On Wednesday 14 June, the European Commission decided to open three separate investigations into the companies Nike, Sanrio and Universal Studios to determine whether they are illegally restricting the cross-border and online sale of derived products under licence on the single market.
The three companies in question award licences over rights to certain brands to sell derived products. An image and/or text is added to these products, which may be clothes, telephone accessories or toys. The manufacturer of the product (licensee) may use these images or text only if it has entered into a licensing agreement with the owner of the intellectual property rights concerned (licensor), in this case the companies Nike, Sanrio and Universal Studios.
With this investigation, the European Commission intends to examine whether the companies in question have breached European Union competition law rules, by restricting the ability of their contractual partners to sell derived products under license online or in member states other than the one in which they are established. These practices are liable to harm the interests of EU consumers, as they can have the effect of limiting their choice and prevent them from acquiring products at lower prices.
Following this formal investigation, if the Commission notes that the three companies have used these practices, it may conclude that they have breached article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which prohibits anti-competitive agreements between companies.
The investigations of Nike, Sanrio and Universal Studios come on top of the sectoral investigation into e-commerce, the final report of which was adopted on 10 May of this year (see EUROPE 11785). (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)