The EU antitrust enforcement system for several decades has been one of the most mature antitrust enforcement systems in the world. The European Commission has been recognised as a leading antitrust agency internationally, and a role model for enforcers. This would not have been possible without effective procedural rules. This volume provides a comprehensive and practically-oriented account of EU antirust procure. After setting out the institutional design and legal framework of the EU antitrust enforcement system, it explores the EU Commission's investigative powers, the possible outcomes of its investigations, the types of decisions it adopts and the remedies and fines it imposes. This volume looks closely at the rights of defences enjoyed by the investigated parties, and how the EU Commission strike a balance between their full observance on the one hand and the effectiveness of its enforcement on the other. Particular attention is given to the judicial review of the EU Commission's acts and the role of the EU Courts in providing judicial protection and ensuring compliance with fundamental rights and principles. Recognising cooperation as a key feature of the EU antitrust enforcement system, the volume explores the mechanisms for cooperation between national antitrust enforcers and the EU Commission, between national courts and the EU Court of Justice as well as the mechanisms for international cooperation. It also provides an in-depth review of the ECN+ Directive and explains how it contributes to making national competition authorities more effective enforcers. Written primarily with enforcers and practitioners in mind, it is essential reading for anyone with an interest in EU antitrust procedure.

This volume provides an in-depth analysis of the relationship between intellectual property rights (including patents, trade marks, copyright, and designs) and the law of the European Union. It examines the conflict between intellectual property rights (exclusive rights limited normally to the territory of a single Member State) and the principle of free movement of goods and services in the internal market. The various tests and theories propounded by the European Court of Justice in attempting to resolve that conflict are explained from a critical standpoint. The ramifications of the exhaustion-of-rights principle are explored and chapters of this volume are devoted to trade marks, patents, and copyright. Finally, the volume examines the limitations on the exercise of intellectual property rights as a result of EC competition law.
Volume 2 will cover EU legislation which has harmonized intellectual property law and created unitary intellectual property rights such a the Community trade mark.

Much of antitrust law scholarship has focused on substantive legal issues - theories of harm and changing law and policy. Surprisingly, there has been very little work that is comparative, on a fundamental element that is a critical building block to effective policy - procedural fairness. Procedural fairness encompasses issues of transparency and due process. Procedural fairness has been an important issue in global antitrust for some time. The types of due process concerns raised globally often relate to the lack of effective representation, the use of industrial policy by third parties, and procedural tools that do not allow for the most effective advocacy to lead to efficient outcomes. This book focuses on these issues and teases out common problems and distinct issues in particular jurisdictions, allowing for a rethink of creating a more effective system for procedural fairness, and explores these issues in each jurisdiction, along with highlights of particular cases in which due process issues have emerged.

In response to cartel formation, competition lawyers and policymakers in nine Asian jurisdictions have experimented with leniency programmes. This mechanism allows firms to come forward with information in relation to their illegal cartel participation in return for a reduction of or immunity from a sanction. The experimentation plays out across three different dimensions: the revision of early adopted leniency programmes, the introduction of newly written leniency programmes, and the decision - deliberate or otherwise - not to create a leniency programme. This volume is the first to analyse the empirical evidence across a number of countries to determine how effective these measures have been, and how they have been amended in response to problems encountered. In this volume, local experts from key Asian jurisdictions, together with international experts, offer an introduction to this fast-developing field, and explore the theoretical, international and regulatory contexts of leniency programmes.

Contribution claims in antitrust are controversial and under-researched in the legal literature. This book provides the first comprehensive analysis of contribution claims in EU competition law. By drawing on the historical and current practice of EU and national courts, as well as national laws of major EU jurisdictions, it explains contribution claims in antitrust law in concrete and practical terms. It also provides much needed clarity on the relationship between competition law and joint and several liability, as well as guiding those concerned by contribution claims through the issues that are likely to arise. Topics examined include the requirements competition law sets for contribution claims; the criteria for dividing antitrust liability between individual co-infringers; the impact of EU Directive 2014/10; and whether liability sharing agreements can resolve the problems joint and several liability brings to EU competition law.

Competition law is a significant legal transplant in East Asia, where it has come into contact with deeply rooted variants of Confucian culture. This timely volume analyses cultural factors in mainland China, Japan and Korea, focusing on their shared but diversely evolved Confucian heritage. These factors distinguish the competition law systems of these countries from those of major western jurisdictions, in terms of the goals served by the law, the way enforcement is structured, and the way subjects of the law respond to it. Concepts from cultural studies inform a new and eclectic perspective on these dynamics, with the authors also drawing on ideas from law and economics, comparative law, East Asian studies, political science, business management and ethics, and institutional economics. The volume presents a model for cultural analysis of comparative legal topics and contributes to a greater understanding of the challenges to deeper convergence of competition laws between East and West.

