Today, in four separate decisions, the European Commission (EC) fined consumer electronics manufacturers Asus, Denon & Marantz, Philips and Pioneer €111 million for imposing fixed or minimum resale prices on their online retailers, as well as limiting the ability of retailers to sell cross-border (see press release here).

The topic of vertical restraints is admittedly not new – quite the opposite, in fact. However, today’s decisions are highly relevant for businesses engaging into e-commerce, as they are the first ones to take stock of the EC’s findings in the recent e-commerce sector inquiry, in particular as far as pricing algorithms and monitoring softwares are concerned.Continue Reading Resale Price Maintenance, Pricing Algorithms and Monitoring Software: a Recipe for Disaster

Steptoe’s EU Competition team held a webinar on May 31, covering the opportunities and antitrust risks associated with bypassing distributors to sell directly to customers in Europe. In particular, we discussed the growing trend of going “direct”, how to identify the related antitrust risks, and how to strike the right balance between direct and

On February 16, 2018, the UK Court of Appeal adopted its much awaited ruling in the iiyama case. Taking stock of the Court of Justice (CoJ) ruling in Intel last year, the Court of Appeal allows plaintiffs in civil cartel damages actions to advance claims based on overcharges incurred by their supply chain operations outside

A few days after the Coty judgment,[1] the German Federal Court of Justice[2] (Bundesgerichtshof or BGH) upheld the decision of the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf in the Asics case,[3] confirming that Asics, the sport shoes manufacturer, may not prevent its selective distributors from cooperating with price comparison engines to promote the Asics branded products.
Continue Reading I Want to “Run” Free: Authorized Dealers Cannot Be Prevented from Using Price Comparison Websites

Following an inquiry in July 2017, the House of Lords’ European Union Committee published on February 2, 2018, a report titled – ‘Brexit: competition and State aid’ – on the future of the UK’s competition law regime after Brexit.

The House of Lords report provides a detailed account of the most pressing issues that the UK’s competition law regime is facing ahead of Brexit. It also shows the high levels of uncertainty that businesses operating between the EU and the UK face.

This uncertainty suggests that businesses should – at least for now – adopt a cautious approach, for example, when formulating their distribution and acquisition strategies in the UK.

Whatever the statutory changes to the UK’s competition law regime after Brexit are, EU law will still remain an important factor to consider when taking business decisions, especially because of the geographical proximity and close trading relationships between the UK and the EU. This means that going forward businesses need to have guidance.

Steptoe has years of experience in successfully advising businesses on their strategic decisions in the EU and the UK. Our experienced lawyers can help your business to successfully navigate the demands and potential opportunities of Brexit. 
Continue Reading House of Lords Report on Brexit and Competition: What Does it Mean for Businesses?

Please join Steptoe’s Antitrust Team on Wednesday, November 1, for an in depth discussion of criminal antitrust enforcement against employee no-poaching agreements. As detailed in our earlier blog post, on September 12, two high-level officials of the US Department of Justice (DOJ), Antitrust Division confirmed the Trump Administration’s continued enforcement efforts against agreements

In an open letter published shortly before the opening of the London Fashion week on September 12, 2017 (see here), the UK Competition and Market Authority (CMA) sent a strong reminder to creative industries that they are prohibited from engaging into price coordination and information sharing between competitors.

The CMA Letter: What’s In It?

On September 12, Andrew Finch, the Acting Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust in the U.S. Department of Justice, confirmed the Trump Administration’s commitment to the criminalization of agreements among companies not to “poach” each other’s employees and agreements on employees’ wages, policies advanced significantly during the Obama Administration.
Continue Reading Trump DOJ Confirms Criminal Enforcement against Employee No-Poaching and Wage-Fixing Agreements