation to determine whether MathWorks, a US supplier of software for use in cars such as for cruise-control and ABS systems, has abused its dominant...
View ArticleEuropean Commission investigates whether Motorola refused to license...
The European Commission has opened up an investigation as to whether Motorola has abused its dominant position by allegedly refusing to fairly license its patents which were essential to other players...
View ArticleAdvocate General likes the medicine handed out to AstraZeneca by lower court...
Advocate General Mazak has recommended that the European Court of Justice follows the European Union’s lower court, the General Court, in approving the European Commission’s decision and giving a €53m...
View ArticleEuropean Commission issues statement of objections to Lundbeck and generics...
The European Commission has issued a statement of objections to Lundbeck, the Danish pharma company, and several generics companies for an alleged anti-competitive agreement in breach of Article 101 of...
View ArticleTesco loses cheesy appeal against indirect price exchange of future pricing...
Tesco v OFT, Competition Appeal Tribunal Tesco has lost its appeal (jn part) against the Office of Fair Trading’s decision to fine the supermarket giant for the indirect exchange of future pricing...
View ArticleTelefonica and Portugal Telecom fined nearly €80m for carving up the Iberian...
If anyone needed any reminders of the dangers of breaching European Union competition law, the European Commission has communicated it loud and clear with a massive fine to the two leading Iberian...
View ArticleJohnson & Johnson and Novartis receive statement of objections for alleged...
The European Commission has issued a statement of objections to Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary, Janssen-Cilag, and Novartis and its subsidiary, Sandoz. The Commission was concerned that...
View ArticleLundbeck and generics companies fined nearly €150m for “pay for delay”...
The European Commission has fined Lundbeck €94m and some generics companies €52m after the pharmaceutical suppliers had engaged in anti-competitive “pay for delay” agreements. This has been a hot issue...
View ArticleEuropean pharma industry attempt to clean up promotions and marketing...
Pharma in the European Union has come under a lot of attack recently. There have been accusations surrounding lack of transparency in clinical trial data, unfair pricing and inappropriate marketing....
View ArticleCourt of Appeal rules that refusal to supply medicines to pharmacist not...
Chemistree Homecare Ltd v Abbvie Ltd, Court of Appeal One of the hottest issues facing the pharmaceutical sector is the supply chain issues that mean that economic factors are causing an inability of...
View ArticleNo place to hide for shrimps businesses as European Commission dishes out...
Three North Sea shrimp traders were given some food for thought as the European Commission dished out fines worth €29m for illegal cartel activity that contravened Article 101 of the Treaty of the...
View ArticleEuropean Commission withdraws safe harbour from competition law breaches for...
The European Commission has proposed a change to the safe harbour that exists under competition law for agreements of minor importance. Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European...
View ArticleDistributor entitled to change name of drug to trade marked brand when...
Specialty European Pharma Ltd v Doncaster Pharmaceuticals Group Ltd, Court of Appeal M owned the trade mark REGURIN in respect of a medicine product whose active pharmaceutical ingredient contained...
View ArticleEuropean Commission issues Google with statement of objections over alleged...
The European Commission has issued Google with a statement of objections over its alleged abuse of a dominant position contrary to Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union in...
View ArticleGoogle hit with double whammy as it faces competition investigation over Android
At the same time as the European Commission issued Google with a statement of objections over its alleged abuse of a dominant position in unfairly prioritising its own shopping comparison service...
View ArticleThree EU national competition authorities obtain agreement to remove price...
The European Commission has announced that three national competition authorities have obtained an agreement from the operator of the website at Booking.com to remove price parity clauses from its...
View ArticleEuropean Commission starts competition law proceedings against Amazon for...
The European Commission has started legal proceedings against Amazon over competition law concerns surrounding the online book publisher’s contract terms which require publishers to tell Amazon about...
View ArticleCMA closes investigation into conduct of rebates and discounts by dominant...
The Competition and Markets Authority has closed its investigation of a possible abuse of a dominant position by a business in the pharmaceutical sector that had been granting rebates and discounts to...
View ArticleCMA issues warning shot to medical professionals with £500,000 competition...
The Competition and Markets Authority has issued a £500,000 to the body representing private consultant opthalmologists, in what the UK’s competition regulator says is the first time formal competition...
View ArticleEuropean Commission seals €115m fine for food packaging cartel
The European Commission has issued fines totalling €115m for anti-competitive behaviour amongst eight manufacturers and two distributors in the market for retail food packaging trays. They had...
View ArticleEuropean Commission sends message that it will come after participants in...
The European Commission has issued a finding of anti-competitive behaviour against the only two players in the European Economic Area for fuel-operated parking heaters market (ie products that heat...
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