European Commission consults on commitments offered by Corning to avoid anti-competitive practices

On Monday 25 November, the European Commission invited interested parties to submit their observations on the commitments offered by Corning to address competition concerns over its alleged exclusive dealing in relation to the supply of Alkali-aluminosilicate glass (‘Alkali-AS Glass’), a special type of glass mainly used as cover glass in handheld electronic devices (see EUROPE 13519/23). 

To address the Commission’s competition concerns (https://aeur.eu/f/egr ), Corning offered the following commitments:

- to waive all exclusive dealing clauses in all its current agreements with OEMs and finishers for the supply of Alkali-AS Glass, and not to use such clauses or others with the same or a similar effect in future agreements worldwide; 

- with respect to OEM demand for Alkali-AS glass for use in the European Economic Area, not to require OEMs to purchase or cause their supply chain to purchase any quantity of Alkali-AS glass from Corning and not to offer OEMs price advantages contingent upon compliance with such requirements;

- with respect to combined non-EEA OEM demand for Alkali-AS glass and clear glass ceramics and total OEM demand for LAS (lithium aluminosilicate glass) or clear glass ceramics, not require OEMs to purchase or cause their supply chain to purchase more than 50% of their respective demand from Corning;

- not to require finishers to purchase more than 50% of their combined demand for NAS (sodium aluminosilicate glass), LAS glass and clear glass ceramics from Corning;

- concerning the enforcement of Corning’s patents relating to break-resistant cover glass, Corning will base any claim only on patent infringement and not on breach of contract. In addition, Corning will not use any contractual mechanism (e.g., penalties) to enforce its patent claims;

- provide a commercial communication to key stakeholders (OEMs and finishers) explaining the content of the above commitments in English and Mandarin Chinese.

These commitments will remain in force for a period of nine years and their implementation will be monitored by a monitoring trustee who will report to the Commission for the entire period. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)