Year in Review 2019: Competition Law in the Digital Age

Abstract

Under a new Commissioner of Competition, Matthew Boswell, 2019 was a somewhat quieter year for Canada’s Competition Bureau in terms of difficult merger cases but saw, if anything, relatively greater enforcement activity on the abuse of dominance and deceptive marketing fronts. In terms of overall approach, the prevailing winds seemed to be steady through the transition, as Mr. Boswell continued to focus on the digital economy and took the opportunity to update both the Abuse of Dominance Guidelines and the Intellectual Property Enforcement Guidelines to reflect ongoing case law developments applicable to these areas.