


Joseph Vogel
Joseph Vogel created Vogel & Vogel with his brother in 1990. Senior partner at one of France’s foremost competition law firms. Joseph Vogel has been a specialist in competition law for the past 30 years, 25 of which as a partner at the firm. Main areas of expertise are French and EU competition law, distribution law. Advises undertakings in the field of competition law at European and French level. Handles actions based on article 81 or 82 of the treaty, merger notifications to the Meger Task Force, competition cases before the Commission the Court of First Instance and the Court of Justice of the European Communities and advises on all issues linked to the validity and performance of exclusive distribution agreements, franchise or agency contracts including where necessary subsequent litigation. Mr. Vogel is also a recognized specialist in motor vehicle distribution and competition law, providing counsel and dealing with litigation in the areas of exclusive/selective distribution, franchise, and agency agreements.
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Articles
64041 Bulletin
1023
The automobile industry and its distribution and service networks are subject to competition rules like any other sector. But the analysis of the competition authorities’ decisional practice and case law reveals a large number of decisions relating to automobile distribution. Why does (...)
141
In several cases relating to the award of public contracts, the courts have authorized search and seizure operations in the premises of various companies suspected of collusion. In each case, the Court of Cassation dismissed the appeal against the order issuing the warrant and the Competition (...)
250
A German company which had had its products distributed by the same operator in France since 1988 announced its intention to recuperate the French market by installing a subsidiary on the territory thereby terminating relations with the distributor. Aggrieved by the lack of sufficient notice of (...)
493
On 28 January 2009, the European Commission handed down fines of EUR 131 million to manufacturers of marine hoses for price fixing, market sharing and exchanges of sensitive commercial information between 1986 and 2007. Several of the undertakings in question lodged appeals to the General Court (...)
447
The French Competition Authority has handed down a fine of EUR 40 million to the Sanofi-Aventis Laboratory for implementing a practice of driving out competition by disparaging generic versions of its flagship product Plavix® to healthcare professionals in order to favor sales of the original (...)
1130
In answer to the question of whether a general and absolute ban on selling cosmetics and personal care products online constitutes a hardcore restriction of competition by object, the European Court of Justice said that yes it did, if "having regard to the properties of the products at issue, (...)
300
Further to an ex-officio investigation in 2008 and a complaint filed by Euro Cargo Rail in 2009, the French Competition Authority has found the SNCF guilty of several instances of abuse of dominant position in the context of the opening up to competition of the rail transport sector. After (...)
143
Referred to by the publisher of a new daily sports newspaper of practices that a competing press group implemented for driving it from the market, the Competition Authority (AdlC) conducted an investigation. At the request of its general case-handler (rapporteure générale), the Juge des libertés (...)
471
The new Motor Vehicle Regulation and its Guidelines have raised many questions from players in the aftermarket sector. The Commission has therefore decided to publish its answers to the most frequently asked questions in a document which, as it has emphasized from the outset, is neither (...)
935
Four perfume brands have filed a legal action against the world’s number-one online auction site, eBay: they accuse eBay of allowing on its sites the sale by non-authorized third parties of products covered by a selective distribution channel. The judge found that eBay, a site bringing together (...)
204
In May 2010, an operator terminated without notice a partnership agreement with another party. The latter filed a claim for damages on the basis of Articles 1134 and 1147 of the Civil Code. Applying the jurisdiction clause contained in the contract, the Commercial Court in Arras declined (...)
1676
In 2004, Orange Caraïbe was subject to protective measures in order to put an end to anticompetitive practices on the mobile phone market in the French Caribbean. Five years later, the Competition Authority (AdlC) handed down a 63 million euro fine to Groupe France Telecom. On 23 September 2010, (...)
440
On 21 October 1998, the French Competition Council had initiated ex officio an investigation into the luxury perfumes sector. By the end of the investigation, the Council estimated that, between 1997 and 2000, a general and continuous vertical agreement between several well-known brands and (...)
1374
In 2006, the French Competition Council (Conseil de la concurrence) initiated proceedings regarding practices in the cosmetics and personal care products distribution sector after finding that the majority of manufacturers required that sales be carried out only in a physical space and always (...)
819
The Football Association Premier League (FAPL), holder of the television broadcasting rights for the Premier League, the leading professional football league competition for football clubs in England, grants exclusive licences in respect of those broadcasting rights to one TV channel per (...)
