Interviews and Analysis

Isolde Goggin retired as president of Ireland’s Competition and Consumer Protection Commission on 4 October. She spoke to GCR about the difficulties of operating as an enforcer without an effective sanctions regime, the likelihood of her agency restructuring following the transposition of the ECN+ directive and why she thinks the country’s courts must take a firmer stance when punishing competition infringements.

11 October 2021

With almost five years as president of the Portuguese Competition Authority under her belt, Margarida Matos Rosa spoke to Charley Connor about the agency’s recent forays into labour markets, the importance of focus when running a small authority and her ambitious plans for the 15 months left of her mandate.

20 September 2021

Alejandra Palacios Prieto stepped down as head of Mexico’s Federal Economic Competition Commission last week after eight years at the helm. In a wide ranging interview with GCR, she spoke about controversial proposals by lawmakers to merge the agency into a super regulator, the importance of challenging problematic government regulations, why she thinks revolving door caps are unconstitutional, and the need to reform domestic competition rules to tackle digital market concerns.

15 September 2021

On 9 July 2021, the Joe Biden administration in the US passed an “Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy” proposing sweeping changes aimed at causing a fundamental shift in US antitrust policy. Khaitan & Co partner Sagardeep Rathi and associates Soham Banerjee and Nilav Banerjee examined what the executive order could mean for India.

01 September 2021

ValueLicensing, a UK-based reseller of pre-owned Microsoft software, filed a standalone claim in the High Court of England and Wales in April seeking upwards of £270 million in damages from Microsoft. The latter responded last month by challenging ValueLicensing’s jurisdiction to bring its case and by filing a motion to strike out the claim, with the court scheduling a hearing for March 2022. Charley Connor spoke to Jonathan Horley, the start-up’s founder and managing director, about what drove him to file the claim and how he believes Microsoft has used anticompetitive contractual clauses and discounts to stop its business customers from reselling licences to use its desktop software.

19 August 2021

Ricardo Riesco became head of Chile’s National Economic Prosecutor in December 2018, after taking the reins from long-time chair Felipe Irarrázabal, who led the agency since April 2010. Riesco spoke to GCR about proposed new cartel penalties, navigating enforcement through the global pandemic and the authority’s plans for tackling harm in digital markets.

06 August 2021

Hogan Lovells’ Global Cartel Investigations Group sketches out its views on likely trends in post-pandemic antitrust that are expected to shape antitrust enforcement in the coming years and what this means for companies. This is based on the group's expertise and trend-spotting efforts, distilled into key topics which translate to six capabilities companies around the globe should leverage to successfully navigate the post-pandemic world of antitrust.

02 July 2021

India’s competition authority issued an interim order against booking platform MakeMyTrip in early March, forcing it to immediately relist two budget hotel chains it removed as part of an alleged anticompetitive agreement with one of their rivals. Ahead of a keenly anticipated final decision, Khaitan & Co partner Anisha Chand and principal associate Swati Bala examine the implications of that rarely used interim order and how the case will affect the assessment of relevant markets, market power and market access in the digital economy.

04 June 2021

Kazuyuki Furuya took over as chair of Japan’s Fair Trade Commission in September 2020. He spoke to GCR about the agency’s focus on digital platforms, its review of Google’s acquisition of Fitbit despite the deal falling below reporting thresholds and the importance of international cooperation in tackling modern antitrust problems.

24 May 2021

The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently issued a ground-breaking decision in the litigation between doormakers Jeld-Wen and Steves and Son, confirming a divestiture order in a private merger dispute for the first time. Winston & Strawn partners Susannah Torpey and Neely Agin explore how the ruling might be used by private plaintiffs to challenge allegedly anticompetitive deals in technology markets, while also highlighting some of the drawbacks to bringing these novel claims.

24 March 2021