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Special pleading? Toshiba Carrier and the industrial tubes cartel
The Court of Appeal’s judgment last Friday in KME Yorkshire Ltd & ors v Toshiba Carrier UK Ltd & ors [2012] EWCA Civ 1990 will gladden the hearts of Article 101 damages claimants. It confirms that the Court will be generous in assessing the adequacy of a claimant’s pleaded case – at least where a… Continue reading
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Competition round-up: Summer 2012
As most of us are now returned from our summer holidays, I thought I’d take advantage of the ‘back to school’ feeling with a round-up of the most significant competition cases since Easter. This also provides a good excuse to highlight the best blogs from the Competition Bulletin’s first couple of months. I’ll start with… Continue reading
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Regulating charges for special police services
Police services are generally performed for the benefit of the public at large and provided for out of public funds. However, the police also have the power (under s.25 of the Police Act 1996) to provide “special police services” for which they can levy a charge. To take Northumbria Police as an example, charges can… Continue reading
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CAT unlimited: the Deutsche Bahn decision
Where the Commission has issued a decision finding several addressees liable for the same infringement, amongst the more important tactical questions for a claimant in the UK are: where to sue the addressees and when? The decision of the Court of Appeal in Deutsche Bahn & AG & Ors v Morgan Crucible Company plc &… Continue reading
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Keeping the CAT in its bag: the 08 Appeal
Ofcom will likely be delighted by the result in the Court of Appeal’s decision in Telefonica O2 UK Limited and others v British Telecommunications PLC [2012] EWCA Civ 1002, in which the Regulator appeared as an interested party. Not only does the judgment uphold Ofcom’s various dispute determinations relating to ladder pricing by BT for… Continue reading
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Fairness between infringers: the need for consistency in punishments
Competition lawyers may want to brush up on their criminal law. The Court of Appeal’s recent judgment in Interclass Holdings v OFT [2012] EWCA Civ 1056 borrows criminal law principles to guide the calculation of penalties imposed. The appeal was a further instalment in the litigation arising from the OFT’s largest ever investigation under the… Continue reading
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As long as the regulator’s foot
The Court of Appeal’s remarks in BT v Ofcom (Partial Private Circuits) make Ofcom’s dispute-resolution power a still more distinctive alternative to court litigation, and in the right circumstances a more attractive one. The appeal arose out of a dispute, brought to Ofcom under s.185 Communications Act 2003, about whether BT had overcharged for… Continue reading
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Cardiff bust-up: abuse of dominance, follow-on claims and exemplary damages
In 2 Travel Group PLC (in liquidation) v Cardiff City Transport Services Limited [2012] CAT 19 the Tribunal has made the first ever domestic award of exemplary damages for breach of competition law. The case is a significant landmark, but involves no radical development of the law; it is certainly not a declaration of “open… Continue reading
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“Imprecise legal concepts” are no excuse
The second chapter of the Microsoft saga unfolded on 27 June 2012, when the General Court largely upheld the €899 million periodic penalty payment imposed on Microsoft for failing to share adequate interoperability information with its competitors. However, it also offered some comfort to proprietors of intellectual property rights, with the Court seemingly retreating from… Continue reading
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Competition law achieves fair play
The London Welsh decision provides a rare but telling example of competition law marching its way onto the field of professional sport. London Welsh won rugby union’s Championship in the 2011-12 season. This would, in ordinary circumstances, have entitled them to be promoted to the Premiership, which is club rugby’s highest division. The RFU, however,… Continue reading
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Supreme Court puts brake on “Euro defences”
The UK Supreme Court has given trade mark proprietors reason to celebrate, in a judgment which is likely to have important consequences for the success of “Euro defences” more broadly. See: Oracle America Inc (formerly Sun Microsystems Inc) v M-Tech Data Limited [2012] UKSC 27. From the point of view of trade mark law, the… Continue reading
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Ex ante and ex post regulation following Telefónica
Hats off to Spain for having the nerve to suggest that it might have been a better target for the Commission’s attention than Telefónica, the former monopoly telecoms provider recently fined over €150 million for committing a margin squeeze in the Spanish broadband market (see case T-398/07 Kingdom of Spain v Commission). The case is the… Continue reading