443
UFC Que Choisir had complained of practices between three telephone operators that, in its view, were anticompetitive. Before the ruling against the operators, UFC Que Choisir had set up on its website a mechanism by which those with a grievance could develop their case in an online file. The (...)
713
The number-one Polish telecom operator – former State owned monopoly - was suspected of a violation of Article 8 of the Polish law on competition and consumer protection and of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). At the end of the procedure the Polish (...)
638
The Paris Court of Appeal had ruled against the world’s leading temporary employment agencies for a price cartel concerning their major clients. The Court of Cassation has delivered a most informative decision of rejection in respect of all the appeals – essentially procedural - against the (...)
1149
The question of the criteria required for quantitative selective distribution continues to create intense debate in the case law in France. There are two opposing schools of opinion on the question both from legal commentators and in the case law: The first school argues that the European (...)
782
In two important judgments, the European Court of Human Rights has partially invalidated the search and seizures procedure implemented under Article L. 450-4 of the French Commercial Code. In both cases the companies Canal Plus (Groupe Canal Plus and Sport Plus) and Primagaz challenged the (...)
1097
On 15 December 2010, the General Court of the European Union (EGC) handed down a tough but very thoroughly argued decision on the infringement of breaking of an official seal. The European Commission had ordered an inspection of the premises of the company E.ON Energie AG in the context of an (...)
1031
A new development has arisen in the luxury perfumes case. The Paris Court of Appeal, ruling on a referral back to it from the Court of Cassation, had exceptionally annulled a Competition Council (now Competition Authority) decision for excessive duration of the investigation procedure . This (...)
985
Since 1998, the Sanofi-Aventis France laboratory has been marketing an antiplatelet medication, Plavix(r), whose intellectual property protection expired on 15 July 2008 in Europe, with the exception of the rights protecting clopidogrel salt used in Plavix(r) and the clopidogrel-aspirin (...)
3673
On 7 April 2010, the Supreme Court quashed the judgment of the Paris Court of Appeal which had been unusually severe in finding a restrictive agreement from information exchanges between Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom distorting the conditions for unlawfulness set out in the famous John Deere (...)
1604
The maritime servicing of Corsica case provided the Paris Court of Appeal with an opportunity to rule on jurisdiction between the Competition Authority and the administrative courts and on the definition of a dominant position and the necessity of an effect on the market to characterise an (...)
2173
The company Titres Cadeaux complained that the company Kadéos was foreclosing the markets for the distribution and redeeming of multi-store gift cards by systematically including exclusivity clauses in its contracts with traders. It therefore filed a complaint with the Competition Authority for (...)
1261
The Court of Cassation has quashed and annulled the decision by which the Paris Court of Appeal upheld the order for interim measures - which are very unusual - leading to the suspension of Orange’s exclusive deal to market the iPhone . According to the Court of Appeal, exclusive agreements (...)
4522
Many suppliers organise their networks using qualitative and quantitative selective distribution systems and particularly in the case of motor vehicle distribution. More generally, all sectors in which it may be practical to have recourse to a limited number of distributors meeting the required (...)
1070
The interim order handed down by the President of the Albi Commercial Court on 28 October 2009 is of interest insofar as it has, for the first time in France, ruled on the issue of the competence of the local court hearing applications for interim relief to rule on matters involving competition (...)
2788
The companies Outremer and Moebius had accused France Télécom of having abusively exploited its dominant position resulting from its former legal monopoly in order to slow down the development of alternative operators on the landline and Internet access markets in Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guyana (...)
4049
Legal disputes often arise relative to the selection of distributors of new vehicles in distribution systems that are both qualitative and quantitative in the various Member States of the EU. An analysis of the decisions rendered reflects the significant difficulties, after entry into force of (...)
1660
On 27 May 2009, the Paris Court of Appeal rendered a judgment that is of great interest with regard to two competition law issues. In respect of sales outside the network by distributors :- under Block Exemption Regulation n° 1400/2002 on the application of Article 81(3) of the Treaty to (...)
1655
The decision rendered on 8 April 2009 by the Competition Authority concerning the takeover of the company Pellier Metz SAS by the group Bailly SAS constitutes the first application of the new merger control provisions applicable to the distribution sector under the LME law of 4 August 2008 and (...)
1927
Up until 2003 a car manufacturer had distributed its vehicles via networks specific to each brand by guaranteeing territorial exclusivity to all of its dealers. With the entry into force of Regulation n° 1400/2002 , the company opted for a qualitative and quantitative selective distribution (...)
