Completion of the Revolution in Antitrust Doctrine on Restricted Distribution - Leegin and its Implications for EC Competition Law

Abstract

In June 2007, the US Supreme Court in Leegin Creative Leather Products Inc. v PSKS, Inc., DBA Kay's Kloset... Kay's Shoes overruled the nearly century old per se rule against RPM in the US, holding that such arrangements should be analysed under the rule of reason. This article considers whether developments in economic thinking, and the Supreme Court's Opinion in Leegin, might, or should, prompt a rethink or equivalent U-turn in competition policy towards RPM in the EU. The article commences by examining the arguments and factors which led the Supreme Court to overturn such an entrenched and long-standing rule against RPM. It then considers whether these factors, or other similar factors, might be influential in the development of EU competition policy.