Lucas Bettoni

After the Lorillard decision, which provided useful clarifications as to the material scope of the presumption of the existence of prejudice in the context of private enforcement (Com., Sept. 28, 2022, No. 21-20.731, Lettre distrib. 10/2022, our observations, holding that no presumption of (...)

Since the Courage decision (ECJ, Sept. 20, 2001, aff. C-453/99), any victim of an anticompetitive practice must be able to bring an action before the national courts to claim compensation for his or her loss. Such compensation is, in principle, subject to the regime of civil liability under (...)

The judgment reported here marks the epilogue of a judicial play played out in several acts, which involved both labour and commercial judges, both on the merits and in cassation, regarding the recognition of the status of branch manager to the director of the distributing company and its (...)

The digital tool can be used by the franchisor as an instrument of (unfair?) competition against its franchised outlets. Other times, the network head uses its website in the interest of its members by providing them with digital tools to boost sales in their stores. This is web-to-store, a (...)

This article was first published in the Lettre de la distribution published by the Centre du Droit de l’Entreprise of the University of Montpellier. The facts. The judgment under review follows a request for a preliminary ruling by the Italian Council of State on the interpretation of (...)

Faits. Hormis dans le secteur de la distribution alimentaire de détail (sans doute parce qu’il est le seul à être régi un accord collectif spécifiquement établi pour les gérants de succursale), il est rare que des parties à un contrat de distribution conviennent ab initio d’une soumission (...)

Cet article a fait l’objet d’une première publication dans la Lettre de la distribution publiée par le Centre du Droit de l’Entreprise de l’Université de Montpellier. Moins de 6 ans après son entrée en vigueur, un arrêt de la Cour de cassation à paraître au bulletin se prononce sur (...)

Cet article a fait l’objet d’une première publication dans la Lettre de la distribution publiée par le Centre du Droit de l’Entreprise de l’Université de Montpellier. Ces dernières années, la franchise participative, ce système de distribution singulier à la croisée du réseau et du groupe (...)

Cet article a fait l’objet d’une première publication dans la Lettre de la distribution publiée par le Centre du Droit de l’Entreprise de l’Université de Montpellier. L’autonomie juridique et patrimoniale des sociétés au sein des réseaux de distribution est régulièrement attaquée. Le (...)

Cet article a fait l’objet d’une première publication dans la Lettre de la distribution publiée par le Centre du Droit de l’Entreprise de l’Université de Montpellier. S’il ne révolutionne pas la pratique décisionnelle et juridictionnelle en la matière, cet arrêt de la Cour de justice (...)

As already noted in these columns (see our comments in Lettre distrib. 11/2018, p. 4), the company Distribution Casino France is at the heart of a heavy industrial dispute with non-salaried managers who have been entrusted with the management of its so-called "integrated" stores (...)

Faits. L’arrêt sous commentaire marque l’épilogue d’une affaire à rebondissements qui débuta par la saisine en 2008 du Conseil de la concurrence, devenu depuis l’Autorité de la concurrence, pour des pratiques de plusieurs organisations de producteurs (ci-après « OP ») et associations (...)

Cet article a fait l’objet d’une première publication dans la Lettre de la distribution publiée par le Centre du Droit de l’Entreprise de l’Université de Montpellier. Faits. La société SFR a conclu six contrats de distribution de ses produits et services avec la société ETE. Cinq ont expiré (...)

This article was first published in the Lettre de la distribution published by the Centre du Droit de l’Entreprise of the University of Montpellier. Dissociation of contractual and tortious faults in case of violation of a non-competition clause* Facts. The subsidiary of a group of (...)

Disloyalty of the supplier and contours of the damage reparable for the distributor* Facts A French distributor of electronic and telecommunications equipment approached an English supplier specializing in the development and production of audiovisual broadcasting equipment with a view to (...)

