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? →

Quick Update on Merger Control in the EU and the hospital sector

Merger control stays topical. The newly designated EU’s Competition Commissioner sets the scene for her priorities in the upcoming legislative period. Furthermore, last week, the German Parliament decided to exempt certain transactions in the hospital sector from German merger control as part of the so-called hospital reform. These developments are addressed in the following blog … Continue reading Quick Update on Merger Control in the EU and the hospital sector →

No power without charging  

At the beginning of this month, the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) released its 160-page report on its sector inquiry into the provision and marketing of public electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Before you stop reading right away because you are still fully committed to combustion engine cars for the next decade anyway - don't. The … Continue reading No power without charging   →

HR-Cartels and Private Cartel Damage Claims

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 →

Is antitrust changing the world of football?

Last week, the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) ruled in a football case that has the potential to bring massive changes in the international football market. Some even compare the case with the famous Bosman judgement of the ECJ from 1995. Similar to Bosman, the case concerns international transfer rules of professional … Continue reading Is antitrust changing the world of football? →