IBL Week 6

16 flashcards · Other · by Daniel F.

EU Competition Law Hierarchy
Primary: Articles 101-108 TFEU, EU Merger Regulation Secondary: Commission/NCA decisions applying primary law Tertiary: Commission/NCA guidelines
Why control competition
Competition is economic wellfare Competition is irritating for firms => they’ll want to restrict it Sometimes competition will not happen because there are no meaningful other entities Competition law prohibits firms from engaging in conduct that will distort the competitive process and harm competition
How to control competition
Public enforcement: EC and NCAs versus undertaking or individual: repair the illegal situation; punishment; prevention Private enforcement: private person, undertaker versus infringer, Annulment of agreements, Damages claim
Article 101 TFEU
Article 101 TFEU prohibits anti-competitive agreements, decisions and concerted practices between undertakings that affect trade between EU Member States.
Article 101(1) TFEU
Prohibition Undertaking: any entity engaged in economic activity of offering goods/services on a market, regardless of legal status or profit motive. Forms of coordination caught: Agreements: Binding contracts or informal consensus Decisions by associations of undertakings: E.g. trade association rules binding members Concerted practices: any coordinated behavior between businesses Object or effect of preventing, restricting or distorting competition: By Object, No need to look at effects: Rest…
Article 101(2) TFEU
Nullity Prohibited agreements/decisions are automatically void.
Article 101(3)
Exemption Exemption possible if four cumulative conditions met: Improve production/distribution or promote technical/economic progress Allowing consumers a fair share of the benefits Restrictions are indispensable to attaining the benefits Competition is not substantially eliminated
Article 102 TFEU
Article 102 prohibits the abuse of a dominant position by one or more undertakings within the EU internal market or a substantial part of it, insofar as it affects trade between Member States Dominance Legal: position of economic strength which enables it to prevent effective competition being maintained by affording it the power to behave to an appreciable extent independently of its competitors, its customers and consumers Economical: Market power Measuring dominance Very large market share (…
EU Merger Regulation (EUMR)
Scope (Article 1): Applies to all "concentrations" with an EU dimension "Concentration" defined in Article 3: Mergers of previously independent undertakings Acquisition of sole or joint control over an undertaking Creation of a full-function joint venture EU Dimension (Article 1): Worldwide turnover of all undertakings > €5 billion AND EU-wide turnover of at least two undertakings > €250 million Substantive Test (Article 2): Concentrations shall be declared incompatible if they "significantly i…
Control of market power in EU competition law
The creation of of market power Cartels - Article 101 TFEU Concentration - EUMR The existence/exercise of market power Article 102 TFEU
Intellectual property
creations of the mind, including inventions, literary and artistic works, symbols, designs, and images artistic and industrial information and knowledge IP law provides ownership rights to the creators of works, and inventions IPRs as negative property rights Violation of IPRs: civil and criminal sanctions
Types of IPRs
Copyright (iworks' in literary, scientific and artistic domain) Patents Trademarks (name of a product) Designs (physical appearance) Trade secrets / Know How
Copyright
protects ownership of original literary/artistic/dramatic work recorded in any tangible form (negative right) Original Not copied rater than unique originality concerns the way an idea is expressed rather than the idea itself measured by the amount of independent work that an author expended in turning raw materials to give them a new quality or character permanent/tangible form book, film, audio tape or a piece of writing, or a musical notation If you hear about something a write it down first…
Patents
A patent is an exclusive right given to an owner of an invention to make use of and exploit their invention for a limited period can be a product or a process that gives a new technical solution to a problem Territorial in scope Negative right Requirements must be New (novel) not currently form part of the state of the art in the UK or elsewhere Publication of information in, for example, a trade or academic journal anywhere in the world may put the invention into the public domain already in u…
Trademarks
any sign capable of being represented graphically which is capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one undertaking from another Represented graphically: capable of being represented in the form of pictures, words, numbers, designs, shapes Must be distinctive Types Verbal marks E.g names, have to represented in a distinctive and recognizable form: signiture, lettering, made up name etc. non-verbal marks E.g. Emblems, symbols, pictoral representations Reasons for potential rejection ma…
Tort of passing
common law action exists where a business / individual attempts to pass themself or a product off as that of another business claimant must prove Goodwill or reputation attached to the goods or services misrepresentation has been made by the defendant claimant suffered or is likely to suffer damage