BRAZIL: Regulator Rejects Anti-competitive Charges Against VW, Fiat And Ford

(RTTNews) - The Brazilian competition regulator (Cade) acquitted the automakers Volkswagen, Fiat and Ford in a suit filed by the National Association of Auto Parts Manufacturers (Anfape) for alleged abuse of intellectual property rights on industrial designs of spare parts.

The association filed the charges in 2007 arguing that the three automakers improperly exercised their intellectual property rights over auto parts designs to prevent independent manufacturers from producing and selling those goods.

The automakers replied that there are no legal restrictions on the exercise of registration rights for different markets and that there was no unlawful conduct.

Cade's counselor Mauricio Bandeira Maia dismissed the charges stating that "the mere exercise of exclusive rights independent of the markets does not provoke the conviction of the automakers."

On November 22, 2017, the rapporteur of the case, counselor Paulo Burnier, voted for the conviction of the automakers, considering that there had been an abusive exercise of intellectual property rights, with adverse effects on the competitive dynamics of the country, which would have caused damages to consumers.

The counselor João Paulo de Resende and the chairman Alexandre Barreto followed Burnier's vote, while counselors Polyanna Vilanova, Cristiane Alkmin J. Schmidt, and Paula Azevedo followed Maia's decison.