Landmark Cases In Competition Law

It is the thesis of this fascinating and highly instructive book on competition law that an examination of one landmark case, scenario, or 'saga' each from a range of legal systems leads to a thorough understanding of the issues informing and arising from competition policy, law, and legal practice. To that end, leading scholars from 14 jurisdictions enhance their academic authority and rigour with an element of panache to describe a particularly salient case in each of their countries, commenting in depth on the contribution of the case to the development of their particular competition law culture and to the case’s enduring significance for competition law and its enforcement from a global perspective. There are chapters for each of thirteen countries as well as the European Union, preceded by an informative and thoughtful introduction. For each landmark case selected, the legislative background, the case facts, and the legal ruling and reasoning are all minutely described, along with commentary, critique, and assessment of the case’s impact and contemporary significance. The cases cover vast swathes of the competition law territory in terms of substance and procedure, dealing with cartels, abuse of dominance, mergers, and vertical restraints, and involving diverse forms of public and private enforcement processes. Aspects covered include the following: the public interest test; bid-rigging in public procurement; the entitlement of dominant companies to compete on a level footing with other companies; the hard-to-draw line between legitimate competition and unlawful monopolizing conduct; the dangers of eclectic borrowing in the development and interpretation of competition law rules; horizontal price-fixing collusion ‘hub and spoke’ cartels; resale price maintenance agreements and the U.S. ‘rule of reason’; the increasing use of private enforcement and the right for victims of a competition law infringement to seek compensation; merger control in energy markets and the political use of merger review rules to benefit domestic firms; cooperation with criminal enforcement agencies and prosecutors; the role courts play in undertaking adequate legal supervision of competition authorities; leniency processes and obtaining access to ‘confidential’ whistleblowing documentation; imposition of administrative fines and other deterrence-based sanctions; and how the ‘consumer welfare’ standard is interpreted. More than a set of landmark case descriptions, this book, in which many chapters reflect upon recent and consider further future significant reforms, demonstrates that competition law and its enforcement processes form part of a chronological narrative, and that it is important to understand the broader legal, social, and economic context within which competition law and policy develop. This wider perspective will prove immeasurably valuable to the many practitioners, business people, jurists, and policy makers engaged in the shaping of competition law in any jurisdiction, and will moreover be essential reading for postgraduate students studying any aspects of comparative competition law enforcement.

This book aims at providing the Legal Masters student throughout Europe's universities with a thorough selection of case law that would be of direct help when studying the subject for the first time. The primary criterion for selection has been whether a particular case has contributed to the development of one of the doctrines or notions that are so important to the understanding of EU competition law. All cases and decisions have been incorporated with their key recitals and texts only, so as to make the amount of text digestible in the context of an introductory course in EU competition law. Furthermore. for each case there is the mention of its relevance within the legal system and each case is accompamed with a short summary of its facts and circumstances. The sequence of cases follows the logic order in which EU competition law may or. in the author's view, should be taught. Wherever of practical use to the reader, cross-references are being made, be these of a general --

"This book aims at providing the Legal Masters student throughout Europe's universities with a thorough selection of case law that would be of direct help when studying the subject for the first time. The primary criterion for selection has been whether a particular case has contributed to the development of one of the doctrines or notions that are so important to the understanding of EC competition law. All cases and decisions have been incorporated with their key recitals and texts only, so as to make the amount of text digestible in the context of an introductory course in EC competition law. Furthermore, for each case there is the mention of its relevance within the legal system and each case is accompanied with a short summary of its facts and circumstances. The book also provides the young legal practitioner or in-house counsel with background information in this important field of the law." --Book Jacket.

