Every year, the LIDC organises an international Congress to study in particular two questions related to competition law, intellectual property law and/or unfair competition.

The LIDC further organises Webinars on competition law, intellectual property and unfair competition issues of relevance and interest for its members. Working groups are constituted to study in-depth certain legal developments.

LIDC Annual Congress

Every year, the LIDC organises an international Congress to study in particular two questions related to competition law, intellectual property law and/or unfair competition.

The annual Congress is generally organised by a National Group of the LIDC.

NEXT CONGRESS – Bucharest, from 15 to 18^th October 2026

We are pleased to inform you that the next LIDC Congress will be held in Bucharest, Romania, from 15 to 18^th October 2026.

Further details will follow in due course, but we kindly ask you to already save the date !

Please also find below the draft Question A and Question B :

Question A: “To what extent and in what way have the negotiated procedures (leniency, commitments, settlements and, where applicable, consent decrees) improved the effectiveness of Antitrust Law without unduly conflicting with fundamental principles such as the rights of defense and confidentiality ?”

Context : Procedures for the public enforcement of antitrust rules are long and very resource intensive. This is because their very ambitious public policy objectives are only matched by the seriousness of their consequences. Moreover, the procedures regularly involve collecting and carefully scrutinizing a huge amount of evidence which needs to then be analyzed through a variety of economic and legal lenses in order to check whether it supports one of the many theories of harm antitrust law is now concerned with.

In this context, negotiated procedures, which result in a quicker restoration of the competitive landscape but under terms which are acceptable to both the competition authorities and the undertakings under investigation, which benefit consumers and also allow for the limited public resources to last for even more antitrust enforcement procedures, appear as very important policy tools. This was, in general, also proven in practice by their wide adoption, once enacted.

A variety of negotiated procedures was gradually made available for the goal of balancing different incentives and objectives: assistance in the detection of antitrust infringements and the gathering of evidence (e.g. leniency), the faster restoration of the competitive landscape (e.g. commitments), the faster resolution of the case and avoiding prolonged annulment litigation (e.g. settlements), or some part of each of these (consent decrees).

However, negotiated procedures, being concluded between the competition authority and the undertakings under investigation, do not generally include a full and exhaustive analysis of the facts and legal arguments pertaining to the infringement and, in some cases, are not subject to review by the courts. Therefore questions arise regarding whether the effectiveness of this type of procedure is up to the standard of effectiveness of antitrust law and how is the public interest served by such procedure being concluded instead of a full investigation being conducted.

Moreover, not only the rights and interests of the general public need to be addressed, but also the rights and interests of the investigated undertakings and of the other persons impacted by the investigation (e.g. author of the complaint, possible claimants of private damages etc.). The need to protect the fundamental rights and principles of all these various parties must be weaved into how these procedures are designed, how they differ from each other and into how they can be used.

Question B: “To what extent does intellectual property law recognize the evolving concept of “art,” including in the context of AI-assisted creation, and how does this shape the limits between the different types of Intellectual Property Rights and their role in enabling innovation, investment and the monetization of creative outputs?”

More information on the Congress website : to come

Past Congresses

The last LIDC Congress was held in Vienna from 9 until 12 October 2025. 

The two study questions prepared by the reporters and discussed during the Vienna Congress where as follows:

Question A: Is the concept of the abuse of relative market power beyond market dominance necessary for a functioning competition and what criteria should be used to assess it?

International Reporter: Dr. Pranvera Këllezi, LL.M., Attorney at law, KËLLEZI LEGAL, Member of the Swiss Federal Competition Commission (COMCO/WEKO), Geneva, Switzerland

Question B: What responsibility or obligations should online platforms have when it comes to eliminating infringements by their users, especially in the areas of IP and unfair competition?

International Reporter: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Forgó, Professor of Technology Law and IP Law, Head of the Department for Innovation and Digitalisation in Law, University of Vienna, Austria

More info here : https://ligue.org/congress/2025/

The conclusions from the working sessions and the reports can be found here (only for logged-in members): https://ligue.org/resources/search-in-all-documents/

Congresses Resolutions / Conclusions

LIDC resolutions adopted by the LIDC during the annual congress are available in the section Resources.

International and National Reports

LIDC international and National Reports adopted by the LIDC during the annual congress are available in the section Resources.

Photo Gallery

LIDC Webinars

Since 2018, the LIDC organises regularly lunchtime webinars on competition law and intellectual property hot topics. In the LIDC spirit, these webinars offer a comparative law approach to members.

The webinars are organised by Jennifer Beal and Julia Suderow Rodriguez (Deputy Secretary General and Publication Officer of the LIDC) and sometimes held jointly with the LIDC NEX GEN Committee.

