Germany: Challenges from New Online Practices to Established Competition Law Principles

摘要

The ongoing conversion towards online distribution is not only a challenge for companies but also for competition law practitioners. New business models like hotel reservation portals create new markets that become subsequently subject to well-established or more novel competition law principles. The recent decisions in Germany clearly show that the competent authority is taking a stand in favour of general protection of online distribution against clear-cut prohibitions by the supply-side or more clandestine restrictions. Free riding does not appear to be of much concern for the FCO, and this approach seems to be backed by the leading case Pierre Fabre of the ECJ.