I was recently at the Higher Regional Court in Düsseldorf and followed a hearing – you may have read about it here. As we were still standing in the corridors afterwards, an employee of the Bundeskartellamt asked me whether it would be back this year… And when I recorded our podcast “Bei Anruf Wettbewerb” with Justus Haucap yesterday, he asked me on air whether it would be back this year… and both of them had anticipating eyes. And of course! It will be back again! What? More on that in a moment.

Let’s start with today’s reason for big expectations: our visiting professor Ariel Ezrachi, whom we have borrowed from Oxford, will be speaking on artificial intelligence and antitrust law today at 7.15 pm at Schloss Mickeln in our forum. Tomorrow he will be a guest in our lecture series (2.15 pm in the Faculty of Law at Heinrich Heine University) and will talk about Digital Markets and Their Perils. Everyone is welcome, but we would of course warn against a competition overdose, to quote the title of a book by Ezrachi and his co-author Maurice Stucke.

Now to the “What?”: From 1 December 2023, we will be offering an overdose of a different kind, which connoisseurs have been looking forward to for days: the D’Kart Antitrust Advent Calendar, guaranteed chocolate-free and therefore vegan, will open its doors. We will fight off any gatekeeper standing in the way. In a world that is falling apart, we should at least preserve what apparently makes the eyes of competition lawyers and economists light up: 24 tidbits for all fans of competition. My team and I have come up with something for you this year, which has been a lot more work than we expected – but also a lot of fun! Just like last year, you have to take a quiz…

If you can’t bear the tension until then, brew yourself a punch, chow down on a few cookies and take a look at how we’ve sweetened your end-of-year stress so far: for example in 2017 or 2018 or 2019! If you’re now saying, hang on, I can see the photos, impressive gallery, but not the texts, then unfortunately you’re right. (Everything would still be there in my paper archive! We now have our DKartJ repository here for digital mishaps). The good news is that for 2020, when our friends took you around the world, or 2022, when you had to answer quiz questions, you can still find everything online! (We apparently overwrote 2021 by mistake).

See you at the Ariel Ezrachi lecture, and if not, we hope you enjoy our Antitrust Advent Calendar from the day after tomorrow!

Rupprecht Podszun & Team