Next Webinars

Stay tuned for more information on the next LIDC webinar !

Past Webinars

LIDC Webinars 2025:

• LIDC & LIDC NexGen on 09 December 2025 titled “Anticompetitive Practices in Labor Markets”
• 18 September 2025 on “Abuse of Economic Dependence in Digital Markets”
• 18 February on “Combating Fake Reviews in the U.S.“

LIDC Webinars 2024:

• 17 June on : “Online Brand Protection: why is it important and what are the specificities; recent trends and technological developments”
• 21 May on : “Data Protection, Market Power and Business Models“;
• 25 January on: “Ownership of AI Works: IP and Competition Views”.

LIDC Webinars 2023:

• 15 June on : “Interim Measures in Competition Law Cases: status, recent developments and areas for improvement – Part II”
• 20 April on “Green Claims as an Unfair Commercial Practice” ;
• 11 May on “Interim measures in competition law cases- status, recent developments and areas for improvement – Part I” ;
• 27 January on : “THE IMPACT OF THE WAR IN UKRAINE ON THE ENERGY MARKET AND THE ENERGY REGULATION”.

LIDC Webinars 2022

The LIDC organised various webinars during 2022: 

• 1 December 2022 on :“Exclusive dealing after Intel, Qualcomm and Google (Android) – a farewell to formalistic analysis?”
• 7 September 2022 on: “Digital Influencers and Online Advertising: regulatory landscape and issues” ;
• 8 March 2022 on: “What are the perspectives for the future of the Automotive Sector”;
• 19 July 2022 – on “Joint Purchasing and Buyer Cartels: a distinction without a difference?”

LIDC Webinars 2021

The LIDC organised various webinars during 2021: 

• 18 March at 1pm CET – “superior bargaining power/abuse of economic dependence”;
• 29 April at 2pm CET – “data protection in distribution”;
• On Thursday 11 February 2021, the LIDC hold a webinar on “Green Pact: New approach on competition and environment”.
• On 14 January 2021, the LIDC hold a webinar on “Protection of Brand Reputation”.

LIDC Webinars 2020

• Thursday 10 December 2020 – “Antitrust enforcement in relation to online sales”.

National competition authorities from around the world discussed their recent experience of applying antitrust laws to online sales.

• 15 October – “European Commission reform of the rules on verticals”;
• 12 November 2020 – “Protection of trade secrets/know-how in distribution relationships”;
• 30 April 2020 – “State Aid and Coronavirus– the UK and EU Perspective”.

LIDC Webinars 2019

• 5 November 2019 – “Excessive Pricing Cases in the UK and Italy”;
• 29 January 2019 – “E-Commerce/Geo-blocking in UK, France and Switzerland”;

LIDC Webinars 2018

• 23 November 2018 and 8 February 2019 – “Merger Control Regulation Hot Topics”.

Webinar recordings and webinars flyers are available in the section Resources.

Webinar Series

Since October 2020, the LIDC organise a series of webinars on verticals particularly related with the reform of the Vertical Agreements Block Exemption Regulation (VBER).

The Webinars of the series held so far are the following:

• 15 October 2020 – “European Commission reform of the rules on verticals”;
• 12 November 2020 – “How to protect trade-secrets, know-how and other valuable information in distribution relationships”;
• 10 December 2020 – “Antitrust enforcement in relation to online sales”.
• 22 June 2022 – “THE REFORM OF THE RULES ON VERTICAL AGREEMENTS – WHAT’S NEW?“

LIDC Working Groups

LIDC members have always worked together in “transnational working groups” on relevant and current topics of interest.

The working groups provide a forum for informal discussions among members, and serve as an invaluable source of information and ideas based on a comparative method.

Members of the LIDC national groups and individual members of the LIDC are invited to join the following groups by simply sending an email to the LIDC Secretariat.

• Distribution, Franchising & eCommerce. The focus and other information about the group can be found below.
• State Aids.
• Unfair Competition. The focus and other information about the group can be found below.

Jacques Lassier Price

To honour the memory of one of its former chairmen, Jacques LASSIER, Lawyer at the Bar of Paris, the LIDC has organised a competition to encourage written work on the subject of competition law. This esteemed prize aims to promote scholarly contributions in the field of competition law, fostering intellectual dialogue and innovation.

Following the successful awarding of the Jacques Lassier Prize during our Congress in Paris in 2019, we are excited to continue this tradition at our upcoming Congress in London in 2024. As we anticipate a gathering of legal professionals and scholars from around the world, we invite you to participate in this prestigious competition.

We are pleased to announce that there are new rules for the 2024 competition. These updated rules provide comprehensive guidelines for submissions, ensuring a fair and transparent evaluation process.

