Exclusive Agreement Research Articles

Konsekuensi dari Ekosistem Digital terhadap Regulasi Persaingan Bisnis di Indonesia dan Peran Komisi Pengawas Persaingan Usaha (KPPU) dalam Era Ekonomi Digital

The era of the digital economy as it is today has demanded business people to carry out their business activities online. As a result, buyers will also make purchases online. It has implications for business competition. In this case, Law (UU) No. 5 of 1999 concerning the Prohibition of Monopolistic Practices and Unfair business Competition has not accommodated the impact of the digital economy. So with that, this research has two objectives. The objectives are; First, to know the effect of the digital ecosystem on business competition law in Indonesia. Second, to see the role of the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) in the digital economy era in the event of unfair business competition. This research uses the type of juridical-normative research. The impact of the digital economy on business competition in Indonesia has resulted in a lot of abuse of the digital platform market. In this case, digital platforms are increasing with vertical business development. This business development increases the ability of digital platforms to collect more data, increase their competitiveness and become online shop owners and application users, so that the dominant position of digital platforms can be abused, for example, discriminating against competitors in retail, exclusivity agreements with consumers, and selling policies. With losses may result in competitors becoming uncompetitive in the market and leaving the market. Responding to these challenges, it is necessary to have a regulation that regulates in a more specific scope. This is because several countries in Europe have revised their business competition law regulations to protect business actors. In addition, as a form of responding to the challenges of the times that have changed the direction of the economy and online business. Of course, the government and business actors must work together to achieve good goals for the parties who will have an impact.

A era digital e o direito da concorrência: uma análise dos desafios da regulamentação

This article addresses the impact of the Digital Era in the field of Competition Law and the protection of consumer rights. In a globalized and technologically dynamic world, the lack of solid regulation has led to violations of both consumer rights and competitive equity in the electronic market. In particular, the focus is on restrictive practices such as test pricing, exclusivity agreements, price discrimination, anti-competitive agreements between companies and the misuse of privileged information, in addition to the controversies associated with Competition Law in the digital context. For this reason, the question arises whether digital platforms should be restricted due to their unfair practices in the market, or if, instead, they should be allowed in harmony with economic development. The main objective of this article is to provide a critical reflection and harmonization of ideas on how the Digital Age has influenced Competition Law. Various points of view are analyzed in order to offer a comprehensive vision of the need to establish a legal system adapted to the digital era that guarantees both the protection of consumer rights and fairness in competition

Antitrust and competition issues in the context of mergers and acquisitions

This article examines antitrust and competition issues in mergers and acquisitions (M&A), focusing on how M&As impact industry competition. It analyzes market concentration, using metrics like the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI), and discusses the effects of increased market dominance, such as reduced competition and higher prices. The article also explores how M&As can lead to monopolies or oligopolies and the regulatory measures in place to prevent such outcomes. Additionally, it addresses anticompetitive practices post-merger, including predatory pricing and exclusive agreements, highlighting the role of regulatory authorities in ensuring fair competition and consumer welfare. This overview provides key insights into the complexities of M&A activities and their regulatory implications.

Playing against the platform: A research note on the impact of exclusivity under vertical competition in video game platforms

The video game industry has experienced impressive growth and technological advancements over the last few years. This paper addresses a more nuanced conceptualization of the indirect network effect of the exclusivity of complements on a video game platform ecosystem, bringing a different theoretical approach from the bulk of the literature by focusing on the effects of exclusive agreements on complementors' performance, rather than on the performance of the platform itself. This issue is of interest given the existence of vertical competition between the platform owner and its complementors, which might raise strategic contingencies for the latter. Moreover, this study seeks to disentangle the effects of exclusivity on sales performance through different characteristics and distinct features inside and between platform ecosystems. The findings indicate that exclusive game titles perform worse than non-exclusive games if they are published by third parties when compared to in-house studios. Moreover, this effect is stronger when published in a platform with higher vertical competition.

