France

Digital, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, France, Intellectual property (IP)

(University Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas)/ /Leave a comment

Among the many investigations and decisions targeting Google worldwide, the sanction of EUR 250 million imposed by the French Competition Authority (the Autorité) on 15 March 2024 (see here) in what is now arguably the ‘saga’ of neighbouring rights, has a number of eye-catching features in several respects. Breaking news (unfolding when this post was…

Competition Law 2023, France

(Université Côte d'Azur)/ /Leave a comment

The French Competition Authority (“FCA”) is one of the most vigorous national competition authorities (“NCA”) of the European Competition Network. For instance, it opened 333 investigations between 2004 and 2022, not that far behind the 447 investigations initiated by European Commission (see the statistics here). 2023 was not an exception, with an active fight against…

Antitrust, France, Sustainability, Trade associations

(Kapellmann)/ /Leave a comment

The French competition authority, the Autorité de la Concurrence, has recently published a cartel decision (see here) which deals with a cartel of industry associations and their members with regard to product qualities and product information. The case is an important reminder to industry associations and companies of the boundaries between antitrust compliant lobbying and…

Competition Law 2022, Competition policy, Competition proceedings, France

, (Université Côte d'Azur)/ /Leave a comment

For the French Competition Authority, 2022 was a year of renewal as illustrated by the nomination of Benoit Coeuré as President of the Competition Authority to replace Isabelle De Silva and of Thibaud Vergé as Vice-President to replace Emmanuel Combe. On June 2nd, the first published speech of the President was held at the CNIL,…

Abuse of dominance, Advertising, Brand Gating, Data protection, Digital markets, European Commission, European Union, Facebook, France, Germany, Italy, Merger control, Online advertising, Online platforms, Spain, United Kingdom

(Spieker & Jaeger)/ /Leave a comment

When we earlier reported the German Facebook proceedings in terms of a legal opera [Link], this metaphor was, as I am afraid we have to admit, a little ill-fitting. As things now seem, we can observe a whole oeuvre, a whole cinematic universe, as a good number of spin-offs, sequels and side-stories centred around Facebook…

Digital markets, Digital Markets Act, France, Germany, Netherlands

(Loyens & Loeff, Netherlands) and (Loyens & Loeff)/ /Leave a comment

The draft Digital Markets Act (DMA) has been public for several months now (see a previous blog for our initial review when the draft came out) and opinions on its content continue to roll in. In brief, the DMA aims to lay down a set of rules for certain crucial platform services, so-called gatekeepers. EU…

Abuse of dominance, Advertising, Algorithms, Apple, Big data, Data protection, Digital economy, Digital Markets Act, Digital Services Act, E-commerce, European Union, Facebook, France, Google, Online advertising, Online advertising restrictions, Online platforms, Platforms

(BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation) and (University of Vienna, Austria)/ /2 Comments

Recently, Google and Apple have changed their policy for targeted online advertising. Privacy-conscious users have been switching to alternatives for years, however, completely avoiding being tracked by online tech giants is virtually impossible. Nevertheless, the online ad industry has grown tremendously in the last decade, and targeted behavioural advertising has become ubiquitous in the online…

Aviation, COVID-19, European Union, France, General Court of the European Union, State aid, Sweden

(Gleiss Lutz)/ /1 Comment

It is the same old story which we have heard many times before: Ryanair boss O’Leary is currently using strong words to complain about Corona subsidies granted to his competitors. His cursing is neither original nor surprising, but a variation on his favourite theme: Ryanair sees itself at a competitive disadvantage with other players that…

Competition Law 2020, France

, , (Gide Loyrette Nouel)/ /Leave a comment

Digital antitrust Introduction The accelerated digitalisation of the economy has brought about fundamental structural changes: the emergence of world-class platforms, which benefit from network effects and access to considerable financial resources, the rapid shift from physical distribution to online sales, the appearance of new products and services based on technological innovation, algorithms, artificial intelligence or…

Anticompetitive agreements, Competition enforcement, European Court of Justice, France, National competition authorities (NCAs), Public procurement

, (Latham & Watkins LLP)/ /1 Comment

On 25 November 2020, the French Competition Authority (FCA) announced that it was amending its decision-making practice regarding responses to calls for tenders by subsidiaries of the same group. Up until now, the FCA considered that it was unlawful for subsidiaries of the same group to submit separate tenders in the same public procurement procedure…