A common criticism of the competition rules posed by EU authorities is that they are too inflexible, thereby prohibiting adequate responses to economic and industrial shocks. Competition Law in Crisis challenges this suggestion through an examination of competition responses to crises past and present. With an analysis spanning the response of UK and EU competition authorities to the economic and commercial outfall of the 2008 financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and potential responses to the climate crisis in the context of post-Brexit British industrial policy, the book argues that relaxing the competition regime is precisely the wrong response. The rigidity of competition rules in the UK and EU has both normative and positive implications for not just the methodology used in competition analysis, but also the role of competition law within the legal order of both jurisdictions. The book concludes with a discussion of the place of the competition in the UK's and EU's legal order.

A common criticism of the competition rules posed by EU authorities is that they are too inflexible, thereby prohibiting adequate responses to economic and industrial shocks. Competition Law in Crisis challenges this suggestion through an examination of competition responses to crises past and present. With an analysis spanning the response of UK and EU competition authorities to the economic and commercial outfall of the 2008 financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and potential responses to the climate crisis in the context of post-Brexit British industrial policy, the book argues that relaxing the competition regime is precisely the wrong response. The rigidity of competition rules in the UK and EU has both normative and positive implications for not just the methodology used in competition analysis, but also the role of competition law within the legal order of both jurisdictions. The book concludes with a discussion of the place of the competition in the UK's and EU's legal order.

The understanding of Article 86 (formerly Article 90) of the EC Treaty is vital to any competition lawyer working in Europe. Writing with first-hand experience of dealing with Article 86 cases at DG IV, the author provides detailed examination of this Article and the law concerning exclusive rights and State monopolies.;With analysis of the relevant case-law, attention is paid to all the key areas including: the definition of "exclusive rights" and "economic activities" the remedial possibilities offered by the often neglected Article 31(formerly Article 37), the application of Article 86(1) in conjunction with the competition rules (Article 82 (formerly Article 86)), proportionality in the context of Article 86(2) and decisions and directives under Article 86(3) and their relationship with harmonization directives.;The text offers practical insights and intelligent solutions to many of the problems posed by the applications of these rules.

This book provides the first detailed examination of how individuals or companies can enforce their rights under competition law against other private parties in the EU, UK and USA. The author, an experienced practitioner in the field, provides a comparative analysis of how the issues that are central to US private litigation such as locus standi, antitrust injury, methods of proof of damage and the principles of antitrust damage calculation should be addressed in the EU and UK. Specific examples of US case law and the judicial application of damage rules are examined in detail so as to draw practical conclusions for antitrust legislation in Europe.

This book examines the legal standards - and their underlying economic rationale - for the protection of competition in the innovation process, in both European competition law and American antitrust law. Apart from relevant regulatory frameworks, the author also reviews a range of case laws, which assess whether a transaction or unilateral conduct would limit market participants' incentives and abilities for continued innovation and future competition. At the centre of this study is the innovation market concept. This concept entails the delineation, for purposes of antitrust analysis, of an upstream market for competing R&D. Questions of market definition, the assessment of innovation competition in defined markets, the role of efficiencies in the appraisal of transactions and possible remedies to alleviate anti-competitive effects are also explored. Updating the field of research in light of new developments and broadening and deepening the categorization and analysis of the innovation market area, this book will be of great interest to academics, practitioners and consultants, and also public policymakers.

In the global infectious-disease research community, there has long been uncertainty about the conditions under which biological resources may be studied or transferred out of countries. This work examines the reasons for that uncertainty and shows how global biomedical research has been shaped by international disputes over access to biological resources. Bringing together government leaders, World Health Organization officials, and experts in virology, wildlife biology, clinical ethics, technology transfer, and international law, the book identifies the critical problems - and implications of these problems - posed by negotiating for access and sharing benefits, and proposes solutions to ensure that biomedical advances are not threatened by global politics. Written in accessible, non-technical language, this work should be read by anyone who sees global health and biomedical research as a priority for international lawmakers.