ROPES Offers an Energy Transition Solution to Pipeline Decommissioning

Oil and gas companies around the world are repositioning themselves to face the energy transition—whether that means embracing the fact that the green economy of the future calls for less hydrocarbon use or something more radical, like Lundin Energy’s (now called Orrön Energy) recent move to sell off its oil and gas assets to become a pure renewables player. One certainty is that as companies trend away from oil and gas and toward a lower-carbon frontier there will still be plenty of “cleanup” to do while players figure out exactly what to do with more than 100 years of oil and gas infrastructure. Offshore, decommissioning of platforms and pipelines is a capital-intensive business and one that is expected to grow in the coming years. Last year, IHS Markit released a forecast predicting global offshore decommissioning spending to reach almost $100 billion for the 2021–2030 period, up by more than 200% compared to the previous 10-year period. According to the forecast, nearly 2,800 fixed platforms and 160 floating platforms could be decommissioned. That represents 33% of fixed platforms and 43% of floating platforms currently in operation. Additionally, more than 18,500 wellheads, 2,850 subsea trees, and 83000 km of offshore pipelines and umbilicals currently in operation are subject to decommissioning during the same period. More than 50% of the expected activity is spread across four countries: the UK, US, Brazil, and Norway. The financial burden and safety liability of marine decommissioning have prompted some to look at the potential for repurposing the hardware and using it in moving toward the drive to net-zero emissions: platforms that could be used to host wind turbines, vessels that could be redesigned to collect hydroenergy, and pipelines that could be repurposed for potential battery storage. Repurposing offshore pipeline as energy storage (ROPES) is a concept that is being investigated by a partnership of offshore projects and services specialists Subsea 7 and offshore energy storage startup Flasc. Flasc was founded as a spinoff from the University of Malta in 2019 and is based in the Netherlands. The concept was described in a paper presented at the 2022 Offshore Technology Conference in Houston (OTC 31703). Subsea 7 and Flasc signed a cooperative exclusivity agreement in late 2020 to work toward the commercialization of Flasc’s patented hydro-pneumatic energy storage (HPES) concept offshore. HPES combines pressurized seawater with compressed air to create an efficient, large-scale energy storage device that can be applied across a wide range of offshore applications. Energy is stored by pumping seawater into a closed chamber to compress a fixed volume of precharged inert gas. The energy can be recovered by allowing the compressed gas to push the water back out through a hydraulic turbine generator (Fig. 1). The technology leverages existing infrastructure and supply chains, along with the marine environment itself as a natural heatsink. The first working prototype was successfully tested in 2018, and DNV has granted the technology a Statement of Feasibility based on a technical and commercial assessment. “The hydro-pneumatic technology is at the core of the ROPES concept, but can also be applied to other embodiments,” said Daniel Buhagiar, co-founder and chief executive of Flasc. “Within this collaboration, we’ve looked at doing some different designs and different products, and ROPES emerged as a very interesting opportunity. Typically, we’re looking at doing new infrastructure, [for instance] installing a bundle or a new piece of kit to store the pressurized fluids. ROPES, we thought, was really the low-hanging fruit because the pipeline infrastructure is already there, and we can create a use case for it beyond the typical applications, such as hydrogen and carbon capture, which are not always possible.”

2022년 개정 국제사법에 따른 국제재판관할합의의 제문제

The Act on Private International Law (APIL), which came into effect in July 2001, provided for general principles on international jurisdiction in its Article 2, and for rules of international jurisdiction protective of socio-economically weaker parties, such as consumers and employees, in its Articles 27 and 28. Although the Supreme Court applied Article 2 of the APIL, it disregarded paragraph 2 and applied only paragraph 1 and drew the conclusion it desired through a ‘case-by-case analysis’, thereby undermining legal stability. To improve this situation, the Ministry of Justice promoted the revision of the APIL, and finally, on January 4, 2022, the Amended APIL (the “Amended APIL”) containing detailed rules of international jurisdiction was promulgated. Among various issues regarding the rules of international jurisdiction included in the Amended APIL, those surrounding the jurisdiction agreement (Article 8) are dealt with in the present article, focusing on the changes brought by the Amended APIL. The Amended APIL introduced Article 8 reflecting the contents of the Choice of Court Convention (especially Article 6) of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (the “Convention”), which came into effect on October 10, 2015. Article 8 of the Amended APIL sets out the admissibility requirements (paragraph 1), formal validity (paragraph 2), presumption of exclusiveness (paragraph 3), independence of jurisdiction clause (paragraph 4), and the effect of an exclusive jurisdiction agreement in favor of foreign courts (paragraph 5), and unlike other articles, it governs not only cases where Korea has international jurisdiction but also cases where a foreign court has jurisdiction (however, paragraph 5 applies only to agreements on exclusive jurisdiction in favor of foreign courts). In particular, the law governing the validity of the jurisdiction agreement is specified as “the law of the country having international jurisdiction according to the jurisdiction agreement (including the choice of law rules)”, which is also a reflection of the position taken by the Convention. The order of discussion is as follows: first, the importance of international jurisdiction agreements and an overview of jurisdiction conferred by agreement (Chapter II), Second, types of international jurisdiction agreements (Chapter III), Third, law applicable to jurisdiction agreements (Chapter IV), Fourth, admissibility requirements of the jurisdiction agreement (Chapter V), Fifth, formal validity of jurisdiction agreement (Chapter VI), Sixth, effect of jurisdiction agreement (Chapter VII), Seventh, violation of exclusive jurisdiction agreement and an anti-suit injunction (Chapter VIII), and Eighth, special issues on the international jurisdiction agreement based on contract terms and conditions in B2B transactions (Chapter IX). Since the Amended APIL has partly adopted the position of the Convention, Korea needs to consider whether to accede to the Convention. Particular attention will be needed to identify ways in which jurisdiction agreements excessively excluding Korea’s international jurisdiction can be controlled properly. In addition, following the Google case, which recently attracted the attention of Korean lawyers and where the choice of court was effected by a jurisdiction clause in the contract terms and conditions, it is necessary to further review the issues surrounding a jurisdiction agreement based on the contract terms and conditions, and in the same vein consider amending the General Terms and Conditions Act of Korea.

