IP News
Marketplace injunction: Platform decision of the European Court of Justice: Coty scores win against online trade
May manufacturers of brand-name products dictate to sellers which online platforms they may use for distribution? This question was addressed by the European Court of Justice. An online seller of perfume products had sued a manufacturer of perfume products that did not wish its products to be sold on certain platforms. The view of the brand-name manufacturer has now been confirmed by the European Court of Justice in its decision. However, the Court stated, resellers must be selected based on objective criteria of a qualitative kind that are specified uniformly for all potential resellers and must be applied without discrimination. Moreover, the specified criteria may not go beyond what is necessary. Etailment, the e-commerce magazine of "Der Handel," spoke about the decision with Dr. Hauke Hansen, an antitrust law expert at the Frankfurt office of FPS. Dr. Hansen views the decision as a clear win for the industry, but also finds it striking that the European Court of Justice imposed less constraints on brand-name manufacturers than the German Federal Cartel Office has done up to now.