Despite the doctrinal hype it generates, the litigation of abusive price fixing by the supplier in framework distribution contracts is far from being plethoric (for a recent position of the High Court, see cep. Cass. com., Nov. 4, 2014, No. 11-14026). This is why the judgment under comment (...)

In doctrine, the imputability of the harmful acts of a member of an integrated distribution network to its promoter is a subject of disputatio (see in particular our study, "La responsabilité de l’animateur d’un réseau de distribution pour des actes dommageables commis par ses membres à l’aune (...)

Facts and procedure Pursuant to an agreement dated May 31, 2012, renewed by amendment until February 12, 2016, Biomet (the supplier) entrusted Médical Implants (the distributor) with the distribution of its products and medical devices. During 2014, difficulties arose between the parties (...)

Although this is an interlocutory proceeding, the decision under review merits attention in that it addresses the somewhat novel question of whether the provider can rely on the prohibition on off-grid resales once it has decided to implement the system. The Commission will also consider (...)

Following an investigation lasting several months, the Competition Authority (hereinafter the Authority) published an opinion on 17 November 2020 on the competitive situation on the Île de Beauté. The document begins with an in-depth diagnosis of economic concentration in four key sectors of (...)

Facts. Six companies specialising in the sale of motor vehicles are part of a dealership network run by the subsidiary of the General Motors group importing new vehicles of the brand in France. As such, they benefit from a new vehicle distribution contract and also from an approved repairer (...)

Facts and procedure The Competition Authority has been seized by an audiovisual services broadcasting operator for practices committed by TDF, the leading competitor on this market, which could potentially constitute an abuse of a dominant position. By decision of June 6, 2016, the (...)

While trade negotiations for the establishment of the 2021 agreements are already under way, the CEPC has posted a recommendation on its website which aims to "guide the professionals concerned in the possible difficulties of applying current contracts due to the health crisis and its (...)

The judgment under review is an opportunity to review both the contours of the fault committed at the time of a breach of a distribution agreement and the lawfulness of a refusal of approval to a candidate for entry into the network, issues which fuel a rather plethoric dispute (if the dispute (...)

Usually, the parties to a transaction submit their application for annulment of the act on the basis of the policy of defects of consent (Civil Code, arts. 1130 et seq.), or even on the absence of reciprocal concessions (see Civ. 1, 9 July 2003, No. 01-11963). To claim the nullity of a (...)

The impact of Orders n° 2020-306 of March 25, 2020 and n° 2020-427 of April 15, 2020 on business contracts In accordance with the authorization granted by Parliament in Emergency Act No. 2020-290 of 23 March 2020 to deal with the covid-19 epidemic, the Government adopted "deadline" Ordinance (...)

This Decision will mark a decisive turning point in the decision-making practice of the Competition Authority (the Authority) in two respects. Firstly, because the French competition police force is imposing the highest financial penalty ever imposed in a case (EUR 1.24 billion) and Apple (...)

As a sign of its importance, the judgment under review is not only intended to be published in the Bulletin, but also benefits from an enrichment of its motivation. This means that the concept of restriction of competition by object, which is at the heart of its solution, is the subject of (...)

The previous letter was an opportunity to report a judgment providing useful clarifications on the relationship between the quasi-salaried relationship discovered a posteriori by the social judge between the supplier and the manager of the company in charge of distributing the products and the (...)

It is rare for the Commercial Chamber of the Court of Cassation to hear disputes involving branch management. Since the recognition of the status gives rise to the application of social law, the social chamber is naturally competent to rule on the matter. However, it is up to the commercial (...)

The judgment under consideration examines under competition and contract law a practice which is particularly harmful to members of an exclusive dealership network: active sales by a neighbouring dealer in the territory reserved for them by the grantor. The operator of a garage offering (...)

The decision under consideration follows the reference made by the Court of Cassation in its important decision of 27 March 2019 on the selection of resellers in a selective distribution system (Com., 27 March 2019, No. 17-22083: published in the Bulletin; Lettre distr. April 2019, p. 1, nos (...)

