On 20 October 2026, the European Commission published the non-confidential version of its decision of 9 June 2026 in Case AT.41034 – Exclusion of AI competitors from…
The Digital Markets Act (DMA)imposes specific obligations on designated gatekeepers. Competitors, business users and other affected market participants can enforce these obligations before national courts.…
In his Opinion of 15 October 2026 in ByteDance v Commission(C‑627/24 P), Advocate General Andrea Biondi addresses the requirements for rebutting the presumptions underlying a DMA gatekeeper designation.…
The Court of Justice delivered its judgment in Brasserie Nationale and Munhowen v Commission(C‑572/25 P) on 8 October 2026. The ruling clarifies when the 15-working-day period for…
Under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), according to Article 3(9) DMA, undertakings are designated as gatekeepers in relation to specific core platform services. This tracker…
A transaction with only a limited connection to Germany can still require clearance by the Bundeskartellamt before it closes. A foreign acquirer buying a business with modest German…
German FDI screening, also referred to as German foreign investment screening or Investitionsprüfung, is a review by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE)…
The F.A.Z. Institute, affiliated with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, one of Germany’s leading national newspapers, and QuantiQuesthave published their “TOP Lawyers 2027” ranking of German…
For several years, we have supported Bielefeld University’s team participating in the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot. We were therefore pleased when the…
The Executive Board of the Hamm Bar Association (Rechtsanwaltskammer Hamm) has appointed me as a full member of its Specialist Committee for International Business Law. The…
Lightweight applications based on Whisper — an automatic speech recognition system developed by OpenAI — have become increasingly available. Comparable solutions are emerging as well. Some operate entirely offline,…
The study was conducted by the research institute SWI on behalf of Handelsblatt. The assessment covered, among other things, the working environment and digitalisation, career…
I have contributed a new analysis to the DPOBlogon the recent judgment of the District Court of Amsterdam, which prohibits Meta from using personal data for…
Several commentaries on the Data Act have now been published. I myself have contributed to the upcoming Bomhard/Schmidt-Kesselcommentary, where I analyse Articles 8, 9 and 12 of the…
Week after week, our field sees new developments — proposals, proceedings, discussions, decisions. Many of these are covered across various media. Our newsletter offers a curated selection of…
The CJEU’s judgment in Google/Enel raises an important question: do the Bronner criteria still apply whenever a dominant undertaking refuses access to a platform? This article argues…
In its some months ago judgment in Enel v. Google, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) held that Google is, in principle,…
Some weeks ago, the Higher Regional Court of Cologne (OLG Köln) rejected an application for an interim injunction seeking to prohibit Meta from using Facebook…
The European Commission has issued its first decisions under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), imposing fines on Apple and Meta for non-compliance. You can read…
A key question in the context of private enforcement under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) is: Where can I bring a claim? The first step is to…
Article 39 of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) contains specific provisions on the cooperation between the European Commission and national courts in the context of…
Last week, the German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt, BKartA) published a press release outlining its preliminary legal assessment of Amazon’s current price control practices. According to…
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has handed down its judgment in the case Enel Italia v Google (C‑233/23)some weeks ago. The Court…
As of 12 September 2025, the Data Act will apply across the EU. As a regulation, it is directly applicable in all Member States and thus…
I was recently a guest on the Data Navigatorpodcast, which takes a closer look at the Data Act from a variety of competition law perspectives. The episode is…
A few weeks ago, the Higher Regional Court (OLG) of Cologne rejected an application for preliminary injunctive relief filed by the Consumer Protection Association of…
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitungrecently published a thought-provoking article on AI browsers and their growing competition with conventional web browsers. The piece speaks of an emerging “new…
Google has amicably resolved competition concerns with the German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt – BKartA). This emerges from a press release issued by the BKartA. According…
