The German Federal Court of Justice acknowledges the right to a declaratory judgement on blocked mergers (Springer / ProSiebenSat.1Media)

Background In January 2006, the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) prohibited the merger of Axel Springer AG (Springer) with ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG (ProSiebenSat.1). The merger would have combined the biggest German newspaper publisher and the biggest private TV group in Germany besides RTL. In its highly controversial decision the FCO had argued that the merger would have strengthened the “uncompetitive duopoly” of ProSiebenSat.1 and RTL in the TV advertising market where both TV groups held a combined market of approx. 40%. Furthermore, the FCO held that the merger would have lead to a strengthening of Springer's dominant readership position in the