‘Digital competition’, a term and concept that has risen to the forefront of competition law, may be viewed as both promising and cautionary: on the one hand, it brings the promises of increased speed, efficiency and objectivity, and, on the other, it entails potential pitfalls such as hard-to-identify pathways to unfair pricing, dominant positions and their potential abuse, restriction of choice and abuse of personal data. Accordingly, jurisdictions around the world are taking measures to deal with the phenomenon. In this concise but thoroughly researched book – both informative and practical – lawyers from two prominent firms with specialised digital competition teams take stock and examine the state of digital competition in the enforcement practices of six competition authorities in Europe, most of these forerunners in the field of digital competition policy and enforcement. The competition authorities surveyed are those of the European Union, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. For each, an overview, spanning the period from 2012 to mid-2022 but including as many landmark cases as possible up to and including December 2022, includes not only landmark cases in which digital technologies have had a significant impact on the competition law outcome but also guidance documents such as speeches, policy statements, industry surveys and research reports. Activities and enforcement practices of the various authorities include the following and more: degree of activity; focus of the activity; enforcement styles; enforcement instruments; visible effectiveness of enforcement; and important insights and outlooks. Each overview contains separate chapters on cartel prohibition, the prohibition of abuse of a dominant position and merger control. Additional chapters – partially written by guest authors (who are all without a doubt true thought leaders: Tristan Byrne, Giuseppe Colangelo, Ai Deng, Teodora Groza, Daniel Mândrescu, Wolf Sauter, Thibault Schrépel, and Gareth Shier) – evaluate the similarities and differences in the enforcement practices and the positive and negative effects of digital competition in the jurisdictions investigated, the economic context, the most important game changers, and a concluding chapter offers recommendations. An indispensable guide to quickly and accessibly acquiring in-depth knowledge of competition law in the digital sector, this matchless volume is a must-read for any practitioner or academic who encounters competition law related to digital markets. The dilemmas and challenges of the new competition law reality – which is here already, like it or not – are clearly explained here for the benefit of regulators, academics, policymakers, judges, in-house counsel and lawyers specialising in competition law and intellectual property law.

In recent years, there has been a decentralisation of the enforcement of the EU competition law provisions, Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). Consequently, the national application of these provisions has become increasingly more common across the European Union. This national application poses various challenges for those concerned about the consistent application of EU competition law. This edited collection provides an in-depth analysis of the most important limitations of, and the challenges concerning, the applicability of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU at national level. Divided into five parts, the book starts out by examining how the consistent enforcement of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU operates as a general EU competition policy. It then discusses several recent landmark cases of the European Court of Justice on Articles 101 and 102 TFEU, before proceeding to analyse certain additional, unique jurisdictional challenges to the uniform application of the EU competition law provisions. Subsequently, it focuses on one of the most important instruments that can help to achieve the uniform application of EU competition law in cases handled by the national courts: preliminary rulings. Finally, it provides selective examples of how Articles 101 and 102 TFEU are effectively applied at national level, thereby providing additional input into how problematic the issue of consistent application of EU competition law is in practice.

This is a book dedicated to the significance and legacy of landmark cases in the field of intellectual property. Eleven well-known scholars offer in-depth commentary and analysis of cases that have made an impact on legal theory or critical thinking about the scope and purpose of the protection of intellectual and industrial creativity. All the cases covered have proven useful in developing doctrine, even though subsequent developments have made some appear and‘misleadingand’ rather than and‘leadingand’, and for some recent cases it is too early to say whether their approach will become mainstream. Among the fundamental questions and– all profoundly interesting, and to which no definite answers have yet been found and– arising in the course of the analysis are the following: and• Who should be master over the reputation, esteem and legacy of authors and their works and– authors and their heirs, or subsequent copyright owners? and• What, if any, protection should be granted to achievements in the absence of confusion? and• Should prevention of unfair competition allow one to and‘reap what one has not sownand’? and• Should we protect commercial investment beyond the scope of defined intellectual property rights? and• Should it be considered a tort to use a well-known mark in a way that may dilute its repute and distinctive character? and• What kinds of monopolies should be protected, if any? and• Does the patent system in its current form allow us to question the assumption that technological progress is good per se, and that novel and inventive solutions should thus be protected? and• Should extraneous considerations such as public good and social usefulness be considered at the stages of grant and enforcement of patent rights? and• Should we grant patents over living organisms whose workings and reproduction are a long way from being completely understood? and• Should the rules developed for the enforcement of property rights limit a patenteeand’s remedies to appropriate damages, thereby effectively granting a compulsory licence? The book concludes with an analysis of two case clusters remarkable for the worldwide dimension of the dispute. The authors show how litigation over Lego in about 30 jurisdictions and Budweiser in over 40 jurisdictions has enriched doctrine on such issues as contract, trade marks, trade names, geographical indications, property rights in general, human rights, and various international and bilateral treaties, all as they impinge on the protection of intellectual property rights. For scholars in the field, as well as for lawyers seeking a rich vein of doctrine to buttress a case, this unusual book will be of incomparable value. As a masterful clarification of salient doctrine, it represents a major contribution to the legal theory underpinning intellectual property law.