1995
The highest commercial court in France has for the first time addressed the question of procedural safeguards for undertakings concerned during the commitments procedure laid down in article L. 464-2, I of the Commercial Code. The aim of the procedure is “to ensure that the undertaking ceases or (...)
1828
Assessment of the consequences on jurisdiction of the unchallenged public policy qualification for provisions relating to restrictive practices can be derived from two decisions, rendered by different chambers of the Cour de cassation. In the first case, a French distributor brought an action (...)
2247
Terminations on the basis of network reorganizations taking place at the time of entry into force of motor vehicle Block Exemption Regulation n° 1400/2002 have given rise to a number of decisions by the ECJ and in the courts of various Member States, and particularly in France. The latest (...)
1981
Before the NRE Law (Nouvelles régulations économiques) the courts were divided over the question of whether the Minister for the Economy had jurisdiction to ask courts to order the annulment of contracts containing provisions to implement restrictive practices or to award damages to victims of (...)
4374
Four perfumers sue eBay, the world’s foremost brokerage platform for remote electronic bidding, for having permitted, in violation of their rights, the sale of products marketed through unauthorized channels and counterfeit sales on its sites. eBay disputed the competence of the French courts (...)
4286
A small consumer electronics discount retailer brought an action before the Competition Council against some of its suppliers for vertical agreements made with their respective distributors. In support of the action, the retailer produced tapes containing the recordings of phone conversations (...)
4264
The company Turbo Europe, better known under the name Automobil- Eclerc, has been in dispute with the French automobile manufacturers for a number of years. After attempting to place orders for new vehicles from Peugeot, Citroën and Renault and being turned down on the grounds of not belonging (...)
52678 Review
69
This section selects books on themes related to competition laws and economics. This compilation does not attempt to be exhaustive but rather a survey of themes important in the area. The survey usually covers publication over the last three months after publication of the latest issue of (...)
84
This section selects books on themes related to competition laws and economics. This compilation does not attempt to be exhaustive but rather a survey of themes important in the area. The survey usually covers publication over the last three months after publication of the latest issue of (...)
75
This section selects books on themes related to competition laws and economics. This compilation does not attempt to be exhaustive but rather a survey of themes important in the area. The survey usually covers publication over the last three months after publication of the latest issue of (...)
69
This section selects books on themes related to competition laws and economics. This compilation does not attempt to be exhaustive but rather a survey of themes important in the area. The survey usually covers publication over the last three months after publication of the latest issue of (...)
107
This section selects books on themes related to competition laws and economics. This compilation does not attempt to be exhaustive but rather a survey of themes important in the area. The survey usually covers publication over the last three months after publication of the latest issue of (...)
64
This section selects books on themes related to competition laws and economics. This compilation does not attempt to be exhaustive but rather a survey of themes important in the area. The survey usually covers publication over the last three months after publication of the latest issue of (...)
134
This section selects books on themes related to competition laws and economics. This compilation does not attempt to be exhaustive but rather a survey of themes important in the area. The survey usually covers publication over the last three months after publication of the latest issue of (...)
117
This section selects books on themes related to competition laws and economics. This compilation does not attempt to be exhaustive but rather a survey of themes important in the area. The survey usually covers publication over the last three months after publication of the latest issue of (...)
89
This section selects books on themes related to competition laws and economics. This compilation does not attempt to be exhaustive but rather a survey of themes important in the area. The survey usually covers publication over the last three months after publication of the latest issue of (...)
47
This section selects books on themes related to competition laws and economics. This compilation does not attempt to be exhaustive but rather a survey of themes important in the area. The survey usually covers publication over the last three months after publication of the latest issue of (...)
105
This section selects books on themes related to competition laws and economics. This compilation does not attempt to be exhaustive but rather a survey of themes important in the area. The survey usually covers publication over the last three months after publication of the latest issue of (...)
203
The SNCF, which has a monopoly on the French rail transport market, had concluded a partnership agreement with a travel agency that exclusively redirected its customers to their new joint online travel agency: the voyage-sncf.com website. The Paris Court of Appeal confirms the vertical cartel (...)
3057
The De minimis communication of the European Commission defines under which conditions agreements between firms will not be considered to restrict competition in a sensitive way. The three contributions in this article discuss its effectiveness in promoting legal security for firms, especially (...)
2561
Competition law violations give rise to various types of sanction: administrative, civil, penal or even professional. Frédéric Jenny analyzes the interest of each type of sanction, puts into context the expected deterrent effect of administrative sanctions and focuses on the need to determine the (...)
