At the DACH Forum on Competition Policy hosted by Compass Lexecon in Vienna, Vicky Robertson held a keynote asking “Can Competition Law Save Democracy?”, based on her recent paper with Ariel Ezrachi (available here). After delving into the question whether democracy needed saving, she outlined the external benchmark approach that allows competition authorities to (also) base their assessment of competition on the merits on laws specifically aimed at protecting democracy (eg, Digital Services Act, European Media Freedom Act, Regulation on Targeted Political Advertising), based on the Court of J ..read more

Vicky Robertson and Alexandre de Streel (Université de Namur) contributed to a new brochure on the Digital Markets Act (DMA) aimed at tech challengers (“business users”) and issued by the Belgian Competition Authority on the occasion of the ECN DMA conference in Amsterdam on 24 June 2024. The brochure aims to highlight the opportunities in digital markets that the DMA opens up, and how digital businesses could make use of them. The draft version is now open for consultation and available here. The post New DMA Brochure appeared first on The Competition Law Hub ..read more

On 24 June 2024, the European Competition Network (ECN) hosted a conference on the Digital Markets Act in Amsterdam. The conference was aimed at business users, allowing for a broad range of stakeholders to raise their voices. Vicky Robertson moderated a panel on app store-related provisions in the DMA, with panelists including Jérémie Jourdan (Schibsted Marketplaces), Jeanette Teckman (Match Group) and Paulo Trezentos (Aptoide). The panel was organised by the Austrian Federal Competition Authority and focused on the opportunities and implementation challenges that the DMA presents f ..read more

In his recent article in the Austrian Law Journal, Fabian Ziermann and his co-authors Dwayne Bach and Patrick Petschinka discuss whether the Superleague decision could lead to a de facto divestiture of monopolies, in the sense that monopolists would have to divest control rather than assets. This follows from two main pillars. First, the CJEU lowered the bar for a by object infringement under Art. 101 TFEU in Royal Antwerp, with Superleague holding that the Meca Medina exception does not apply to by object infringements, significantly limiting the type of conduct that can be exe ..read more

In the Austrian national radio’s news show “Ö1 Mittagsjournal”, Vicky Robertson discussed the newest case brought by the Austrian Competition Authority against the brewer Brau Union and its mother company Heineken. With a record fine against the conglomerate a possibility, this case also includes a number of further details that are out of the ordinary. Find out more here (in German). The post The Austrian Brau Union Case appeared first on The Competition Law Hub ..read more

On 12 June 2024, we discuss how Big Tech has come to rule the internet like autocrats, and what we can do about it. Vili Lehdonvirta (University of Oxford) will talk about his book Cloud Empires. Discussants include Isabell Claus (thinkers GmbH), Thomas Reutterer (WU Vienna) and Vicky Robertson, who will be talking about what competition law can contribute to injecting competition into digital platform markets. Michael Stampfer (WWTF) is moderating. Join us if you are in Vienna! Registration: http://wu.at/matters-cloud The post Cloud Empires appeared first on The Competition Law Hub ..read more

On 4 June 2024, CERRE invited to an event at the Cercle Gaulois in Brussels to discuss innovation and competition in foundational technologies. After a fireside chat between Bruno Liebhaberg (CERRE) and Brad Smith (President of Microsoft), a panel including Olivier Guersent (Director General of the European Commission DG Competition), Benoît Cœuré (President of the French Autorité de la Concurrence) and Vicky Robertson discussed the tools required to address AI and how AI fits into current regulatory frameworks, including the DMA. You can rewatch their discussion here. The post Competition in ..read more

The first part of Fabian Ziermann’s three-part article on the nature of eSports and gaming ecosystems in SpoPrax, a German (e)Sports law journal, outlines the role of network effects and orchestration. Fabian discusses the evolution of gaming from hardware-centric to software-centric ecosystems, the intricacies of gaining and maintaining market power, and the economic cost thereof. The three-part series aims to highlight issues of economic fairness for non-publisher stakeholders. It can be accessed here. The post The Economic Driver of Gaming Ecosystems appeared first on The Competition Law Hu ..read more

The Journal of Antitrust Enforcement (Oxford University Press) is launching a call for papers for a Special Issue on the implications of the new Market Definition Notice (EU 2024) and the Merger Guidelines (US 2023), guest edited by Magali Eben and Vicky Robertson. Topics include new approaches to market definition and how to rely on it, against the background of the recent Market Definition Notice and Merger Guidelines. Submissions in law as well as in economics are welcome! Submit your abstracts with ideas for papers until 17 June 2024. At The Competition Law Hub, we will host a workshop to ..read more

In the first part of his recent article in the Austrian Competition Journal, Fabian Ziermann discusses the changing landscape of European merger control. He outlines the evolution of the notion of control, emphasizing that uncontrolled acquisitions, i.e., below-the-threshold killer or zombie acquisitions, were never envisaged to be possible by European regulators. The two-part article examines whether Continental Can and Towercast represent an attempt by the CJEU to limit ex post merger control, whether Towercast is an ultra vires restriction on the application of Art. 102 ..read more