The French Competition Authority’s recent decision to fine Doctolib – a French technology company that offers software for, among other things, online booking of appointments with doctors – marks a shift in European competition enforcement. For the first time, the French regulator applied abuse of dominance rules to sanction a below-threshold merger ex post. This … Continue reading The Debate on Call-In Powers reignited by a fine on Doctolib →

Earlier this week, the Commission fined French companies Eurofield SAS and its former parent Unanime Sport SAS (together Eurofield) a total of approx. EUR 172,000 for providing incomplete information during an antitrust investigation into the synthetic turf sector. This decision marks the first time the Commission has imposed a fine solely for the provision of … Continue reading European Commission fines for incomplete information: A landmark enforcement →

In a sweeping legal move, over 10,000 hotels across Europe have joined forces to demand damages from Booking.com for what they claim were years of anti-competitive practices. The heart of the dispute lies in the use of so-called “best price clauses” – contractual provisions that restricted hotels from offering lower prices than those listed on … Continue reading Hotel industry vs. Booking.com: A landmark legal battle over price parity clauses →

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed from a futuristic concept into a powerful tool embedded in the daily operations of businesses across industries. From dynamic pricing algorithms in e-commerce to predictive analytics in logistics, AI is reshaping how companies compete. But as AI becomes more sophisticated, it also raises complex questions for competition … Continue reading AI and Antitrust: New Challenges for Competition Regulators →

At the end of April, the European Commission announced a landmark decision, finding tech giants Apple and Meta in breach of the Digital Markets Act (DMA). This decision marks a significant step in the EU's ongoing efforts to regulate digital markets and ensure fair competition as it’s the Commission’s first non-compliance decision ever adopted under … Continue reading DMA – Private Enforcement →

In a remarkable legal move, the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA), an association co-founded by Novak Djokovic, has filed a class action in the US against the tennis sport's most important governing bodies, including the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), Women's Tennis Association (WTA), International Tennis Federation (ITF), and International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA). The … Continue reading Class action against tennis governing bodies: Allegations of cartel formation and dominance abuse →

The 2025 German Federal Election on 23 February 2025 is approaching, and German political parties have presented their election programs as they are positioning themselves towards voters. Whilst the government still in office had intended to introduce an amendment to German antitrust law during its term (which would have been the second in the legislative … Continue reading German Federal Election 2025: Party Positions on Antitrust Law →

Microsoft’s recent takeover of employees of Inflection AI, a leading artificial intelligence startup, has sparked significant debate in competition law circles. The case reflects the perceived challenges regulators face in addressing the competitive impacts of “transactions” in rapidly developing industries such as AI. From the European Commission’s invocation of Article 22of the EU Merger Regulation … Continue reading Acqui-Hires, Art. 22 and Germany’s transaction value threshold →

Everyone is talking about it (and so have we): Regulators in EU Member States are increasingly going after antitrust infringements in human resources (HR), namely so-called HR-cartels. These cartels involve illegal agreements between companies, e.g., not to hire each other's employees (no-poach agreements) or to coordinate wage levels. It will only be a matter of … Continue reading HR-Cartels and Private Cartel Damage Claims →

Private cartel damage litigation is often, especially in Germany and other EU Member States, automatically associated with so-called follow-on damage claims. First the fine by an antitrust regulator, followed by private damage claims. This week, the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart reminded us that claimants can also successfully seek private cartel damage claims on a … Continue reading Standalone damage claims on the upswing →