Copyright is territorial, but the same cannot be said of the internet, whose borderless nature has changed the way we consume copyright-protected material. Nevertheless, territorial segmentation of online content remains a reality in the 28 member states of the European Union. Licensing and access practices do not reflect this digital reality, in which end-users demand ubiquitous access to content. For this reason, the territorial nature of copyright and traditional business models based on national exploitation prevent the completion of the Digital Single Market. Sebastian Felix Schwemer provides a unique analysis of the dynamic licensing and access arrangements for audiovisual works and music and shows how they are being addressed by sector regulation and competition law in the Digital Single Market. His analysis, which includes case law of the Court of Justice, the Commission's competition proceedings, and various legislative tools, reveals the overlapping nature of legislative and non-legislative regulatory solutions.

Competition law damages actions are often characterized by the uncertainty of the causal connection between the infringement and the harm. The damage consists in a pure economic loss flowing from an anticompetitive conduct. In such cases, the complexity of the markets structures, combined with the interdependence of individuals' assets, fuel this causal uncertainty. In this work, Claudio Lombardi elucidates the concept of causation in competition law damages actions and outlines its practical implications in competition litigation through the comparative analysis of the relevant statutory and case law, primarily in the European Union. This book should be read by practitioners, scholars, and graduate students with experience in competition law, as well as those interested in analyzing economic torts and causation in general.

Florence Thepot provides the first systematic account of the interaction between competition law and corporate governance. She challenges the 'black box' conception of the firm- or 'undertaking' - in competition law, as applied to increasingly complex corporate relations. The book opens the 'black box' of the firm to understand the internal drivers of collusive behaviour, and proposes a unified approach to cartel enforcement, based on the agency theory. It explores key issues including corporate compliance programmes, the attribution of liability in corporate groups, and structural links between competitors, and should be read by anyone interested in how the evolution of the corporate landscape impacts competition law.

As scholars and policymakers around the world seek a systematic approach to the question of 'gig work,' one of its regulatory dimensions - the intersection of labor and competition law - points toward a deeper reconceptualization of the conventional legal and economic categories typically brought to bear upon it. A comparative approach to the question of gig work further reveals the variety and contingency of background assumptions that are often overlooked in the context of domestic policy debates. By combining a detailed comparative doctrinal survey of the regulation of non-employee workers in domestic competition law systems with a set of essays reframing the underlying questions raised - in terms of international legal frameworks, freedom of association norms, alternative approaches to law and economics, and more - The Cambridge Handbook of Labor in Competition Law moves the debates over the fissured workplace and the labor - competition law intersection forward in novel ways.

Through a collaboration among twenty legal scholars from eleven countries in North America, Europe and Asia, Patent Remedies and Complex Products presents an international consensus on the use of patent remedies for complex products such as smartphones, computer networks and the Internet of Things. It covers the application of both monetary remedies like reasonable royalties, lost profits, and enhanced damages, as well as injunctive relief. Readers will also learn about the effect of competition laws and agreements to license standards-essential patents on terms that are 'fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory' (FRAND) on patent remedies. Where national values and policy make consensus difficult, contributors discuss the nature and direction of further research required to resolve disagreements. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Due to the growing influence of economics and economists in competition law and policy discourse and the internationalization of antitrust, the equity versus efficiency trade-off debate has played a defining role in the transformation of the dominant paradigm governing competition law enforcement since at least the 1970s. The debate remains crucial today as issues of economic inequality and its interaction with efficiency become of central concern to policy and decision-makers in competition law, as well as in other spheres of public policy. Despite their central role in the grammar of competition law on the global plane, the intellectual underpinnings of the interactions between 'equity' and 'efficiency' in the context of competition law have never been examined in-depth. This book aims precisely to fill this gap by discussing new approaches in understanding the role of efficiency and equity concerns in competition law.

The food industry is a notoriously complex economic sector that has not received the attention it deserves within legal scholarship. Production and distribution of food is complex because of its polycentric character (as it operates at the intersection of different public policies) and its dynamic evolution and transformation in the last few decades (from technological and governance perspectives). This volume introduces the global value chain approach as a useful way to analyse competition law and applies it to the operations of food chains and the challenges of their regulation. Together, the chapters not only provide a comprehensive mapping of a vast comparative field, but also shed light on the intricacies of the various policies and legal fields in operation. The book offers a conceptual and theoretical framework for competition authorities, companies and academics, and fills a massive gap in the competition policy literature dealing with global value chains and food.

