Articles Posted in International Highlights

Opera, a Norwegian developer of web-browsers, filed a complaint against Microsoft with the European Commission (the “Commission”) claiming Microsoft is abusing its dominant position by tying its browser, Internet Explorer, to the Windows operating system and by hindering interoperability by not following accepted Web standards. The developer asked the Commission to require Microsoft to unbundle…

On October 8, 2007, the European Commission (the “Commission”) initiated Phase II proceedings into the proposed acquisition of Reuters by Thomson. The in-depth assessment affords the Commission the opportunity to further examine the impact on competition of the proposed acquisition on the affected markets, notably for the supply of financial information. In particular, the Commission…

On January 9, 2004, Sony Corp of Japan and Bertelsmann AG of Germany notified the European Commission (the “Commission) of their intention to combine their global recorded music businesses into a joint venture under the name of SonyBMG. They notified under the old EC Merger Regulation. The Commission approved the merger unconditionally on July 20,…

In a recent judgment dated September 30, 2007, the Federal Supreme Court held that even after parties abandon their merger plans due to a prohibition decision by the German Federal Cartel Office (“BKartA”), German courts hold jurisdiction to rule on the question as to whether the BKartA was right to prohibit the proposed merger. The…

On September 19, 2007, the European Commission (the “Commission”) adopted a package of proposals in order to reform the EU electricity and gas regulatory frameworks. The main proposals concerned unbundling, third country ownership and enhancing the power and independence of national regulators. The Commission considers that existing legislation allowed companies to maintain network operations and…

In a ruling released on September 17, 2007, the Court of First Instance (the “Court”), the second highest court in Europe, reaffirmed the European Commission’s (“EC”) 2004 decision that Microsoft abused its market power by tying its digital media player to the Windows operating system. By bundling these products together, Microsoft undercut existing competition in…

On June 26, 2007 the Japanese Government’s Advisory Panel on Basic Issues Regarding the Anti-Monopoly Act (“the Panel”) concluded its series of roundtable discussions. Since 2005, the Panel has met in order to discuss and update the Act Concerning Prohibition of Private Monopolization and Maintenance of Fair Trade. The Panel was directed by the Chief…

On June 1, the DOJ announced the launch of a report on unilateral conduct laws, the initiation of a project to develop recommendations on substantive merger analysis, and the sixth annual International Competition Network (“ICN”) conference in Moscow took significant steps toward strengthening antitrust convergence. The ICN conference, hosted by Russia’s competition authority, the Federal…