‘Strong regulations’ of China’s platform economy: a preliminary assessment

ABSTRACT Within two decades, China built a very large platform economy. From the beginning of 2021, however, the Chinese government started to implement a set of new policies, popularly known as ‘strong regulations’, in order to correct improper platform behavior and improve market efficiency. These policies caused some negative effects on short-term momentum of the platform economy, including lay-offs of employees, decline of investment, and shrinkage of market valuation. This paper attempts to address the following questions: why did the authorities initiate this new policy? what are its net impacts on the platform economy? and how can the regulators do better? While acknowledging the urgent need for proper regulations for China’s platform economy, this paper argues that the authorities should find a better balance between regulation and development, with innovative thinking in dealing with issues such exclusive agreement, differential pricing and monopoly.

An Investigation of the Oil and Gas Geopolitical Situation in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

: One of the main global energy struggles in recent years has been in the Eastern Mediterranean. In cooperation with Egypt and Israel, Greece and the Greek Cypriot government (GCA) are implementing a containment strategy against Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). Turkey’s response to this plan was an exclusive agreement with Libya. Turkey and Libya have signed a memorandum of national reconciliation on limiting the new continental shelf’s maritime jurisdiction in the Eastern Mediterranean - the only borders of the shared economic zone. Greece could act with other countries, and it is said that Turkey’s competence will be ratified in the face of agreements that may restrict movement. The United States and the European Union (EU) also sought to share gas with European countries against Turkey, Israel, and the GCA. This article focuses on Libya’s ongoing competition, given Libya’s oil geopolitics and challenges in the eastern Mediterranean region. This paper briefly investigates the energy geopolitics in the eastern Mediterranean and North African regions; this paper aims to conclude the diverse opinions led by various interests and points of view and suggests a solution for the ever-growing tensions in this region.

СУЧАСНІ АСПЕКТИ АУДИТУ ЕФЕКТИВНОСТІ ДЕРЖАВНИХ ЗАКУПІВЕЛЬ

The article presents an overview of current aspects of public procurement audit. It is proved that today the scientists have mostly practical recommendations for such an audit and monitoring. It is established that there are no significant, thorough theoretical and methodological developments of scientists on the audit of public procurement in a circular economy, sustainable development. It is proved that special attention at the current stage of formation of the audit of public procurement should be paid to such an area as monitoring their "sustainability". The article identifies economic, environmental and social criteria in the audit of public procurement. Economic factors affect the state of the markets on which trade depends now and in the future. Environmental factors affect the natural systems on which life depends now and in the future. Social factors affect the social systems on which the community depends now and in the future. Among the economic criteria are: fair agreements, innovative research, investment, open competition, open information, use of different suppliers, use of HUB zones, use of local suppliers, conflicts of interest, zoning, dumping, exclusive agreement, seller's conspiracy, buyer's conspiracy, abuse patent, pricing, product typing, refusal of the agreement, corruption (bribery, extortion). Among the ecological criteria are the following: biodiversity conservation, climate adaptation, resource optimization, soil fertility concern, acidification, desertification, eutrophication (waterlogging), fresh water pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, environmental depletion, human health impact, land use change, marine pollution, pollution layer, radiation pollution, depletion of resources, smog, waste. To the social criteria it was included: anti-discrimination, community involvement, equal opportunities, employee involvement, equal pay, fair agreement, freedom of association, grievance and redress processes, human rights, indigenous rights, labour protection and safety, the right to bargain collectively, education and training, workers' rights, child labour, forced labour, trafficking in human beings, choice of suppliers. It is substantiated that among the criteria of sustainability (economic, environmental and social) the red ribbon is the assessment of possible abuses, corruption, bribery, dishonesty of the administration. So, also it has been investigated the relationship between administrative dishonesty and leadership style and reporting distortions.