Law plays a key role in determining the level of entrepreneurial action in society. Legal rules seek to define property rights, facilitate private ordering, and impose liability for legal wrongs, thereby attempting to establish conditions under which individuals may act. These rules also channel the development of technology, regulate information flows, and determine parameters of competition. Depending on their structure and implementation, legal rules can also discourage individuals from acting. It is thus crucial to determine which legal rules and institutions best enable entrepreneurs, whose core function is to challenge incumbency. This volume assembles legal experts from diverse fields to examine the role of law in facilitating or impeding entrepreneurial action. Contributors explore issues arising in current policy debates, including the incentive effect of legal rules on startup activity; the role of law in promoting or foreclosing market entry; and the effect of entrepreneurial action on legal doctrine.

Seit geraumer Zeit steht die Verbandsschiedsgerichtsbarkeit in der OEffentlichkeit mehr und mehr in der Kritik. Die Autorin greift Argumente fur und gegen die Verbandsschiedsgerichtsbarkeit auf. Anhand von Kartellschiedsverfahren des Rheinisch-Westfalischen Kohlensyndikats untersucht sie exemplarisch Verfahrensregeln, Verfahrensablaufe und Steuerungstendenzen durch Bezahlung der Schiedsrichter, die Hintergrunde der Implementierung eines Schiedsgerichts sowie die Funktionen schiedsgerichtlicher Verfahren innerhalb bestehender Vertragsbeziehungen. Die Arbeit soll sowohl einen Beitrag zur Forschung uber die interne Organisation des Rheinisch-Westfalischen Kohlensyndikats als auch zur Debatte uber die Verbandsschiedsgerichtsbarkeit im Allgemeinen leisten.

Industrial consolidation, digital platforms, and changing political views have spurred debate about the interplay between public and private power in the United States and have created a bipartisan appetite for potential antitrust reform that would mark the most profound shift in US competition policy in the past half-century. While neo-Brandeisians call for a reawakening of antitrust in the form of a return to structuralism and a concomitant rejection of economic analysis founded on competitive effects, proponents of the status quo look on this state of affairs with alarm. Scrutinizing the latest evidence, Alan J. Devlin finds a middle ground. US antitrust laws warrant revision, he argues, but with far more nuance than current debates suggest. He offers a new vision of antitrust reform, achieved by refining our enforcement policies and jettisoning an unwarranted obsession with minimizing errors of economic analysis.

"Persuasive and brilliantly written, the book is especially timely given the rise of trillion-dollar tech companies."--Publishers Weekly

From the man who coined the term "net neutrality," author of The Master Switch and The Attention Merchants, comes a warning about the dangers of excessive corporate and industrial concentration for our economic and political future.

We live in an age of extreme corporate concentration, in which global industries are controlled by just a few giant firms -- big banks, big pharma, and big tech, just to name a few. But concern over what Louis Brandeis called the "curse of bigness" can no longer remain the province of specialist lawyers and economists, for it has spilled over into policy and politics, even threatening democracy itself. History suggests that tolerance of inequality and failing to control excessive corporate power may prompt the rise of populism, nationalism, extremist politicians, and fascist regimes. In short, as Wu warns, we are in grave danger of repeating the signature errors of the twentieth century.

In The Curse of Bigness, Columbia professor Tim Wu tells of how figures like Brandeis and Theodore Roosevelt first confronted the democratic threats posed by the great trusts of the Gilded Age--but the lessons of the Progressive Era were forgotten in the last 40 years. He calls for recovering the lost tenets of the trustbusting age as part of a broader revival of American progressive ideas as we confront the fallout of persistent and extreme economic inequality.

This book gathers international and national reports from across the globe on key questions in the field of antitrust and intellectual property.The first part discusses the allocation of liability for infringement of antitrust laws between corporations and individuals. The book explores the criminal or administrative sanctions available against corporations, companies or group of companies, and individuals, such as employees or directors. A detailed international report explores the major trends and challenges in this field and provides an excellent comparative study of this complex and challenging subject. The second part examines whether intellectual property rights are sufficiently protected to ensure a fair return on investments made by manufacturers and distributors. This question comes at a time where distribution is facing deep and radical changes with the Internet. To what extent this is an opportunity or a threat to the sustainability of distribution systems of differentiated and IP protected goods is the question. This book brings together the current legal responses across a number of European countries and elsewhere in the world, all summarised and elaborated in an international report. The book also includes the resolutions passed by the General Assembly of the International League of Competition Law (LIDC) following a debate on each of these topics, which include proposed solutions and recommendations. The LIDC is a long-standing international association that focuses on the interface between competition law and intellectual property law, including unfair competition issues.