Developments in competition law continue to be a critical aspect of the Canadian legal landscape for any business that operates in Canada. This annual publication annotates each substantive provision of the Competition Act , with synopsis of key applicable cases and expert analysis and insights of Brian A. Facey and Cassandra Brown, both Partners with the Competition, Antitrust Foreign Investment group at Blake, Cassels Graydon LLP. Along with a detailed Year-In-Review in the Preface, this annual publication also contains the full text of the Act and related legislation and key Competition Bureau Guidelines, making it a valuable resource for corporate counsel, legal practitioners in private practice and business executives. Features and Benefits Preface - Keep abreast of latest legislative and jurisprudential developments, Competition Tribunal initiatives and major merger activities Annotations of every substantive Competition Act provision - Benefit from expert interpretation of key provisions, terms and landmark cases Extensive commentary - Understand principles, evolution and practices of competition law Full text of legislation and key practice materials - Have ready access to the full text of up-to-date legislation and key practice materials Highlights of 2020 Edition Discussion of recent practice issues such as: Joint dominance changes in practice arising from the recently issued Competition Bureau bulletin "Requests for information from private parties in proceedings under section 36 of the Competition Act " Discussion of recent key court and Competition Bureau's decisions such as: Pioneer Corp. v. Godfrey, 2019 SCC 42 (defendants' liability for umbrella pricing effects) The Commissioner of Competition v. Hudson's Bay Company (misleading representations) Intellectual Property Enforcement Guidelines (issued March 13, 2019) Abuse of Dominance Enforcement Guidelines (issued March 7, 2019) Who Should Buy Corporate/commercial lawyers advising on mergers and the running of a business, including pricing, advertising and marketing practices In-house counsel who need to advise on the legal boundaries of trade practices, both in Canada and internationally Business executives who monitor the pricing, advertising and marketing practices of the corporation An Essential Resource When it comes to advising on advertising and trade practices, or ensuring compliance with competition legislation, regulations and guidelines, make sure you have this reference at hand!

China's rise as an economic superpower has caused growing anxieties in the West. Europe is now applying stricter scrutiny over takeovers by Chinese state-owned giants, while the United States is imposing aggressive sanctions on leading Chinese technology firms such as Huawei, TikTok, and WeChat. Given the escalating geopolitical tensions between China and the West, are there any hopeful prospects for economic globalization? In her compelling new book Chinese Antitrust Exceptionalism, Angela Zhang examines the most important and least understood tactic that China can deploy to counter western sanctions: antitrust law. Zhang reveals how China has transformed antitrust law into a powerful economic weapon, supplying theory and case studies to explain its strategic application over the course of the Sino-US tech war. Zhang also exposes the vast administrative discretion possessed by the Chinese government, showing how agencies can leverage the media to push forward aggressive enforcement. She further dives into the bureaucratic politics that spurred China's antitrust regulation, providing an incisive analysis of how divergent missions, cultures, and structures of agencies have shaped regulatory outcomes. More than a legal analysis, Zhang offers a political and economic study of our contemporary moment. She demonstrates that Chinese exceptionalism-as manifested in the way China regulates and is regulated, is reshaping global regulation and that future cooperation relies on the West comprehending Chinese idiosyncrasies and China achieving greater transparency through integration with its Western rivals.

European Commission Decisions on Competition provides a comprehensive economic classification and analysis of all European Commission decisions adopted pursuant to Articles 101, 102 and 106 of the FEU Treaty from 1962 to 2009. It also includes a sample of landmark European merger cases. The decisions are organised according to the principal economic theory applied in the case. For each economic category, the seminal Commission decision that became a reference point for that type of anticompetitive behaviour is described. For this, a fixed template format is used throughout the book. All subsequent decisions in which the same economic principle was applied are listed chronologically. It complements the most widely used textbooks in industrial organisation, competition economics and competition law, to which detailed references are offered. The book contains source material for teachers and students, scholars of competition law and economics, as well as practising competition lawyers and officials.

Although competition law and intellectual property are often interwoven, until this book there has been little guidance on how they work together in practice. As the intersection between the two fields continues to grow worldwide, both in case law and in regulation, the book's markets-based approach, focusing on sectors such as pharmaceuticals, IT, telecoms, energy and agriculture in eleven of the world's most active jurisdictions, provides a much-needed in-depth understanding of how this interplay reveals itself among the different legal systems. Written by a range of authors including judges, regulators, academics, economists and practitioners in both fields, the book provides an international comparative perspective as well as detailed analysis of specific cases, policies and proposals for change. Among the issues and topics covered are the following: – free movement of goods and the protection of intellectual property rights; – standard essential patents & injunction in patent cases; – intellectual property rights between technological development and consumer protection; – geo-blocking; – online platforms and antitrust; – excessive prices. In this context, special attention is paid throughout to the increasing dialogue among Competition Authorities and between Judges and Competition Authorities around the world. As matchless remedy for the lack of uniformity heretofore, the book's investigation of the nexus between competition law and intellectual property in different sectors and in various countries takes a giant step towards a more-balanced approach and more-levelled regulation and practices. It will be warmly appreciated by policy makers, decision makers, regulators, practitioners and academics in both competition law and intellectual property fields