Law Commons^™

Given Today's New Wave Of Protectionsim, Is Antitrust Law The Last Hope For Preserving A Free Global Economy Or Another Nail In Free Trade's Coffin?, Allison Murray

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Proper Reach Of Territorial Jurisdiction: A Case Study Of Divergent Attitudes, Robert Y. Jennings

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Formalism And Functionalism In Antitrust Treatment Of Loyalty Rebates: A Comparative Perspective, Daniel A. Crane

Articles

It is a widely held belief that U.S. antitrust law has long been characterized by economic functionalism and that European antitrust law has long been characterized by legal formalism.' The received wisdom began to change in Europe a decade ago when the Directorate General Competition of the European Commission (DG Comp) began to advocate a more "effects-based" analysis of abuse of dominance. Two factors arguably contributed to this change. First, the DG Comp became increasingly influenced by economists who had little use for the old formalism. Second, as Europe trie to spread antitrust to developing antitrust regimes across the world-and, …

The European Commission's Ecs/Akzo Standard For Predatory Pricing In The E.E.C.: Deterrence Or Disorder?, Thomas G. Ehr

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Bargaining In The Shadow Of The European Microsoft Decision: The Microsoft-Samba Protocol License, William H. Page, Seldon J. Childers

William H. Page

The Microsoft-Samba agreement is by far the most important tangible outcome of the European Microsoft case. The EC’s other remedial order in the case, which required Microsoft to create a version of Windows without Windows Media Player, was an embarrassing failure. The Samba agreement, however, is significant because it requires Microsoft to provide, to its most important rival in the server market, detailed documentation of its communications protocols, under terms that allow use of the information in open source development and distribution. There is good reason to believe that Samba will be able to use the information to compete more …

European Commission - Concentrations - Nestle's Bid To Takeover Perrier: A Landmark Merger Restructuring On Duopoly Grounds, William M. Willis Iv

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

A Propósito De Un Elemento Esencial De La Defensa De La Competencia En Europa: Las Facultades De Investigación De La Comisión En Materia De Inspección (About An Essential Element Of The European Antitrust: Commission Investigation Faculties Of Inspection), Jesús Alfonso Soto Pineda

Jesús Alfonso Soto Pineda

En base a la prolongación de las facultades de investigación que le han sido proporcionadas a la Comisión Europea para combatir la existencia de acuerdos colusorios en el ámbito comunitario, el presente artículo expone las condiciones en las cuales el poder percibido con mayor sensibilidad desde el terreno empresarial, la inspección, debe ser puesto en marcha por la máxima autoridad comunitaria de competencia, analizando en detalle la contradicción natural que se presenta entre los objetivos propios de la inspección y dos postulados básicos relacionados con el derecho de defensa, como lo son el secreto profesional y el derecho a guardar …

The Price Of Abuse: Intel And The European Commission Decision, Robert H. Lande

All Faculty Scholarship

The May 13, 2009 decision by the European Commission ('EC') holding that Intel violated Article 82 of the Treaty of Rome and should be fined a record amount and prohibited from engaging in certain conduct, set off a predictable four part chorus of denunciations:

1. Intel did nothing wrong and was just competing hard;
2. Intel's discounts were good for consumers;;
3. The entire matter is just another example of Europeans protecting their own against a more efficient U.S. company; and;
4. Even if Intel did engage in anticompetitive activity, the fine was much too large. These assertions will be addressed in turn.;

Bargaining In The Shadow Of The European Microsoft Decision: The Microsoft-Samba Protocol License, William H. Page, Seldon J. Childers

UF Law Faculty Publications

The Microsoft-Samba agreement is by far the most important tangible outcome of the European Microsoft case. The EC’s other remedial order in the case, which required Microsoft to create a version of Windows without Windows Media Player, was an embarrassing failure. The Samba agreement, however, is significant because it requires Microsoft to provide, to its most important rival in the server market, detailed documentation of its communications protocols, under terms that allow use of the information in open source development and distribution. There is good reason to believe that Samba will be able to use the information to compete more …

On The Road To Perdition? The Future Of The European Car Industry And Its Implications For Ec Competition Policy, Sandra Marco Colino

