Latest news and views tagged Competition Act
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The Office of Fair Trading has announced that it is investigating patent litigation agreements relating to paroxetine. Paroxetine is a medicine used in the treatment of disorders such as depression and...
OFT consults on new penalty regime of 30% of turnover for competition law breaches
The Office of Fair Trading, the UK’s competition law regulator, is consulting on proposals to revise its guidance as to the penalties for breaching the Competition Act 1998. Currently, organisations...
Sky may have reached the limit as Competition Commission provisionally rules satellite giant restricting film choice through exclusivity deals
Sky is too controlling of the pay-TV film rights in the UK and this is restricting competition, contrary to UK competition law, according to a provisional ruling from the Competition Commission. The Commission...
OFT fines supermarkets and dairy processors £50m for exchanging sensitive price data
The Office of Fair Trading has imposed fines totalling £50m on Asda, Safeway, Sainsbury’s and Tesco together with five dairy processors after the supermarkets had indirectly exchanged retail pricing...
OFT points to successful impact of first abuse of dominance fines under Competition Act in Napp Pharmaceuticals case
The Competition Act 1998 came into force in 2000. Under it, the Office of Fair Trading can impose large fines and declare void arrangements that are either agreements between undertakings whose object...
European competition law defence needs to be supported by detailed evidence to avoid contract breach – A Nelson v Guna, High Court
Nelsons supplied Bach Flower Remedies. Guna had been its distributor in Italy. Their distribution agreement had included several restrictions including a ban on Guna from advertising for orders from outside...
OFT issues largest ever fine for abuse of dominance – to Reckitt Benckiser for de-listing out-of-patent Gaviscon product from NHS prescription channel before generic product appeared
The Office of Fair Trading has issued its largest fine for an abuse of a dominant position, contrary to the Chapter II Prohibition of the Competition Act and Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning...
That won’t come out in the wash – EC fines Unilever and Proctor & Gamble €315m
Following a European Commission investigation suitably entitled ‘Purity’, Unilever and Proctor & Gamble, the consumer product companies, have been fined €315 million for fixing the price of washing...
OFT investigating agreements for online book pricing
The Office of Fair Trading is investigating whether e-book pricing agreements breach UK competition law. The Chapter I Prohibition of the Competition Act 1998 prohibits agreements which have as their object...
Safeway asks Supreme Court to review Court of Appeal’s decision on director’s liability for competition law breach
Following the Court of Appeal’s rejection of Safeway’s attempt to have its former directors and employees pay its fines for breach of competition law (see here), Safeway has asked the Supreme Court...