The EU General Court rejects the application for annulment dismissing the argument that the reluctance of retailers to sell products of other ice-cream manufacturers could not be attributed to the exclusivity clause (Van den Bergh Foods/Commission)

Twilight of the Idols* The Van den Bergh Foods case, aka the Ice Cream case, if often cited as one of the best Article 101 TFEU judgments ever handed down by the General Court. Many praise its modern, unformalistic approach of vertical ties. They like its focus on the economic magnitude of the foreclosure yielded by the freezer exclusivity clause. I too have rallied this optimistic interpretation. In a case note published 10 years ago, I had lauded the General Court for its analysis. As with novels, I should have applied the rule never read again. Despite