Chillin'Competition

To be frank, I didn’t have anything to post today. I’m halfway writing lengthy posts on the Uber controversy (which I’m a bit hesitant to publish), on AG Wahl’s Opinion in Cartes Bancaires, on the French Nespresso case and on the new Damages Directive, but haven’t found the time to finish any. I also had an idea for a possible lame joke to post, but I think it’s way too lame even for this blog’s standards. On top of that, I’m asked (ordered) to go to IKEA later, and having to take care of the blog is no longer a valid excuse chez moi…

Fortunately, Aoife White (Bloomberg) just saved my blogging day:

She tells me that credible sources anticipate that Motorola won’t be fined in the decision that the European Commission will apparently be adopting next Wednesday. Aoife explained that some people find this exceptional, and asked for my views to include a quote in her piece, available here: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-25/motorola-mobility-said-likely-to-escape-eu-fine-in-patent-case.html

Here’s the text of the email I’ve just sent Aoife (who has no objection to me recycling it into a post):

“If the news were confirmed, I would view this as a very sensible decision on the part of the Commission.

The law on abuse of dominance is often nebulous, even more so in a novel context such as the one involving SEPs, which the Commission has moreover distinguished from precedents on “sham litigation” (ITT/Promedia). In these circumstances, the imposition of substantial fines could have raised issues as to its compatibility with general principles that require certainty in the law if a penalty is to be imposed.

A declaratory decision with no fines would enable the Commission to clarify the law and set a precedent without punishing actions that took place against an unclear legal background.

This would not at all be a first; the Commission has in the past imposed no fines, or only symbolic fines, in cases where at the time when the conduct took place the law wasn’t clear on whether it could constitute an infringement.  In abuse of dominance cases, this has happened, for instance, in relation to the discriminatory sale of tickets for the 1998 Football World Cup case (2000), regarding Deutsche Post’s interception of cross-border mail (2001) and, more recently, in the Clearstream case (2009).

This may be only for geeks, but the explanatory memorandum accompanying the draft of Regulation 1/2003 also explained that the mere clarification in the public interest of new legal questions could justify the adoption of purely declaratory decisions.

Interestingly, however, EU Courts have nevertheless consistently rejected the argument that the novelty of an abuse could be invoked as a ground to seek a reduction of a fine imposed by the Commission (e.g. in Irish Sugar or Deutsche Bahn)”.