253
On 5 October 2005, the Commission imposed a fine of €49.5 million on a car manufacturer for adopting a series of measures to restrict parallel exports of its branded vehicles by its Dutch dealers. Between January 1997 and September 2003, this supplier allegedly implemented a bonus system (...)
213
In the event of new convictions for exchanging information prior to several invitations to tender, the Competition Authority defines the obligations of bidders in a permeable market. The operators had in fact invoked the impossibility of the cartel because of the porous nature of the (...)
303
The general terms and conditions of sale applied by a drug manufacturer to its wholesalers implied, because of a differential pricing system, more onerous conditions when the products were intended for export. Since the agreement had the object of restricting parallel trade, the cartel (...)
1654
This set of three papers is derived from the training session organized by the Concurrences Review that was held on 29th March 2012 in Paris. For Gildas de Muizon, Economist and author of the second contribution, the market power of supermarkets must be assessed locally. For this it is (...)
2625
Paradoxically, competition law today is frequently used more as a weapon of defence than to challenge networks, and notably against certain rules of national law. When relied on as a means of challenging networks, competition law is mainly used either to circumvent the networks, or to gain (...)
2501
This set of three contributions are derived from the conference on "competition law and distribution" organized in Paris the December 14, 2011 by Concurrences Review and Vogel & Vogel. For Louis Vogel, author of the first contribution, the Court of Justice states in the Pierre Fabre case (...)
259
Numéricâble, a cable operator, obtained compensation before the Commercial Court of Paris for the damage suffered as a result of practices by France Telecom, or its subsidiary Wanadoo, that constitute disparagement (Cons. conc., Oct. 15, 2007) and predatory pricing (Comm. EC, July 16, 2003, (...)
188
After terminating the contracts of all the members of its network, a manufacturer grants one of its former partners the distribution of certain ranges of vehicles of its brand, excluding commercial vehicles (LCVs). The dealer holds the supplier liable for the loss of distribution of the LCVs, (...)
327
The Paris Court of Appeal (Nov. 24, 2009, LawLex200900003448JBJ) had condemned, on the basis of Article 101 TFEU, several oil companies for their participation in a cartel during the call for tenders organised by Air France for the supply of fuel for its stopover in Reunion Island. The Court (...)
206
Following a complaint, the Commission carried out an investigation in the video games sector, which revealed that between 1991 and 1997 a major Japanese producer and its distributors agreed to obstruct parallel trade and thus maintain artificially high prices in several Member States. As a (...)
198
The Competition Authority (AdlC) has taken up ex officio cases of practices implemented by companies operating in the port handling sector in Réunion. At the end of its investigations, it found that, after the entry into force of the Order of 1 December 1986 which liberalised the prices (...)
2927
On December 21, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights had condemned the transitional arrangements for the judicial review of visits and seizures in the Canal Plus and Primagaz cases (CDC 01/2011). As early as 13 January, the Paris Court of Appeal ordered the reopening of the proceedings in (...)
222
The French Competition Authority (AdlC) has self-examined the obstacles to competition in the food-dominated retail sector posed by affiliation and franchise agreements and commercial property management arrangements. The AdlC underlines the excessive concentration of the sector: six groups (...)
3018
This set of three papers is derived from the training session on the supplier-distributor relationships organised by Concurrences Review that has held on 22th October 2010 in Paris. The first contribution written by Mr.Joseph Vogel and Mr. Louis Vogel, is dedicated to the consideration of the (...)
3065
This set of three papers is derived from the training session on the restrictions on Internet distribution organised by Concurrences Review that has held on 16th November 2010 in Paris. For Ms Lubek the current trade-off between the pro-competitive effects of Internet distribution and the (...)
4137
Following visits and seizures carried out on its premises, a gas company had filed an application for leniency (C. com., art. L. 464-2, IV) with the DGCCRF and denounced cartels implemented by itself and its competitors in the packaged LPG sector, relating to prices or aimed at hindering the (...)
192
The French Competition Authority (AdlC) has self-examined the obstacles to competition in the food-dominated retail sector posed by affiliation and franchise agreements and commercial property management arrangements. The AdlC underlines the excessive concentration of the sector: six groups (...)
196
By a decision dated August 30, 2006 (LawLex200600001904JBJ), the French Minister of the Economy had authorized, in the pay-TV sector, the takeover of TPS by Vivendi Universal/Canal Plus Group. The Competition Authority is responsible for examining a posteriori the lawfulness of the exclusivity (...)
