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Germany: Deutsche Telekom lawsuit dismissal may have got it wrong

By  |  July 1, 2014

An appeals court is considering reviving an antitrust lawsuit filed by Kabel Deutschland against Deutsch Telekom, reports say, after an appellate judge says the lower court that first tossed the case may have misinterpreted a key aspect of the case.

Reports say Judge Wolfgang Weber on the Frankfurt appeals court said at a hearing on Tuesday that he and two other judges will now reexamine the $548 million lawsuit. The lower court’s ruling may have misinterpreted the relevant market defined in the lawsuit, reports say.

Kabel Deutschland accuses deutsche Telekom, a former state-owned monopoly, of abusing is market dominance and charging unfair fees when it sold its cable network to Kabel Deutschland in 2003. But a court tossed the lawsuit on the grounds that Deutsche Telekom did not hold a dominant position in the industry.

But reports say the appeals court is now examining whether the lower court incorrectly examined the wrong market when deciding to dismiss the case.

Full content: Bloomberg

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