Introduction The MTB/Heineken case concerns the question of whether a claimant in EU antitrust follow-on damages proceedings can use a parent company that is not addressed in an authority’s fining decision as an anchor defendant for jurisdiction under the Brussels Ibis Regulation. The Dutch Supreme Court intends to refer preliminary questions on this topic to…
Introduction In line with the global trend, the Turkish Competition Authority (TCA) has recently displayed a remarkable level of interest in addressing competition concerns in digital markets. Maybe being one of the months where the output of the TCA has peeked its highest, in April 2023 the TCA announced (i) the publication of the Preliminary…
In a policy paper on “Smarter Regulation to Grow the Economy”, the UK government has announced proposals to limit the duration of non-compete clauses in employment contracts to three months. This proposal reflects the growing concern worldwide concerning the use of non-competes. Earlier this year, the FTC in the US took even more extreme action…
In 2022, the activities of the Polish Competition Authority (Urząd Ochrony Konkurencji i Konsumentów, hereinafter: UOKIK), and thus the developments in competition law in Poland, were affected by the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the war in Ukraine and the following energy crisis. Moving ahead with the times, the UOKIK undertook various…
Network effects could drive concentration among crypto exchanges Competition can take many forms. Some markets sustain a large number of firms operating and growing in parallel. In other markets, the competitive process leads to all (or almost all) rivals being eliminated, save for one or a small number of survivors. This latter case has come…
Advocate General Anthony Michael Collins has proposed that the European Court of Justice upheld the General Court’s Altice judgment. In his Opinion, he considered that entering into certain types of pre-closing covenants by an acquirer may constitute gun-jumping, regardless of the absence of the transfer of shares. AG Collins emphasised the importance of deterrence when…
On 27 April, about a month after an unofficial leaked version, the European Commission published the highly-contentious Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) Regulation Proposal. The Proposal aims to facilitate SEP licensing by increasing transparency over SEPs, reducing information asymmetries between SEP licensors and implementers and facilitating the agreement on Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (‘FRAND’) licenses. Such…
Crypto exchanges operate in a dynamic, fast-paced environment in which the contours of competition are still evolving. However, the main parameters of competition among crypto exchanges, their economic characteristics, and current market data suggest that the sector may concentrate in the coming years. Crypto exchanges will soon attract attention from antitrust agencies, driven by an…
On 20 April 2023 the EU Commission adopted a new legislative package aimed at simplifying its procedures for reviewing transactions under EU merger control rules. Under the new rules the Commission seeks to assess more cases under the simplified procedure and reduce overall reporting requirements by 25%. The new…
Microsoft has said it will appeal a decision by the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to block its proposed acquisition of video games developer and publisher Activision Blizzard. Activision is the company behind a number of popular game series, including ‘Call of Duty’. Microsoft agreed a deal to acquire Activision for $68.7 billion in…
