Are regulatory interventions really working? A spotlight on monitoring and digital payments

Regulation and antitrust enforcement aim to keep markets competitive, ensuring fair prices and innovation. Both in regulation and enforcement, time and again the question comes up whether and how the effectiveness of remedies is actually monitored. A recent report by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) highlights this: The ECA found shortcomings in how the … Continue reading Are regulatory interventions really working? A spotlight on monitoring and digital payments →

German Federal Election 2025: Party Positions on Antitrust Law

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 →

False starts into the new year: Update on gun jumping

Traditionally, the time between the years is not known for many interesting decisions and developments in antitrust law. However, it is noteworthy that in the first days of the new year, three decisions were published in which three major competition regulators imposed fines for violations of the merger control standstill obligation. These decisions serve as … Continue reading False starts into the new year: Update on gun jumping →

Acqui-Hires, Art. 22 and Germany’s transaction value threshold

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 →

Critical self-evaluation: The EC and Technology Transfer Agreements

Research and development drive economy and competition. This is so far non-controversial, but what happens after someone´s creative spark has been developed further into a patent or know-how and other companies want to use it too? This is when technology transfer agreements (TTAs) come into play. Last week, the European Commission published its findings of … Continue reading Critical self-evaluation: The EC and Technology Transfer Agreements →

Tax deductibility of cartel damages: To VAT or not to VAT

Co-authored by Prof. Dr. Jochen Lüdicke and Tobias Pukropski Tax questions rarely cross the desk of an antitrust practitioner, but when they do, things can get complex quickly – with significant implications for the companies involved. Best to involve a tax expert in these situations, like we have done for this post: We will report … Continue reading Tax deductibility of cartel damages: To VAT or not to VAT →

Back to the roots in enforcement?

For once, antitrust was not at the centre of world events this week…but enforcement continued steadily. Three actions by three different regulators this week demonstrate once again that antitrust investigations are very broad-based, whether in traditional cartel agreements, cases where boundaries blur in M&A contexts, or in the increased scrutiny of actions by potentially dominant … Continue reading Back to the roots in enforcement? →