Every year, the LIDC organises an international Congress to study in particular two questions related to competition law, intellectual property law and/or unfair competition.

The LIDC further organises Webinars on competition law, intellectual property and unfair competition issues of relevance and interest for its members. Working groups are constituted to study in-depth certain legal developments.

LIDC Annual Congress

Every year, the LIDC organises an international Congress to study in particular two questions related to competition law, intellectual property law and/or unfair competition.

The annual Congress is generally organised by a National Group of the LIDC.

NEXT CONGRESS – LONDON 7/9 November 2024

The LIDC Congress 2024 will be held in London from 7 until 9 November 2024. 

We are glad to inform you that the questions to be discussed during the London congress are as follows :

• Question A: What progress has been made, and is still to be made, in the compensation for harm caused by any infringement of competition law ? 

(Ten years after and beyond the Damages Directive, it is time to provide a critical look but also to make proposals from a legal and economic point of view.

Even if it is the time of an anniversary in EU, the QA is much broader than an assessment of the directive and its implementation, for several reasons.

In many countries, there have not yet been many court rulings applying the new provisions ;  for temporal application reasons, many rulings are based on national law predating the directive. In addition, the directive does not provide for everything and does not address some difficulties such as causal link. Consequently, it is not a EU Question and it involves all our members whether or not they belong to the EU)

We are pleased to confirm that we have already appointed Andras M. Horvath (Baker McKenzie) as International Rapporteur for the Question A (Andras.Horvath@bakermckenzie.com) and that the international rapporteur for question B should be appointed shortly.

• Question B:  How should we approach copycat packaging ? 

Do registered designs file against copycats and on what legal basis (IP and/or Unfair Competition Law)?

Context to be updated

https://www.ligue.org/document/528624ec737a79aa043ef0b52f90bdec

Past Congresses

The last LIDC Congress was be held in Gothenburg (Sweden) on 21-24 September 2023.

The questions discussed were the followings:

Question A

Do recent developments in enforcement, case-law, and guidance from competition authorities and regulators make the delineation between legitimate and efficient purchasing and supply arrangements and infringing conduct sufficiently clear in practice that businesses and their advisors know how to stay on the right side of the law?

Question B

What mechanisms exist to avoid over-broad trademarks and address concerns that the trademark registers are clogged (e.g. bad faith in Sky v SkyKick; requirements for evidence of use), and are these mechanisms effective?

More info here: https://www.ligue.org/congress/2023/

The conclusions from the working sessions and the reports can be found here (only for logged-in members): https://www.ligue.org/resources/search-in-all-documents/

Congresses Resolutions / Conclusions

LIDC resolutions adopted by the LIDC during the annual congress are available in the section Resources.

International and National Reports

LIDC international and National Reports adopted by the LIDC during the annual congress are available in the section Resources.

Photo Gallery

LIDC Webinars

Since 2018, the LIDC organises regularly lunchtime webinars on competition law and intellectual property hot topics. In the LIDC spirit, these webinars offer a comparative law approach to members.

The webinars are organised by Michel Ponsard and Nathalie Lobell Lastmann (Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General of the LIDC) and held jointly with the English and French Competition law association.

Next Webinars

The LIDC will be holding a joint lunchtime webinar with the CLA on Thursday 15 June 2023 at 1:00 pm (CET) / midday (UK) on : “Interim Measures in Competition Law Cases: status, recent developments and areas for improvement – Part II”

Pascale Déschamps (French Competition Authority) and Alessandro Sia (Swiss Competition Commission) have kindly agreed to speak on the subject of Interim Measures in Competition Law Cases and will discuss the status, recent developments and areas for improvement.

The session will be moderated by Carmen Verdonck (ALTIUS – Belgium).

To register for this event follow this link: https://www.ligue.org/events/lidc-webinar-interim-measures-in-competition-law-cases-status-recent-developments-and-areas-for-improvement-part-i/

Past Webinars

LIDC Webinars 2023:

• 20 April on “Green Claims as an Unfair Commercial Practice” ;
• 11 May on “Interim measures in competition law cases- status, recent developments and areas for improvement – Part I” ;
• 27 January 2023 on : “THE IMPACT OF THE WAR IN UKRAINE ON THE ENERGY MARKET AND THE ENERGY REGULATION”.

LIDC Webinars 2022

The LIDC organised various webinars during 2022: 

• 1 December 2022 on :“Exclusive dealing after Intel, Qualcomm and Google (Android) – a farewell to formalistic analysis?”
• 7 September 2022 on: “Digital Influencers and Online Advertising: regulatory landscape and issues” ;
• 8 March 2022 on: “What are the perspectives for the future of the Automotive Sector”;
• 19 July 2022 – on “Joint Purchasing and Buyer Cartels: a distinction without a difference?”

LIDC Webinars 2021

The LIDC organised various webinars during 2021: 

• 18 March at 1pm CET – “superior bargaining power/abuse of economic dependence”;
• 29 April at 2pm CET – “data protection in distribution”;
• On Thursday 11 February 2021, the LIDC hold a webinar on “Green Pact: New approach on competition and environment”.
• On 14 January 2021, the LIDC hold a webinar on “Protection of Brand Reputation”.

LIDC Webinars 2020

• Thursday 10 December 2020 – “Antitrust enforcement in relation to online sales”.

National competition authorities from around the world discussed their recent experience of applying antitrust laws to online sales.

• 15 October – “European Commission reform of the rules on verticals”;
• 12 November 2020 – “Protection of trade secrets/know-how in distribution relationships”;
• 30 April 2020 – “State Aid and Coronavirus– the UK and EU Perspective”.

