COMPETITION • EUROPEAN AND FRENCH LAW • RESTRICTIVE AGREEMENTS
The creation of a joint venture between competing operators already tied by a network of joint ventures increases the harm to the free play of competition. Distortions of competition likely to result from a network of competing joint ventures are manifold. The influence exercised by a partner on their joint behavior on the market or the technological dependence linked to the detention of intellectual property rights all create the assumption that there is no truly competitive behavior between the various operators. However, when such restrictions are of a limited duration and are indispensable to the development of a new high-technology product, an individual exemption may be granted.
