International Arbitration and distribution: should IDI establish a panel of arbitrators specialized in international distribution? Chair: Fabio Bortolotti, Buffa Bortolotti & Mathis, Torino, President IDI; Experience has shown that in general arbitration works well for disputes in relation to distribution-, agency and franchise agreements. However disputes where minor financial interests are involved (< 100.000,00) do […]
Draft on a new Spanish Commercial Code In June 20, 2013 it was presented by the General Codification Commission the new Proposal for a completely new Spanish Mercantile Code. The Proposal contained regulations on a wide range of different commercial matters including a complete regulation on collaborative contracts: agency agreements (already regulated in Spain) but […]
The main changes brought to the Disclosure Act are: (1) a broader scope of application; (2) the introduction of a new duty to provide a “simplified” Disclosure Document in cases where it was not previously required; (3) an extended disclosure of the remuneration paid to the franchisor; and (4) the limited possibility for the franchisee […]
The main innovation introduced by the Agreement concerns the meritocratic indemnity (“indennità meritocratica”[1]) which is now determinedbyapplying new criteria with respect to the past: such calculation includes (i) the determination of a percentage on the difference between commissions earned by the agent at the beginning and at the end of the contract; (ii) the application […]
Agency agreements: relevant period to calculate goodwill compensation The Supreme Court in a judgement of June 27 2013 has considered that in order to calculate goodwill indemnity, the relevant period has to include the entire relationship between the parties. The parties, Ramon Areses SL. (the Agent) and Repsol Butano (the Principal) entered in several successive […]
In Atlantic Marine, plaintiff J-Crew Management, Inc. filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against Atlantic Marine Construction in the Texas, even though the parties had agreed upon a forum-selection clause designating Norfolk, Virginia, as the mandatory venue for litigation. Atlantic Marine moved to dismiss the lawsuit, and in the alternative to transfer the case, arguing that the […]
A franchisor that had already entered into contracts for the distribution of its products entered into a franchise agreement prohibiting it “from authorizing any other points of sale to be opened under [its] brand name without the franchisee’s prior consent.” The franchisee then accused it of breaching the territorial exclusivity clause by continuing […]
In the majority of countries (within and outside Europe), the distributorship contract (called in various ways in the different languages: i.e. in Italian and French, concessione di vendita/concession de vente; in German Vertragshändlervertrag) is considered differently from of purchase/sale relationship (even continuous). Particularly, such type of contract is usually regarded as a duration contract, which […]
Paris Court of Appeals, 13 March 2014, Case No. 13/00714 The Paris Court of Appeals has ruled on an appeal lodged against a decision by the French Competition Authority regarding practices in the field of the selective distribution of hi-fi and home cinema equipment (see IDI monthly newsletter of February 2013). The companies which had […]
The government’s continual review and monitoring of franchisors’ compliance under the Franchising Code of Conduct (Code) since its inception in 1998, is against a backdrop of factors such as: The franchising industry being responsible for the employment of almost half a million Australians; Concerns regarding disparate bargaining power between individual, often first-business-owner franchisees and […]
DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENTS – Goodwill indemnity: rejected, lack of evidences. Termination of long-term agreement without previous notice: indemnity calculated according to monthly average net benefit deducing financial, transport, personnel and general expenses. The Spanish Supreme Court has examined in a Judgement of October 8, 2013 a long-term non-written distribution agreement in which there was an exclusive distributor (Dimac) and […]
As a summary of the dispute; the Complainant claims compensation regarding violation of the post-contractual non-compete clause in a representation contract with the Respondent. However, the Court declined the claim and held that the post non-competition clause is not valid, due to the violation of the Article 48 of the Turkish Constitution, Articles 19, 20, […]
In the case at issue (Decision of the Trib. Milano, special division on enterprises matters of 11/06/2013 – C. s.a.s. and Mr. C.F. v. Vaillant Suntier Duval Italia S.p.A. and others), Claimants were authorized repairers of Vaillant boilers in a certain area of Italy for about 30 years. Within the framework of a reorganization of […]
The Plenary of the Supreme Court of Greece with its recent cases No. 15/2013 and No. 16/2013, resolved the issue concerning the applicability per analogiam of the provisions of Greek legislation on Agency Contract to other types of intermediation, which meet the prerequisites of the provisions regulating the Agency Contract, such as in the case […]
BoerenBond (a Dutch retail organisation for garden and pet products) as franchisee of Agri Retail ran 73 BoerenBond stores. In addition, Agri Retail had 25 more BoerenBond stores, run by other franchisees. The franchise agreement between Agri Retail and BoerenBond had been terminated in August 2013, but BoerenBond nevertheless continued to use the BoerenBond trade […]
The European Directive 86/653 on the coordination of the laws of Member Sates relating to self-employed commercial agents was implemented in Great Britain by the Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993. Article 17(1) of the European Directive obliges Member states to ensure that agents will be entitled to a termination payment at the end of […]
The facts can be summarised as follows. The parties [DANOINERFA (Agent) and INDUSTRIAS LACTEAS DE CANARIAS SLA (ILTESA, the Principal)] have agreed a contractual relationship since 1984 and terminated in 2008. The Principal terminated the agreement giving a six months previous notice and the Agent decided to claim for several amounts: (a) a goodwill indemnity […]
The plaintiff, in its action, claimed an amount for unpaid merchandise from the defendant who, while not disputing the amount claimed by the plaintiff, filed a counter law-suit for damages on grounds of termination of their business relationship without notice. In the countersuit, the Court of Quebec awarded the defendant/cross-plaintiff damages representing six months of […]