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Recent reports from the European Commission on European Union price differentials for new motor vehicles reflect a steady narrowing of the differences in prices for motor vehicles across the 27 Member States. Although the inclusion within the European Community in 2004 of ten new countries with relatively homogeneous pricing has evidently colored these findings, price differentials among the EU-15 appear to be decreasing. Price convergence has been welcomed by consumer associations and European institutions, which for many years fought arduously to force car manufacturers to reduce these differentials. The justification for their concerns was based on a logical argument. In …

Current Issues Of E.U. Competition Law: The New Competition Enforcement Regime, The Symposium On European Competition Law , Philip Lowe

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

On May 1, 2004, two major reforms of the EC competition enforcement regime are expected to enter into force: the modernization of antitrust enforcement, based on Regulation 1/2003,1 and the review of the European merger control system. In this contribution, I will outline the main principles underlying these reforms. In Part I, I will focus on the instruments the Commission intends to adopt early in 2004 in order to guarantee the efficient functioning of Regulation 1/2003, the so-called modernization package. Subsequently, in Part II, I will present the guiding principles of the future merger control in Europe, as they result …

Role Of Judicial Review In Merger Control, The Symposium On European Competition Law , Mark Clough

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This article explains the role of judicial review in European Community ("EC") Merger Control ("ECMR") by reference to the Airtours case and three other important recent judgments of the European Court of First Instance ("CFI") (Schneider, Tetra Laval and Lagardére), all decided in 2002. Article 230 of the EC Treaty, which governs actions for annulment of acts adopted by the EC Institutions "on the grounds of lack of competence, infringement of an essential procedural requirement, infringement of this [EC] Treaty or of any rule of law relating to its application, or misuse of powers," is considered only in the context …

Chronopost V. Ufex: The Paradoc Of The Competing Monopolist Symposium On European Competition Law , Alessandra Fratini, Andrea Carta

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

On July 3, 2003, in the Chronopost judgment, the European Court of Justice ("ECJ" or "the Court") defined the conditions under which a public undertaking, enjoying a legal monopoly for the provision of services of general interest, can provide services to its subsidiaries without infringing Article 87(1) of the EC Treaty. The impact of this judgment on European Community ("EC") state aid policy and public services is potentially large, in both legal and practical terms. The ruling casts light on the real dilemma underlying the application of state aid rules to the circumstances of the case: how to allow public …

New E.C. Merger Control Test Under Article 2 Of The Merger Control Regulation, The Symposium On European Competition Law , Alexander Riesenkampff

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

On November 25, 2003, the Council reached a political accord on amending the Merger Control Regulation. On January 20, 2003, the Council formally adopted the amendment as new Regulation No.139/2004. Article 2, Sec. 3 of the new regulation provides: "A concentration which would significantly impede effective competition, in the common market or in a substantial part of it, in particular as a result of the creation or strengthening of a dominant position, shall be declared incompatible with the common market." This article begins by outlining the legislative history of the new Article 2. That preface is followed by the identification …

The State Of E.C. Competition Law: Fiften Years Ago And Today, The Symposium On European Competition Law , Frank Fine

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The European Commission is achieving ever greater rationalization and efficiencies in the field of merger control, thereby maximizing commercial benefits while minimizing regulatory hurdles. The Commission appears to be on a completely different track when it comes to non-merger arrangements, such as strategic alliances, distribution agreements, technology licenses, joint selling agreements and joint purchasing agreements. While the Commission is seeking to maximize legal certainty for companies planning concentrations, in the other spheres of business activity which fall within the ambit of Articles 81 and 82, including those noted above, the Commission has decided that the legal certainty afforded by the …

Last Of Its Kind: The Review Of The Technology Transfer Block Exemption Regulation, The Symposium On European Competition Law , Fiona Carlin, Stephanie Pautke

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

On October 1, 2003, the Commission published a formal proposal for a new technology transfer block exemption ("Draft TTBE") together with detailed draft guidelines ("Draft Guidelines")5 which explain how the new regulation will be interpreted and how Article 81 will be applied to agreements that fall outside the revised regulation's safe harbor. These proposals unleashed a barrage of criticism from industry and seem likely to result in some amendments to the proposed texts before their adoption in March or April 2004. The new package is due to enter into force on May 1, 2004. This article discusses the Commission's proposals …

European Community Compulsory Licensing Policy: Heresy Versus Commen Sense Symposium On European Competition Law , Frank Fine