Exclusivity in concession revenue sharing contracts

Our paper studies the effects of concession revenue sharing contracts by endogenizing the choice of the signatory airline. It is shown that an airport finds it profitable to share concession revenues with airlines and this increases both consumer surplus and social welfare. The airport prefers an exclusive agreement when the net per passenger revenue generated on non-aeronautical services at the airport is sufficiently low; it extracts higher payments by exploiting the competition between airlines to become the sole signatory. The level of aeronautical charges, that are regulated, influences the airport’s decision and, consequently, the intensity of airline competition. Welfare is higher under a non-exclusive arrangement, which may be in conflict with the airport’s decision. The incentive to use these contracts remains under airport competition and revenue sharing increases. With an airline alliance, revenue sharing increases traffic for a large enough degree of cooperation between airlines.

Withdrawal from Negotiations as the Basis for Pre-Contractual Liability under Russian and Foreign Law

The paper analyzes the criteria for unfair termination of negotiations as a basis for pre-contractual liability. There are 3 components of unfair interruption of negotiations: 1) entry into negotiations without the intent to conclude an agreement and their subsequent interruption; 2) arbitrary termination of negotiations if the counterparty has confidence in the conclusion of the contract; 3) untimely notification of the counterparty about withdrawing from the negotiation process. The author analizes the criteria for unfair breakdown of negotiations. They include the following: the counterparty has reasonable confidence in the conclusion of the contract and the absence of a valid reason for terminating business contacts. These criteria are relevant only for the second composition of the elements of unfair termination of negotiations. To be held liable for entering into negotiations without intending to conclude an agreement and for the subsequent withdrawal from them, it is not required to establish such criteria, and in case of untimely notification of the severance of business contacts, it is necessary to establish only one criterion, namely, the counterparty can reasonably believe in conclusion of the agreement. As a general rule, participants in pre-contractual relations have the right to conduct parallel negotiations with other persons. This possibility may be limited by entering into an exclusivity agreement. At the same time, in some cases, entering into parallel negotiations can be qualified as unfair behavior even without the conclusion of such an agreement.

Evoqua collaborates with Ostara on nutrient recovery

Filtration Industry AnalystVol. 2021, No. 9 NewsEvoqua collaborates with Ostara on nutrient recoveryPublished Online:11 Dec 2021AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail View articleAbstractEvoqua Water Technologies has entered into an exclusive agreement with Canada's Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies Inc to help municipalities recover nutrients from wastewater and convert them into fertilizers. FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails 1 January 2021Volume 2021Issue 9ISSN (print): 1365-6937ISSN (online): 1873-6440 Metrics History Published online 11 December 2021 Published in print 1 January 2021 Information© MA Business Ltd.PDF download

Will “Bharat Financial Inclusion” Rise From the Ashes? Analysis of M&A and Emerging Issues

Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd. (erstwhile SKS Micro Finance) has been in talks of a merger with IndusInd Bank in an attempt to revive itself as a vertical of IndusInd, in the form of NBFC in September 2017. The deal is of a size and complexity that has not been seen for long time between the second largest microfinance company in the economy and IndusInd Bank, a leading private sector bank. BFIL has entered into an “exclusivity agreement with IndusInd Bank for due diligence and discussions to evaluate a potential strategic combination between the two organizations”. The shares of both the companies surged as the announcement of exclusivity agreement was made in the press. This case study is unfolded as follows: The first part would detail the history of BFIL and IndusInd Bank. Further discussion would dwell on the merger deal and the impact on stock markets. The potential benefits for the two would be laid out in the conclusion.

Unspoken, yet understood: Exploring how couples communicate their exclusivity agreements

Although monogamy (i.e., romantic and/or sexual exclusivity) remains the most common arrangement for romantic partnerships, there is little research exploring how couples communicate about exclusivity to one another. The current study assessed the ways in which couples discuss and negotiate exclusivity agreements, and whether those agreements change over time. Participants were 573 North American adults (mean age = 28.86 years; 52% identified as female) in romantic relationships who completed an online survey asking them to describe their current exclusivity agreements using both structured and open-ended survey questions. Open-ended data were subjected to inductive content analysis, and eight primary themes were identified. Although most (91%) indicated that they have an agreement to remain romantically and sexually exclusive in their relationships, only 43% reported coming to the agreement during an explicit conversation with their partner. More often (52%) the agreements were described as implied, meaning they had never actually been discussed. Of those with exclusivity agreements, 87% reported no change to their agreement throughout the relationship. Implications are discussed in terms of the value of direct communication between partners about exclusivity and infidelity.