197
The Competition Authority had issued interim measures against Google which, in its view, had implemented its AdWords online advertising space sales service under conditions which were not objective, non-transparent and discriminatory towards a company active in the speed camera warning sector. (...)
218
In 2003, the Commission found that Deutsche Telekom (DT) had abused its dominant position on the fixed telephony market by charging its competitors wholesale charges for local loop access which were higher than the retail prices it charged its subscribers, thereby preventing its competitors (...)
318
Orange Caraïbe had been the subject of protective measures aimed at the cessation of practices of exclusivity, tariff differentiation, and club effect, likely to constitute anti-competitive practices (Cons. conc., Dec. 9, 2004, confirmed by Paris, Jan. 28, 2005). Five years later, the (...)
209
The Competition Authority has just condemned eleven banks for agreeing for five years on the fixed amount of interbank commissions charged for payments by cheque on the national territory. The consultation took place during meetings of the Inter-Network Commission, which was preparing the (...)
230
By a decision of 29 March 2006, the Commission condemned the abuse of a dominant position by the Tomra group, which had implemented an exclusionary strategy on the German, Dutch, Austrian, Swedish and Norwegian markets for automatic beverage packaging reclaimers by concluding agreements with (...)
3263
This two short papers summarize the main points of the training course Law & Economics held on April 14th 2010 on “Complex pricing strategies” by Concurrences. In the first paper, the author underlines that complex pricing strategies deployed by dominant undertakings have often been targeted (...)
339
On 1 July 2010, the General Court of the European Union upheld the conviction of the AstraZeneca group for abuse of a dominant position. In 2005, the Commission had found two abusive practices: the group’s misleading statements to various national patent offices had allowed it to unduly extend (...)
96
The Commercial Chamber of the Court of Cassation rules for the second time in the mobile telephony case. A first appeal judgment (Paris, 12 Dec. 2006, confirming Cons. conc., 30 Nov. 2005) had been annulled for having condemned an exchange of information per se, rather than examining whether (...)
5590
Introductory remarks Laurence Idot Professor, Universtité Paris II, European College Director of the Scientific Committee of Concurrences 1. Mr President of the Commercial Court, Ladies and Gentlemen. Today is a first, and I am pleased about it. It is indeed the first time that an AFEC (...)
4306
This paper is the print version of the talk given by Professor Louis Vogel and Me Joseph Vogel at the first session of the training cycle “Economics and competition law” launched by Concurrences Review, on 28 October 2009 in Paris, on substituability. The economists - Mme Anne Perrot, MM. (...)
234
Several direct or indirect subsidiaries of Akzo Nobel had been jointly and severally fined with it for a complex and continuous offence in which the parent company had not itself participated. On the basis of the market share of all the participating companies, the Commission imposed a fine of (...)
3022
The rules of competition law applicable to the automobile sector are strongly marked by the automotive BER. All distribution and service agreements in force in this sector are built on the model required by the BER in order to benefit from the legal certainty associated with the block (...)
253
The Competition Authority was called upon to rule on pricing agreements allegedly implemented by a supplier and its distributors in the women’s ready-to-wear sector, described as a "free commercial deposit and sales management contract", which expressly excluded qualification as an agency (...)
137
The merger between Banque Fédérale des Banques Populaires (BFBP) and Caisse Nationale des Caisses d’Epargne (CNCE), which had been in the making since the creation of their joint subsidiary Natixis at the end of 2006 and which was precipitated by the financial crisis, has just given rise to the (...)
268
The Pôle 5 Chambre 7 of the Paris Court of Appeal has just handed down a decision, following a referral from the Court of Cassation, which is surprising in terms of both its operative provisions and its reasoning. It will be remembered that the Competition Council (Cons. conc, 23 Dec. 2004), (...)
185
Five mobile phone operators participate in a single meeting concerning a reduction in the remuneration of subscription resellers, during which they exchange confidential information. The anti-competitive purpose of the meeting is clear: resellers’ remuneration determines the price paid by the (...)
834
Short reaction on the comment related to the suspension of Orange’s exclusivity on Iphone Apple. Having had to deal with this case as Bouygues’ counsel Telecom, we would like in a few sentences to recall the evidence that appear to have guided the Court in its review of the Council’s decision. (...)
3714
In its evaluation report published at the end of May 2008, the Commission found that the motor vehicle block exemption regulation (N° 1400/2002) was no longer adapted to the competitive situation of automobile distribution at present or for the years to come. Although the content of the report (...)
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