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

There is a growing trend to limit the rights of intellectual property owners when the public interest warrants. Until very recently, this phenomenon has been manifested only at a transnational level.1 For example, the World Trade Organization, as recently as November 2001, in its Doha Agreement ("Doha"),2 enabled certain nations of the Asian and African subcontinents to obtain compulsory licenses to manufacture and distribute domestically certain anti-retroviral drugs by declaring a state of national health emergency. Doha raises an intriguing question: if limited intrusions into valuable intellectual property rights may be justified on public health grounds, should not such intrusions …

Combinations, Concerted Practices And Cartels: Adopting The Concept Of Conspiracy In European Community Competition Law Symposium On European Competition Law , Julian M. Joshua, Sarah Jordan

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This article charts the progress of, and the vicissitudes faced by, the incorporation into the European Community legal order of the peculiarly common law concept of conspiracy as the vehicle not only for analytical purposes, by characterizing full-blown cartels as "agreements" in the sense of Article 81 of the EC Treaty, but also to resolve the multiplicity of evidential issues presented by complex, pernicious and secretive behavior. The article also shows how the uncovering of deliberate and secretive business delinquency, practiced at the highest levels in some of Europe's most respected corporations and summed up by the negative connotations of …

E.U. State Aid Developments In 2003: More Complexity, Less Certainty Symposium On European Competition Law , Dennis Oswell, Esfandiar Vahida

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

There was a time when observers had the impression that European companies could think of no better gift from the government than a subsidy of some sort. Scrutiny of such governmental largess at the E.U. level was perceived as lax and any consequences for violating the E.U. competition rules against such handouts were seen as remote and timid. Times have changed. As the European Commission (the "Commission") stiffens its resolve to police and punish unlawful State intervention in the marketplace, governmental subsidies to favored undertakings, broadly referred to in the European Union as "State aid," are fast becoming gifts that …

E.U. Competition And Private Actions For Damages, The Symposium On European Competition Law , Georg Berrisch, Eve Jordan, Rocio Salvador Roldan

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

There are numerous reasons why private enforcement of E.U. competition law remains underdeveloped in Europe. The main reason is perhaps that it is not regulated by E.U. law but by Member State law. This in itself creates legal uncertainty. A system that creates optimal conditions for individuals to challenge infringements of competition rules before national courts ensures a high level of compliance. It is therefore no surprise that the European Commission ("Commission") is keen to see the general use of private enforcement, and in particular of actions for damages, in Europe increase. This paper focuses on one particular aspect of …

New Ec Merger Regulation: A First Assessment Of Its Practical Impact, The Symposium On European Competition Law , Werner Berg

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

In the late evening of November 27, 2003, the Council of Ministers reached a political agreement on the amended text of the European Community Merger Regulation ("ECMR"), which is due to enter into force on May 1, 2004, the date for enlargement of the European Union. In the following article, the New ECMR will be assessed from a practitioner's perspective. Since the new substantive test is being dealt with in another contribution to this Symposium, this analysis focuses on the jurisdictional and procedural issues

Mavericks, Mergers, And Exclusion: Proving Coordinated Competitive Effects Under The Antitrust Laws, Jonathan Baker

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

The Persistence Of The Dirigiste Model: Wireless Spectrum Allocation In Europe, À La Francaise., Russell Carlberg

Federal Communications Law Journal

This Note examines spectrum allocation for 3G mobile wireless networks in Europe in light of larger EC telecommunications and competition policies. The European Commission has allowed each member state to allocate spectrum to firms in two ways: (1) by the free market auction; and (2) by the "beauty pageant" method by which firms submit detailed proposals to the government, and government bureaucrats make the final selections. This Note focuses on France as the prime example of the beauty pageant method, and argues that, despite the "excesses" of the prices of spectrum on the free market auctions, the beauty pageant method …

The European Commission's Decision On The Boeing-Mcdonnell Douglas Merger And The Need For Greater U.S.-Eu Cooperation In The Merger Field , Amy Ann Karpel

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Standard Of Reason In Eec Antitrust Law: Some Comments On The Application Of Parts 1 And 3 Of Article 85, Ben Van Houtte

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

In this article, Mr. Van Houtte outlines the basic provisions for antitrust enforcement in the European Economic Community, and comments on the current standards utilized by the European Commission in application of these laws. He advocates movement toward a more equalized balance of the theory behind the antitrust laws and adequate enforcement of those provisions. To achieve that balance, Mr. Van Houtte favors the use of a "standard of reason" in Article 85(1) cases, and increased emphasis on the public interest in analyses performed under Article 85(3).