Party autonomy, venue risk and jurisdiction agreements – the Singapore position reappraised

Party autonomy is the defining principle of private international law today. Notwithstanding its broad acceptance, what does party autonomy mean in the context of jurisdiction agreements? The lack of commercial certainty in how the agreement to “submit” to the jurisdiction of the courts in the chosen forum will be interpreted and enforced by the courts defeats the very purpose of party autonomy itself, which is the management of venue risk by commercial parties in entering into cross-border transactions. In light of recent developments, the Singapore court has blurred the distinction between exclusive and non-exclusive jurisdiction agreements by holding that the same requirement of “strong cause” applies if a party reneges on its agreement to “submit”. This is premised on the same strict contractual analysis and enforcement of both types of agreements. It is against this background that the approach of the Singapore courts in determining the exercise of their own jurisdiction under the common law will be reappraised, along with a comparison with the practice of the English courts.

Sulzer Chemtech licences AVA Biochem technology

Sulzer has entered into an exclusive licence agreement to commercialise AVA Biochem AG's technology to produce sustainable commodity chemicals from biomass.

Internal workforce, symbolism and licensed products: 17th Asian Games

Learning outcomes The questions raised in the case study could escort a classroom or online discussion for understanding licensed product consumption motives among the internal workforce. Case overview/synopsis Despite the Asiad (an abbreviation of Asian Games) being organized in the most populous continent, its financial profitability is minimal compared with the summer Olympic Games and other major sporting events. Thereby, Asiad board members are seeking to understand how they can target the right segment via licensed products. This will ultimately increase licensed product sales. On July 1, 2017, a board meeting was held in which the licensing product manager, Young Lee, proposed to target the internal workforce via licensed products based on 17th Asiad’s data and previous literature. Lee analyzed the attributes of licensed products sold at 17th Asiad and its psychological connection with the internal workforce. Hence, the purpose of this case study was to decipher the internal workforce feasibility as the right segment to target via licensed products for Asiad's management. The case study’s primary data was collected via IB worldwide (now Galaxia SM CO, Ltd), one of the leading sport marketing organizations in South Korea. The IB worldwide (now Galaxia SM CO, Ltd) signed an exclusive product license agreement with the Incheon Asian Games Organizing Committee jointly and individually with the Olympic Council of Asia to produce licensed products (e.g. Mascot dolls). This realistic case study should be understood through the lens of symbolic interactionism. Finally, this study is important to consider because the internal workforce licensed products consumption has gained little attention in sports marketing literature. Complexity Academic Level The case can be taught in marketing research and consumer behavior courses. Subject code CSS 8: Marketing. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only.

Legal regulation of exclusive rights agreements in the Eurasian Union countries

Legal regulation of exclusive rights agreements in the Eurasian Union countries

Co-creating the Psychological “White Picket Fence”: Three Gay Couples’ Relationship Reconfiguration

Many gay couples engage in nonmonogamous relationships. Ideas about nonmonogamy have historically been theorised as individual pathology and indicating relational distress. Unlike mixed-sex couples, boundaries for gay couples are often not determined by sexual exclusivity. These relationships are built along a continuum of open and closed, and sexual exclusivity agreements are not restricted to binaries, thus requiring innovation and re-evaluation. Three white South African gay couples were each jointly interviewed about their open relationship, specifically about how this is negotiated. In contrast to research that uses the individual to investigate this topic, this study recruited dyads. The couples recalled the initial endorsement of heteronormative romantic constructions, after which they shifted to psychological restructuring. The dyad, domesticated through the stock image of a white picket fence, moved to a renewed arrangement, protected by “rules” and imperatives. Abbreviated grounded theory strategies led to a core category, “co-creating porous boundaries”, and two themes. First, the couple jointly made heteronormative ideals porous and, second, they reconfigured the relationship through dyadic protection. The overall relationship ideology associated with the white picket fence remained intact despite the micro-innovations through which the original heteronormative patterning was reconfigured.

Toray Membrane USA partners with M|MBR Systems

Toray Membrane USA Inc (TMUS) and M|MBR Systems LLC, a service provider of flat-sheet membrane bioreactor (MBR) systems, have entered into an exclusive supply agreement covering MBR retrofit applications.