Please find attached the Rules for the Jacques Lassier Prize 2024 in English here : https://ligue.org/document/0c87d0e330910d1b1725ade96eef1be7

We encourage you to review these rules carefully and consider submitting your work for consideration.

Furthermore, we are honored to introduce the distinguished members of the jury for the 2024 competition, with Jules Stuyck serving as the President of the Jury:

• Jules Stuyck (President)

Emeritus Professor – University of KU Leuven and RU Nijmegen

Guest Professor at Paris II -Panthéon-Assas

• Florian Bien (Professor)

University Würzburg (Chair in Global Business Law, International Arbitration Law, and Civil Law)

Guest Professor at Paris II Pantheon-Assas

• Muriel Chagny (Professor)

Versailles University (Paris-Saclay)

Director of the Competition and Contract Law Master

• Pinar Akman (Professor & Judge)

Member of the Competition Appeal Tribunal

• Pranvera Këllezi (Dr. iur, LLM)

College of Europe

Attorney at law, Commissioner of the Swiss Federal Competition Commission

Lecturer in EU law

Jacques Lassier Laureates since 1982

• 2024 (London)

Niccolo Galli (Italy): Patent Aggregation, Innovation and EU Competition Law

• 2019 (Paris)

Godefroy de Moncuit (France)
Faute lucrative et droit de la concurrence

• 2015

Nikolas Guggenberger (Germany)
Netzneutralität : Leitbilder und Missbrauchsaufsicht

Jan-Christoph Rudowicz (Germany)
Gun-Jumping under the EC Merger Regulation

Special Mention awarded to Benjamin Lehaire (France)
L’action privée en droit des pratiques anticoncurrentielles : pour un recours effectif des entreprises et des consommateurs en droit français et canadien

• 2013

Eckart Bueren (Germany)
Settlements in cartel cases
An examination of the European Commission’s settlement procedure with a comparative study and a law and economics analysis

• 2011

Jérôme Gtalter (France)
Le droit de la concurrence appliqué aux droits de propriété intellectuelle-Réflexions sur les nouveaux monopoles de la société de l’information.

Pablo Ibanez Colomo, (Spain)
European Communications Law and Technological Convergence. Deregulation, Re-regulation and Regulatory Convergence in Televison and Telecommunications.

• 2008

Nicolas Petit (Belgique/France)
Oligopoles, collusion tacite et droit communautaire de la concurrence.

• 2006

Laetitia Driguez (France)
Le droit social et le droit de la concurrence

David Bosco (France)
Le contrat exclusif

• 2002

Raphaël Arn (Suisse)
La publicité choquante – Vers une nouvelle dimension du droit de la concurrence déloyale

• 1998

Friedrich Ruffler (Autriche)
Der Einfluss des Europarchets auf das Österreichische UWG

• 1994

Daniel Fasquelle (France)
Droit américain et droit communautaires de ententes

• 1990

Dominique Graz (Suisse)
Propriété intellectuelle et libre circulation des marchandises

• 1986

Louis Vogel (France)
Concentration économique et système de droit de la concurrence

• 1982

Ludwig Linder (Allemagne)
Privatklage aund Schadensersatz in Kartell

LIDC ad-Hoc Groups

The General Reporter and the deputy General Reporter may, when agreed by the President, set up ex officio an ad hoc Committee entrusted with studying and taking a formal position, on behalf of the League, on particular questions or evolutions of competition law or commercial practices. They are responsible for appointing the president of such Committee.

Any member of the League, who has made sure that at least two members from other groups will participate, may request the setting up of an ad hoc Committee. To this end, the member should send a draft proposal of the subject to the General Reporter. This member will become the president of the ad hoc Committee.

As soon as an ad hoc Committee has been instituted, the presidents of the national groups shall appoint one or two members of their group, representing the interests concerned, who will participate in the Committee’s works.

Information about the setting-up of an ad hoc Committee and progress of its work shall be given as soon as possible on the website of the League, where the final report of the Committee will also be published.

Any proposal of adoption of a position on behalf of the League shall be submitted, before it is published or advertised, for the approval of the President and the General Reporter, who will check that it is representative and, in case of conflicting views, make sure that all important opinions are expressed.

The President and the General Reporter shall decide upon the communication of the results of the ad hoc Committees’ work out from the League.

The ad Hoc Committees, created so far, drafted the following documents:

• LIDC consultation on the Technology Transfer Block Exemption Regulation;
• Remarks of the LIDC concerning the Draft of European Commission Regulation on Vertical Agreements;
• Comments on the Commission’s Green Paper on damages actions for breach of EC antitrust rules.