Where the individual employment contract is the subject of an instrumentum, the most obvious way to identify the employer is to refer to this writing and read the names of the parties: one is the employer, the other the employee. This appearance may well correspond to reality, particularly (...)

Over the past ten years or so, many distributors affiliated to the Yves Rocher network, when relations deteriorate, have asked the social judge to apply the protective provisions of the Labour Code by recognising the status of branch manager referred to in Articles L. 7321-1 et seq. C. trav. (...)

An independent distributor of consumer electronics products, in particular televisions, operates a physical point of sale and an online sales site. Since the 2000s, it has been marketing Samsung brand products, in particular "Elite" range flat screen televisions. Its relations with the French (...)

In 2013, a company with a food retail business will enter into a supply contract with a subsidiary of the Carrefour Group for a period of seven years, tacitly renewable for five-year periods. On the same date and for the same period, it enters into a brand contract with another Group (...)

After having observed the marketing at low prices on a website of some of its perfumes usually distributed by its selective distribution network, Coty France sued the operator of the site for unfair competition. At the outset, the supplier justifies having set up a selective distribution (...)

The question of whether, under the general law of obligations, a candidate for entry into a selective distribution network that meets the selection criteria set by its promoter enjoys a right to approval is the subject of debate in doctrine (see N. Ferrier, La liberté de sélectionner dans la (...)

Widely accepted in case-law and already appearing in special laws (not art. L. 330-3 C. com.), the reform of the law of contract has enshrined in the Civil Code an obligation of pre-contractual information (art. 1112-1). This consecration raises the question of the place to be accorded to this (...)

Litigation over the application of labour law within distribution networks is not about to dry up. Attracted by the profit prospects offered by the recognition of the status of "quasi-employee" (C. trav., art. L.7321-1 et seq.) and certainly encouraged by the generally welcoming judicial (...)

There is a wealth of news on the subject of non-employee management of food retail branches, with no less than five judgments recorded, including two from the High Court and promised to be published in the Bulletin. Opposing Casino against pairs of supermarket managers expressly subject to the (...)

The judgment under comment, delivered in connection with an exclusive concession network, will be of interest to the lover of contract law in that it deals with the question of whether a contract is to be classified as a contract of indefinite or definite duration. It is well known that, in (...)

In Title II of the Labour Code on branch managers, the doctrine focuses on the first chapter, entitled "general provisions" and applicable to branch managers in general, and rightly denounces the extensive application of this status (see "The status of branch managers", Chapter 1, "General (...)

Back to a more reasoned application of the branch manager status ?* Under the threat of Articles L. 7321-1 et seq. of the Labour Code relating to branch management, the promoters of distribution networks must find a balance between preserving the independence of distributors and the - no (...)

The application of the status of branch manager: what consequences?* The judgment under commentary, although it does not contain any novelty in the area of branch management, is worth noting as an illustration of the consequences of the application of this status. By concluding a (...)

Overview of decisions on branch management: several useful clarifications* The promoters of distribution networks know that they are exposed to the risk of having the rules of social law applied to their relations with their distributors when the latter are placed in a situation of economic (...)

Branch management decisions: several useful clarifications* Conditions of application of the status of branch manager Two Court of Appeal decisions (Toulouse, 9 June 2017and Angers, 25 July 2017) deal with the qualification of the status of branch manager to a franchisee, with regard more (...)

Overview of decisions on branch management: several useful clarifications* Consequences of the application of the branch manager status Lastly, the extensive interpretation of the conditions of application of the status of branch manager is all the more formidable as the financial (...)

When the inherent precariousness of the trial period drives out the abuse in the breach of a franchise agreement* The judgment under commentary is interesting because it is the first, to our knowledge, in which the Court of Cassation rules on the increasingly widespread practice of trial (...)