In early March, I reported on the ongoing antitrust investigation by the French Competition Authority (Autorité de la Concurrence) into Apple’s App Tracking Transparency Framework (ATTF).…
The article examines how European competition law, specifically the Essential Facilities Doctrine, could apply to so-called uncontaminated datasets in the field of AI. This conclusion…
Joint and several liability claims for cartel damages can generally be brought at the location of a parent company, even if the antitrust-violating subsidiary is based…
A few weeks ago, I reported (german version) onthe Bundeskartellamt’s (BKartA) proceedings concerning Apple’s so-called App Tracking Transparency Framework (ATTF). Now, the French Competition Authority is…
The Bundeskartellamt (BKartA) has initiated its first proceeding under Section 32f(3) of the German Act against Restraints of Competition (GWB) to investigate significant competition disruptions…
The decision of the Federal Administrative Court (BVerwG) dated July 7, 2020 (Case No. 8 B 59.19) addresses the issue of challenging state aid granted after…
Several weeks ago, the British competition authority concluded its investigation into Microsoft’s potential control over OpenAI, determining that Microsoft does not exert decisive influence over…
The recent regulatory proceedings at the Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt, BKartA) under Section 19a of the German Act against Restraints of Competition (Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen,…
Recently, the Commission announced that it has imposed an antitrust fine of €797.72 million on the Meta Group. The fine was issued for a violation of…
The German business daily Handelsblatthas just published its 2024 ranking of “Germany’s Best Lawyers.” I am honoured to be included in the category “Ones to Watch…
Once again, this summer term our Partner Dr. Sebastian Louven will hold his lecture on European Telecommunication Law at Freie Universität Berlin. The lecture is…
The Digital Markets Act contains regulations for a European approach to market regulation of digital platforms. First of all, this includes the identification as a relevant gatekeeper.…
Last updated: 7 October 2026 The Digital Markets Act (DMA) gives the European Commission a specific instrument to investigate structural questions that go beyond individual non-compliance proceedings. Market…
The draft Digital Markets Act (DMA) is intended to enable sector-specific market regulation of so-called gatekeepers. Gatekeepers are companies that operate central platform services and…
The DMA is aimed at digital platforms and is intended to subject them to a sector-specific market regulation regime. For this purpose, a blacklist of measures that…
Brogsitter Defence ReturnsSome time ago, the ECJ ruled in its Wikingerhof decision on international jurisdiction in antitrust actions if there is also a contractual relationship between…
The German-American Lawyer’s Association has invited me to speak at their Transatlantic Legal Conference this year. The event will take place on 17 March 2023.…
For some weeks now, there has been considerable media interest in so-called intelligent chatbots. Whether these are really intelligent and whether the term “artificial intelligence”…
Among the strict prohibitions in the Digital Markets Act, Article 5(2) DMA, which regulates the aggregation of personal data by the gatekeeper, stands out. The…
The prohibition of most-favoured-nation practices under Article 5(3) of the DMA is a competitive practice that restricts the freedom of action of commercial customers outside the…
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) came into force a few months ago. It will bring numerous new obligations for so-called gatekeepers. Today, I would like to present…
The Digital Markets Act has been in force for a few months. It is therefore worth taking a first look at individual provisions that will occupy us…
Some time ago, already in 2021, there were reports about so-called shadow websites in connection with the delivery service platform Lieferando. According to the report,…
The forthcoming Art. 6(9) DMA contains rules with a reference to data portability. Here is the full text of the provision for better comprehension: The gatekeeper…
The Advocate General at the ECJ has no general objections to a competition authority incidentally examining provisions of the GDPR when applying the prohibition of abuse…
Some time ago, the draft bill of the 11th GWB amendment was published. Today, however, the focus is on the proposal for private enforcement, namely…
Guest lecture at the University of Bonn on data protection and antitrust lawOn 24 January 2023, our partner Dr Sebastian Louven was invited to give…
louven.legal has recently become a PartGmbB. Dr Verena Louven joined as a partner. She brings several years of legal experience in business and in particular complements the…
Finally, today the FCO concluded its proceedings against Facebook. According to this, the company is prohibited from certain data processing with regard to third party…