LIDC Webinars 2019

• 5 November 2019 – “Excessive Pricing Cases in the UK and Italy”;
• 29 January 2019 – “E-Commerce/Geo-blocking in UK, France and Switzerland”;

LIDC Webinars 2018

• 23 November 2018 and 8 February 2019 – “Merger Control Regulation Hot Topics”.

Webinar recordings and webinars flyers are available in the section Resources.

Webinar Series

Since October 2020, the LIDC organise a series of webinars on verticals particularly related with the reform of the Vertical Agreements Block Exemption Regulation (VBER).

The Webinars of the series held so far are the following:

• 15 October 2020 – “European Commission reform of the rules on verticals”;
• 12 November 2020 – “How to protect trade-secrets, know-how and other valuable information in distribution relationships”;
• 10 December 2020 – “Antitrust enforcement in relation to online sales”.
• 22 June 2022 – “THE REFORM OF THE RULES ON VERTICAL AGREEMENTS – WHAT’S NEW?”

LIDC Working Groups

LIDC members have always worked together in “transnational working groups” on relevant and current topics of interest.

The working groups provide a forum for informal discussions among members, and serve as an invaluable source of information and ideas based on a comparative method.

Members of the LIDC national groups and individual members of the LIDC are invited to join the following groups by simply sending an email to the LIDC Secretariat.

• Data Regulation & Digital Economy. The focus and other information about the group can be found below.
• Distribution, Franchising & eCommerce. The focus and other information about the group can be found below.
• State Aids.
• Unfair Competition. The focus and other information about the group can be found below.
• Copyright.

Jacques Lassier Price

To honour the memory of one of its former chairmen, Jacques LASSIER, Lawyer at the Bar of Paris, the LIDC has organised a competition to encourage written work on the subject of competition law.

The Jacques Lassier prize has lastly been awarded during the Congress that was held in Paris in 2019.

You will find here the Rules 2019 in English and in French.

Jacques Lassier Laureates since 1982

• 2019

Godefroy de Moncuit (France)
Faute lucrative et droit de la concurrence

• 2015

Nikolas Guggenberger (Germany)
Netzneutralität : Leitbilder und Missbrauchsaufsicht

Jan-Christoph Rudowicz (Germany)
Gun-Jumping under the EC Merger Regulation

Special Mention awarded to Benjamin Lehaire (France)
L’action privée en droit des pratiques anticoncurrentielles : pour un recours effectif des entreprises et des consommateurs en droit français et canadien

• 2013

Eckart Bueren (Germany)
Settlements in cartel cases
An examination of the European Commission’s settlement procedure with a comparative study and a law and economics analysis

• 2011

Jérôme Gtalter (France)
Le droit de la concurrence appliqué aux droits de propriété intellectuelle-Réflexions sur les nouveaux monopoles de la société de l’information.

Pablo Ibanez Colomo, (Spain)
European Communications Law and Technological Convergence. Deregulation, Re-regulation and Regulatory Convergence in Televison and Telecommunications.

• 2008

Nicolas Petit (Belgique/France)
Oligopoles, collusion tacite et droit communautaire de la concurrence.

• 2006

Laetitia Driguez (France)
Le droit social et le droit de la concurrence

David Bosco (France)
Le contrat exclusif

• 2002

Raphaël Arn (Suisse)
La publicité choquante – Vers une nouvelle dimension du droit de la concurrence déloyale

• 1998

Friedrich Ruffler (Autriche)
Der Einfluss des Europarchets auf das Österreichische UWG

• 1994

Daniel Fasquelle (France)
Droit américain et droit communautaires de ententes

• 1990

Dominique Graz (Suisse)
Propriété intellectuelle et libre circulation des marchandises

• 1986

Louis Vogel (France)
Concentration économique et système de droit de la concurrence

• 1982

Ludwig Linder (Allemagne)
Privatklage aund Schadensersatz in Kartell

LIDC ad-Hoc Groups

The General Reporter and the deputy General Reporter may, when agreed by the President, set up ex officio an ad hoc Committee entrusted with studying and taking a formal position, on behalf of the League, on particular questions or evolutions of competition law or commercial practices. They are responsible for appointing the president of such Committee.

Any member of the League, who has made sure that at least two members from other groups will participate, may request the setting up of an ad hoc Committee. To this end, the member should send a draft proposal of the subject to the General Reporter. This member will become the president of the ad hoc Committee.

As soon as an ad hoc Committee has been instituted, the presidents of the national groups shall appoint one or two members of their group, representing the interests concerned, who will participate in the Committee’s works.

Information about the setting-up of an ad hoc Committee and progress of its work shall be given as soon as possible on the website of the League, where the final report of the Committee will also be published.

Any proposal of adoption of a position on behalf of the League shall be submitted, before it is published or advertised, for the approval of the President and the General Reporter, who will check that it is representative and, in case of conflicting views, make sure that all important opinions are expressed.

The President and the General Reporter shall decide upon the communication of the results of the ad hoc Committees’ work out from the League.

The ad Hoc Committees, created so far, drafted the following documents:

• LIDC consultation on the Technology Transfer Block Exemption Regulation;
• Remarks of the LIDC concerning the Draft of European Commission Regulation on Vertical Agreements;
• Comments on the Commission’s Green Paper on damages actions for breach of EC antitrust rules.

Other LIDC events

You will find in this page information of other events organised by the LIDC.

Register to the next LIDC events

In this page it would be possible for you to register for the next LIDC events.