Recent literature has made a strong case for why sustainability considerations should play a larger role in competition law. Competition authorities’ rulemaking has already followed suit in certain instances. At the same time, this development encounters critique which deserves to be taken...

In 2019, the Bundeskartellamt (German competition watchdog) held that Facebook abused its dominant position on the German market for social networks for private users by collecting data about users, on a large scale and without sufficient consent, with the purpose of exploiting the thus...

Regulators and legislators across many jurisdictions encourage the use of alternative dispute settlement (ADR) for FRAND disputes. The EU Commission is doing so vehemently by its draft SEP Regulation, front and center of which are ADR mechanisms. So far, and undeservedly, the data FRAND ADR...

With its "Digital Regulation" package, comprising the Data Act, the Digital Markets Act, the Digital Services Act and the Data Governance Act (hereinafter together the "Digital Regulation Acts"), the European Union is currently establishing various obligations to grant access to digital data. EU...

A new defense against injunctions in FRAND cases has arisen in Germany, and its relationship to the Huawei defense (whether viewed as a competition or contractual matter) is largely unexplored. In August 2021, the “Second Act for the Modernization of Patent Law” (Zweites...

With the drafts of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the Digital Services Act (DSA), and the Data Governance Act (DGA), the EU Commission has presented three cornerstones of its digital regulation approach in November and December of 2020. This Discussion Paper looks at data transactions and...

German Abstract: Die Vertikal-Gruppenfreistellungsverordnung für Vereinbarungen zwischen Unternehmen verschiedener Wettbewerbsstufen, eine der wichtigsten Instrumente im Europäischen Sekundärkartellrecht, wird samt zugehöriger Leitlinien reformiert. Zu den Schwerpunkten der Neufassung...

German Abstract: Kartellrechtsregeln zur Verhaltenskontrolle „relativ“ marktmächtiger Unternehmen existieren – anders als eine Verhaltenskontrolle für Marktbeherrscher – nur in manchen Jurisdiktionen. Die Schweiz hat solche Regeln, auf Betreiben der Fair-Preis-Volksinitiative hin, nun...

German Abstract: Dem Schutz vertraulicher Informationen kommt im SEP/FRAND-Bereich eine große Bedeutung zu. Im Vordergrund steht vor allem die Offenlegung von bereits abgeschlossenen Lizenzverträgen, welche in Vertragsverhandlungen oder im Prozess die FRAND-Konformität eines Lizenzangebotes...