2 march 2020

Action in unfair competition: Situation of competition
Even if the misappropriation of files constitutes a fault, it is not enough to characterize an act of unfair competition since the activities carried out by the person implicated in the context of his self-employment are not of the same nature as those of his former employer.
CA Versailles, 18 February 2020, LawLex20200000248JBJ

Sudden termination of established commercial relationship: Public undertaking
The action based on sudden termination of an established commercial relationship resulting from a public contract against an industrial and commercial public enterprise falls within the jurisdiction of the ordinary civil courts.
CA Paris, 12 February 2020, LawLex20200000221JBJ

Sudden termination of established commercial relationship: Scope of relationship
The boundaries of the relationship between a reseller and the head of network must be limited to marketing subsidies and discounts granted by the latter by virtue of their service agreements, the turnover relating to the sale of equipment being generated by the trade between the reseller and the wholesalers.
CA Paris, 21 February 2020, LawLex20200000256JBJ

Sudden termination of established commercial relationship: Group of companies
The business flows maintained through calls for tenders with several companies in a group, united by common interests and common management and development by a general coordinator, form a single commercial relationship even if the companies are independent in terms of legal personality and if the coordinator has no capital interest in two of them.
CA Paris, 12 February 2020, LawLex20200000240JBJ

Sudden termination of established commercial relationship: Breach of contract
The distributor’s failure to place any orders for seventeen months authorizes the supplier to sever relations without notice.
CA Lyon, 20 February 2020, LawLex20200000257JBJ

Sudden termination of established commercial relationship: Maintenance of contractual relations
The sudden termination of the relationship by the exclusive supplier of a food manufacturer constitutes a manifestly unlawful disturbance which justifies the pursuit of the contract for a period taking into account the duration the commercial relationship.
CA Paris, 12 February 2020, LawLex20200000241JBJ

Actions available for abuse of dependence: Pre-litigation mediation clause
Despite the obligation of the parties to have recourse to pre-litigation mediation, the interim applications court may take any measure to end a manifestly unlawful disturbance if the urgency warrants the overriding of the dispute resolution procedure.
CA Paris, 12 February 2020, LawLex20200000241JBJ

Court-ordered investigation: Court order
The freedoms and detention judge does not unjustifiably extend the object of an investigation by including transactions regarding public contracts other than the one referred to in the application, when said application specifies that the contract referred to was merely an illustration of the practices to be investigated in the sector in question.
CA Bordeaux, 28 January 2020, LawLex20200000192JBJ

Fines: Sanction for breach of commitment
The organization that fails to comply with three out of the six commitments obtained in a previous decision incurs a fine of EUR 200,000.
Competition Authority, 20 February 2020, LawLex20200000246JBJ

Civil sanctions: Harm
The difference-in-differences econometric model, which makes it possible to ignore the variation in prices of the product in question during the reference period, can only be applied if it is based on samples wide enough to be representative and if the comparisons are made at the same time.
Paris Commercial Court, 20 February 2020, LawLex20200000275JBJ

Civil sanctions: Additional costs not passed on
For facts prior to the entry into force of the Ordinance of 9 March 2017, the buyer is required to show that the additional cost caused by the restrictive agreement has not been passed on to consumers.
Paris Commercial Court, 20 February 2020, LawLex20200000275JBJ

Mergers: Change in the nature of control
Even if the transition from joint to sole control is not usually likely to significantly alter the conditions of competition, the competitive analysis must take into account the position of the parties on the markets, their possible strengthening post-merger and their incentives to modify their competitive behavior.
Competition Authority, 30 December 2019, LawLex20200000261JBJ

Mergers: Bundling effect
The concentration is not likely to harm competition by means of conglomerate effects between the various segments of the print media readership market concerned by the transaction, where the daily regional newspapers published by the target are aimed at a different readership from the national daily newspapers and magazines distributed by the purchaser, as regards both the type of news sought and the age groups or the socio-professional categories they encompass, as the differences in readership and distribution make any tied selling strategy unprofitable.
Competition Authority, 17 January 2020, LawLex20200000268JBJ