Antitrust regulators requested drug patent settlement information for 2010 from drug manufacturers to determine if the agreements have delayed generic drug entry into the market. The request for information is the second monitoring session activated by the EC. The first monitoring exercise determined that “pay for delay” settlement agreements decreased significantly once the EC began […]
Category Archives: EU News
EU Requests Patent Settlement Information Between Pharmaceutical Companies and Generic Drug Manufacturers
January 31, 2011 – 1:12 pm
EU Antitrust Regulators Raid Truck Manufacturers in Cartel Investigation
January 28, 2011 – 1:15 pm
Antitrust regulators raided the offices of Daimler AG, Volvo AB, and other truck manufacturers as they began to investigate cartel activity. The EC announced that it had reason to believe that truck manufacturers may have operated a cartel or abused their dominant market positions to restrict competition. All five truck manufactures involved in the probe […]
EC Opens Cement Investigation
January 26, 2011 – 5:16 pm
The European Commission is investigating cement manufacturers suspected of engaging in anticompetitive business practices. The Commission is concerned about possible import/export restrictions, market sharing, and price coordination in the markets for cement and related products.
EC Opens Investigation of Google
January 26, 2011 – 5:12 pm
The European Commission has launched a formal investigation into Google after several search service providers complained that the company had abused its dominant position by allegedly lowering the ranking of unpaid search results of competing services. The Commission said that it would also look into allegations that Google has implemented a series of policies to […]
European Court of Justice Upholds Annul Cartel Fine
January 26, 2011 – 5:06 pm
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) dismissed the appeal brought by Repsol, General Quimica SA, and Repsol Quimica SA challenging a $4.9 million fine levied by the Commission. The ECJ upheld the fine, but reversed a lower court decision to hold the companies jointly and severally liable. In 2005, the EC fined the companies for […]
EC Closes Investigation into Visa’s Debit Transaction Fees
January 18, 2011 – 9:31 pm
The EC stopped investigating Visa Europe’s debit card transaction fees after charged by Visa proposed that it substantially reduce its fees. In April, 2010, Visa Europe offered to cap for the next four years the “maximum weighted average for its multilateral interchange fees (MIF) at .2% of the transaction.” The customer’s bank charges the MIF […]
EC Levies $858 Million in Fines Against LCD Manufacturers For Cartel Activity
January 17, 2011 – 12:22 am
The Commission fined six Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) manufacturers $858 million for cartel practices in the manufacture and sale of televisions and computer monitors. According to the Commission, the companies operated the cartel for over four years, agreeing on pricing, future production planning, and capacity utilization. Also, participants held approximately 60 meetings dubbed the “crystal […]
EC Investigates Whether Google Unfairly Promoted Its Own Services Over Its Competitors’ Services
January 17, 2011 – 12:19 am
The EU opened formal proceedings against Google to determine if it had utilized market power to push down the rank of other search and price comparison sites. The investigation was opened after the Commission received several complaints from other search providers alleging that Google was unfairly favoring its own search results. The EC will also […]
EU and DOJ Investigating an Alledged Refrigeration Cartel+Class Action Filed
October 17, 2010 – 4:58 pm
Update October 2010: Panasonic ($49.1 million) and Whirlpool (a subsidiary of Embraco North America) ($91.8 million) have agreed to pay criminal fines in the U.S. case. The investigation is on-going. Update March 2009: An appliance company has filed a putative class action on behalf of appliance sellers against Whirlpool, Tecumseh, and Panasonic, three compressor manufacturers that believed to […]
EC Closes I-Phone Investigation
October 14, 2010 – 1:55 pm
In response to Apple’s decisions to permit cross border warranty service and permitting applications developers more freedom in selecting programming tools, the EC closed its investigation of the company’s I-phone-related practices.