Canada Pipe Company Ltd. and the Competition Bureau have settled their long running dispute over the rebate program offered by Canada Pipe to its distributors by filing a consent agreement with the Competition Tribunal. This brings to an end an abuse of dominance case begun in 2002.

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On May 10, 2007, the Supreme Court of Canada denied leave to appeal to Canada Pipe Company Ltd. to appeal from a decision of the Federal Court of Appeal that substantially revised the test to be applied in cases of abuse of dominance.

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THE LITIGATOR – Review of Competition Law – April 2007

Contributors: Michael Osborne , Jennifer Cantwell, Kyle Peterson , Sonny Ingram, Michael Binetti, and Adam Wygodny

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Appeal court revises test for abuse of dominant position
In identifying anti-competitive acts, one must ask whether the conduct had an intended predatory, exclusionary or disciplinary effect on a competitor, not on competition, the Federal Court of Appeal held in overturning the Tribunal’s 2005 finding that Canada Pipe’s rebate program was not anti-competitive….

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Canada’s telecommunications industry is about to experience a massive shift from intrusive sectoral regulation to open markets. The Competition Bureau recently issued guidance on the application of the abuse of dominance provisions of the Competition Act to the telecommunications industry. Industry Minister Bernier has introduced legislation to provide for fines of up to $15 million against a telecommunications service provider found to have abused its dominant position. Mr. Bernier has also announced new rules that will accelerate deregulation of local telephone services.

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Eli Lilly and Co. v. Apotex Inc. On November 2 2005, the Federal Court of Appeal held that where an agreement to assign a patent increases the assignee’s market power in excess of that inherent in the patent itself, the provision in the Patent Act (s. 50) allowing the assignment does not prevent the agreement [...]

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