Canadian Appellate Court Rejects Kobo’s Challenge of E-books Consent Agreement

Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal has rejected a further appeal by Rakuten Kobo Inc. of a consent order reached between the Competition Bureau and four e-book publishers designed to address alleged anti-competitive behavior in the Canadian e-books market (Rakuten Kobo Inc. v. Commissioner of Competition, 2015 FCA 149, Canadian Fed. Ct. App., 6/18/15).

The appellate court upheld June 18 the finding by the Competition Tribunal that the rights of third parties under Section 106(2) of the Competition Act to challenge consent agreements is limited to whether the agreement’s terms are among the specific types of orders the Tribunal ...