The high-tech sector has been targeted by a number of high profile European Commission investigations in recent years, including abuse of dominance proceedings against Microsoft, Intel, Qualcomm, Rambus and, most recently, Google, Motorola Mobility and Samsung. This sector has also witnessed a number of significant mergers, including Nokia/Navteq, TomTom/Tele Atlas, Google/DoubleClick, Intel/Mc Afee, Microsoft/Skype and Google/MMI to name just a few.
Covington lawyers have advised sophisticated high-tech clients on some of the most complex and hotly debated EU competition matters of the past decade. Our ability to assist clients active in the high-tech industry is bolstered by our expertise not only in EU competition law, but also in the fields of intellectual property (patents and copyright), standardisation, data privacy, and communications and media law. Covington combines all the skills and expertise needed to handle the most significant challenges faced by our technology clients and we deploy these skills seamlessly and efficiently across offices.
Our EU competition team has handled matters in all key high-tech segments, including online products and services, hardware, software, semi-conductors, and wireline and wireless communication. Our team has been actively involved in some of the most recent technological and commercial developments in the industry, including cloud computing, search and search advertising, e-health and social networks. In addition, members of our team have extensive experience of European institutions, from both within and advising clients in their dealings with those bodies.
Our deep knowledge and understanding of, and experience in, the sector, coupled with our multi-disciplinary and multi-jurisdictional approach means that we are able to quickly assimilate the circumstances and our clients’ goals and objective, so that we are able to develop effective and appropriate multi-disciplinary and multi-jurisdictional strategies to achieve those ends.
Representative Matters
Abuse of Dominance
We advise clients in avoiding and reducing exposure and assist them in European Commission and Member States investigations. Abuse of dominance has been a significant focus of the Commission and national authorities in recent years, and our team has extensive experience in dealing with alleged abuses of dominance, including pricing abuses and market foreclosure. Covington has obtained outstanding results for its high-tech clients subject to abuse of dominance investigations with some of these proceedings being terminated without any finding of wrongdoing and any remedies, and others being ended through Article 9 (commitment) decisions on mutually acceptable terms. We have also advised a number of technology clients in the successful pursuit of their complaints regarding abusive conduct by others in their industries.
Cooperation Arrangement and Alliances and Other Arrangements Between Competitors
We have extensive experience in advising clients on all forms of cooperative arrangements between competitors (including potential competitors) and non-competitors, from joint ventures and alliances, to specialization arrangements and supply contracts. Our advice helps clients to establish the commercial relationships that they need while managing the competition risks, including those posed by information exchange. In addition, we have advised clients in the sector in relation to alleged collective boycotts and other potentially anticompetitive arrangements between competitors.
Mergers
Our in-depth understand of, and long-running experience in, the sector equips us to anticipate potential issues raised by high-tech transactions, and to develop strategies to effectively address and neutralize those concerns in Europe and more broadly. Our long-term experience with both the competition and regulatory issues means that we are well placed to contextualize transactions in broader market trends and evolution. In addition, members of our team are able to deploy their extensive experience of European institutions to engage with officials to allay anticipated concerns before they arise.
Policy Initiatives
We advise our high-tech clients on policy developments that may affect their operations in areas, such as competition law (including guidelines and other instruments subject to consultation), intellectual property, standardization, communications law, etc. The co-operation between the legal and government affairs teams also assists clients in devising effective legislative campaigns for new proposals and developments.
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