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From the magazine SZW-RSDA 1/2018 | p. 73-82 The following page is 73

Recent developments in Swiss competition law

I. Introduction: Coty, Gaba and BMW

1. The above title might raise a few eyebrows. What is the relationship between the Coty case, which was decided at the end of 2017 by the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”),1 and the Gaba2 and BMW3 judgments handed down the same year by the Federal Tribunal? In addition to the fact that these three cases deal with vertical agreements, the first interesting point of comparison is that the ECJ accepted most of the arguments presented by Coty and, in particular, its claim that a contractual clause prohibiting authorized distributors in a selective distribution system for luxury goods, from using, in a discernible manner, third-party platforms for the internet sale of these goods, is compatible with the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Article 101(1), provided that “that clause has the objective of preserving the luxury image of those goods, that it…

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