Those of you who are following developments in the Commission’s ‘pay-for-delay’ investigations may find my short article in the Journal of European Competition Law & Practice of interest – see here. In this, I summarise the Commission’s two 2013 decisions in relation to citalopram and fentanyl. I then explore some of the difficulties in the legal analysis, how the approach taken by the Commission might be seen to contrast with that of the US Supreme Court in Actavis, the role of intent and the implications of the likely changes to the Commission’s technology transfer regime. There’s certainly a lot packed into the short article and as always, I’d be pleased to hear your thoughts.
Of course there are Commission settlement investigations which are still open, so we can expect some further insight into its approach in due course.
Happy reading!
Osman Zafar