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Parallel application of national and Union competition law
Veselý, Jakub ; Šmejkal, Václav (advisor) ; Pítrová, Lenka (referee)
Parallel application of national and Union competition law The adoption of regulation No. 1/2003 opened a discussion on admissibility of parallel application of national and EU competition law regarding the ne bis in idem principle. The aim of the thesis is to map the condition of this legal topic after ten years since the process of modernisation of EU competition law on the basis of the analysis of judicial decisions and relevant legal acts including EU Charter of fundamental rights that became a part of EU primary law since Lisbon Treaty. Three different cases are to be understood under the term parallel application. The cumulative application means a case where national competition authority applies both national and EU law to punish anticompetitive behaviour in one single proceedings. The second case is the parallel application on the EU territory, where there are several proceedings held by competition authorities parallelly. These proceedings are held either concurrently or consequently. Lastly, the parallel application going beyond the EU territory is the case where an anticompetitive behaviour that has already been punished by a competition authority of a non-member state is subject of proceedings held by competition authority in EU. The thesis is divided into six chapters. The first...
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Relevant markets in the energy sector (in decision-making practice of the Office for the Protection of Competition)
Kujaníková, Tereza ; Eichlerová, Kateřina (advisor) ; Horáček, Tomáš (referee)
Relevant markets in the energy sector (in decision-making practice of the Office for the Protection of Competition) Abstract The purpose of my thesis is to analyze the issue of relevant markets delineation in energy sector. More precisely, to determine which relevant markets have been identified in this sector by the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition, eventually by the European Commission. The reason for my research derives from absence of any comprehensive study dealing with the subject matter, despite its essential importance both for competitors and competition itself. To identify relevant markets is a prerequisite for ruling competition cases by antimonopoly authorities (while assessing concentration of undertakings, abuse of a dominant position or anticompetitive agreements). The thesis is composed of three parts, each of them dealing with different aspects of relevant markets delineation. Part One is introductory and defines scope and basic terminology used in the thesis: competition, competitors and energy. Part Two examines more closely methodology of identifying relevant markets. This part consists of five chapters. Chapter One focuses on relevant market definition and its importance. Chapters Two to Four deal with different perspectives of its delineation, i.e. product, geographic and...
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Trade Marks and Their Practical Use in Economic Competition
Vančura, Jan ; Horáček, Vít (advisor) ; Plíva, Stanislav (referee)
The purpose of this thesis is to outline the legal institution of trade marks in the current positive law - i.e. de lege lata, to introduce the rights and obligations granted and imposed by this legal regulation and to portray the actual usage of these in economic competition, with focus on their enforcement by suit of law in case of the infringement of these rights and obligations by third parties (most commonly competitors). This thesis contains direct citations and certain acquired professional opinions, the source of each of which is denoted in an appended footnote. The first chapter of this thesis is a theoretical introduction, comprising of the definition of trade marks, the national, community and international legal regulation of trade marks and a brief history of trademarks. The second chapter discusses the functions of trade marks, especially their uses in economic competition, their utility from the consumer's perspective and their impact on the market economy. The third chapter of this thesis includes a description of the registration procedure, which is a precondition for the creation of the right to legal protection of trade marks, an enumeration of the particular rights and obligations of persons (namely the owner of a trade mark and third parties) and a description of certain...
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Trade Marks and Their Practical Use in Economic Competition
Vančura, Jan ; Horáček, Vít (advisor) ; Plíva, Stanislav (referee)
61\dokument1\23 December 2011 Abstract The purpose of this thesis is to outline the legal institution of trade marks in the current positive law - i.e. de lege lata, to introduce the rights and obligations granted and imposed by this legislation and to portray the actual usage of these in economic competition, with focus on their enforcement by suit of law in case of the infringement of these rights and obligations by third parties (most commonly competitors). This thesis contains direct citations and certain acquired professional opinions, the source of each of which is denoted in an appended footnote. The first chapter of this thesis is a theoretical introduction, comprising of the definition of trade marks, the national, community and international legal regulation of trade marks and a brief history of trademarks. The second chapter of this thesis is a description of the registration procedure, which is a precondition for the creation of the right to legal protection of trade marks, including the protection against unlawfully registered trade marks. The third chapter, which is the core of this thesis, discusses the uses and functions of trade marks, especially their uses in economic competition, their utility from the consumer's perspective and their impact on the market economy. This chapter also...
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Misleading advertising
Vilhelmová, Lucie ; Patěk, Daniel (advisor) ; Zahradníčková, Marie (referee)
Misleading advertising The topic of this rigorous thesis is "Misleading advertising". The theme of the thesis is current and attractive, because everybody comes across the advertising all the time and thus the advertisement influents each of our lives. One of the motives for writing this rigorous thesis was to mediate understanding of problems concerning with the misleading advertising and the unfair competition. The rigorous thesis is divided into six chapters. The first chapter deals with the economy competition and is an introduction to the misleading advertising. In this chapter, I compare the brief historical excursion law against the unfair competition with the cartel law. The second chapter deals with the unfair competition. In this chapter, I also analyze the general clause of the unfair competition and its three characters and subjects of the unfair competition. The third chapter of the rigorous thesis is called "Advertising" and it is an introduction to the advertising and its legal and non-legal regulation in the Czech Republic and the European Union. The fourth chapter is a pivotal one and it is titled "Misleading advertising". In this chapter, I analyze the characters of the misleading advertising and trying to compare the regulation of the misleading advertising in the Commercial Code and the...
