Kartellrecht und Rechtsmissbrauch

The unfairness of corporate market behaviour is a key criterion of German and EU competition law, which can also be enforced by means of private law. However, these prohibitions only address companies that are dominant or have relative market power. By contrast, the objection to abuse of rights based on § 242 of the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (Germany’s civil code) applies to all private law subjects, including companies, regardless of their market position. Both the prohibition of abusive practices under competition law and objecting to abuse of rights allow market participants who are affected by impedimental entrepreneurial practices to defend themselves against such practices by means of private law. In this book, the author therefore examines the question of whether the application of § 242 of the BGB in order to regulate corporate behaviour actually undermines the objective of the legislator in the sense that it renders impeding competitive behaviour below the specific thresholds of competition law harmless.