STIHL prevails in appeal against Bundeskartellamt infringement decision on non-compete covenant

Compass Lexecon provided economic support to STIHL, the German manufacturer of chainsaws and other handheld power equipment, and its external legal counsel Gleiss Lutz in appeal proceedings against an infringement decision of the German Federal Cartel office (‘FCO’) at the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court. The case concerned an exclusive dealing clause in STIHL’s contracts with part of the dealers in its German distribution system.

Situation

STIHL distributes its products across Germany through a network of specialized dealers. In May 2022, the FCO decided that an exclusive dealing clause in STIHL’s contracts with a subset of its dealers had the effect of foreclosing competing manufacturers.

Our Role

Compass Lexecon carried out an extensive economic analysis of the economic effects of the exclusive dealing clause. Inter alia, our analysis confirmed that STIHL’s competitors had a choice of alternative outlets in all local markets in Germany. We also conducted an econometric analysis of sales data showing that the exclusive dealing clause was unlikely to have affected the demand for other competitors’ products.

Outcome

In August 2024, the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court overruled the FCO decision, finding that the authority’s analysis had failed to prove that the clause was anticompetitive by effect or by object.

The team

Compass Lexecon’s team included Thilo Klein, Christopher Milde, Mario Polus, Marie Theres Kraihammer and Mara Siegesmund, who assisted a Gleiss Lutz team comprising Ulrich Denzel, Patrick Grüner and Laura Roßmann.