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EU's Competition Policy v. USA's Antitrust : Antitrust in Payoff Matrix
Luňáčková, Petra ; Hrubý, Zdeněk (advisor) ; Gutiérrez Chvalkovská, Jana (referee)
EU's Competition Policy v. USA's Antitrust Antitrust in Payoff Matrix Abstract The thesis consists of two parts - comparative study and antitrust model. First part is dedicated to the comparison of European competition policy and American antitrust. It introduces both policies and focuses mostly on key differences between them, especially on the non-price vertical restraints and monopoly pricing. The economic theory is indecisive about the effects of vertical agreements on competition. The EU finds them often anticompetitive compared to the U.S. that believes in their procompetitive or neutral impact. Second part presents an antitrust model which describes the process of protecting competition and suggests optimal behavior for both enforcement officials and firms. In the game theory framework the payoff matrixes show the difference discussed in the first part and offer theoretical solution. Optimal strategies are derived for American, European and neutral policies and compared afterwards. The case study concludes the thesis and gives a real example of the difference between antitrust and competition policy. Key words: antitrust, competition policy, vertical mergers, game theory, payoff matrix, Article 101 and 102 of the TFEU, Sherman Act
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Selected issues of unfair competition and legal protection against such conduct
Mrzena, Miroslav ; Patěk, Daniel (advisor) ; Horáček, Vít (referee)
Selected issues of unfair competition and legal protection against such conduct The purpose of my thesis is to analyse one of the most frequent unfair competition practice, the misleading advertising and the possibilities of legal protection against this practice. The thesis is composed of six chapters, each of them dealing with different aspects of unfair competition. The first chapter describes various attempts on the definition of the economic competition and explains the terms as economic aspect and benefit. The legal regulation of the economic competition includes direct and indirect regulation. Indirect regulation is based on exclusion of certain items or goods from the trading and on supervision of another category of items. Direct regulation is devided into antitrust law, that prevents elimination, restriction or another violation of economic competition, and into competition law, that prohibits the competitors from using unfair practices in the battle for customer. In the second chapter the unfair competition, its development and its subjects are covered. One of the most essential elements of an unfair competition, the "general clause" concept, is outlined in this chapter by characterization of its attributes and its relationship to special states of facts of an unfair competition. Certain...
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Predatory Pricing in Transport Sector: Case Study of the STUDENT AGENCY, s.r.o.
Dobiáš, Adam ; Vacek, Pavel (advisor) ; Vaško, Dan (referee)
Predatory Pricing in Transport Sector: Case Study of the STUDENT AGENCY, s.r.o. Abstract This paper deals with predatory pricing in transport sector. A situation when one company sells its product at a very low price, intending to illegally drive competitors out of the market. Aim of this paper is to discuss mentioned issues in transport sector and to explain methods of solving predatory cases according to the newest guidelines of the European Commission, national competition au- thorities and national courts. Market delineation, dominance determination and predation cost analysis is discussed. Not only theoretical aspect of predatory behaviour and its impact on competition but also a detection of predatory pri- cing by authorities is discussed. Special attention to the specifics of transport sector is given. The core of this paper is an analysis of STUDENT AGENCY, s.r.o. case from year 2008, when mentioned company was accused of predatory pricing on their bus line Praha-Brno. Keywords predatory pricing, antitrust, competition, re- levant market, dominance, transportation, SS- NIP test, Reverse Cellophane Fallacy, Office for the Protection of Competition, STUDENT AGENCY, s.r.o.
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Bid rigging in public procurement
Kohútová, Zuzana ; Horáček, Tomáš (advisor) ; Eichlerová, Kateřina (referee)
The thesis provides for a comprehensive legal overview of bid rigging and its manifestation in public procurement. Bid rigging is defined as coordination of competitors in tenders which is not necessary and which is executed when these competitors submit bids according to the conditions agreed among them. The thesis briefly sums up available information on occurrence of bid rigging with emphasis on the only two cases of bid rigging that have been identified, proved and sanctioned in the Czech Republic. This information suggests that despite the fact that the risk of bid rigging is higher at certain markets, notably markets with limited number of competitors present thereon, it may take place in any market. Bid rigging is further analysed as a prohibited agreement distorting competition which always distorts or prevents competitions and as such is considered one of the most serious anti- competitive practices capable of causing immense economic damage. A separate chapter tackles bid rigging in public procurement. This chapter analyses legal basis of prohibition of bid rigging in public procurement, its impact on principles of efficiency, effectiveness and expediency, and points out factors that may support occurrence of bid rigging. With regards to this analysis, the thesis formulates several...
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Vertical restraints on competition in the sector of e-commerce
Krumlová, Dita ; Šmejkal, Václav (advisor) ; Svobodová, Magdaléna (referee)
This thesis deals with the selected vertical restraints on competition that occur in the sector of e-commerce, namely resale price maintenance, dual pricing and most-favoured-nation clauses. The thesis raises the research question what stance the European Commission, the Court of Justice of the European Union, and particularly national competition authorities and courts of the Federal Republic of Germany, the French Republic, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Italian Republic, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Sweden take to the above-mentioned practices. The decisions of the authorities are considered in terms of their degree of strictness towards the vertical restraints in question. From a systematic point of view, the thesis is divided into eight chapters. Its subject, basic questions, aims and methods used are outlined in the introductory chapter. The second chapter, which deals with the concept of e-commerce, mainly provides the definition of the scope of the sector under consideration from a material point of view. The third chapter analyses the results of the European Commission's inquiry into the e-commerce sector, especially its conclusions on the functioning of the sector, its features and trends in this sector, particularly with regard to their...
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