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Frank FINE

Counsel
Locations:Brussels
Title:Head of International Antitrust
Tel:+32 02 735 0880
Fax:
Email:frank.fine@dehenglaw.com
Working Language: English/ French
Frank Fine has been practicing EU competition law in Brussels since 1986. He advises companies with regard to EU and national merger filings and investigations, cartel defense, IP/antitrust issues, antitrust compliance and data protection, particularly under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). He has also advised a number of national competition authorities. He is also Executive Director of the China Institute of International Antitrust and Investment, which was formed in March 2012 under the auspices of the ChinaUniversity of Political Science and Law, where he is Visiting Professor of Competition Law.
Representative Matters
  • Advised numerous hedge funds on GDPR compliance

  • Advised US automotive firm on Chinese merger clearance

  • Advised major Chinese chemical manufacturer on complex global distribution scheme

  • Represented Chinese manufacturer on patent licensing dispute with foreign licensor 

  • Represented Chinese manufacturer on global merger notifications 

  • Represented a high-technology consortium in its Brussels-based opposition to a strategic alliance among major electronics companies

  • Represented South African Airways in the European Commission’s air freight cartel investigation, follow-on litigation in the UK courts and in a Swiss investigation

  • Represented the International Optical Disc Replicators Association (iODRA) in a European Commission antitrust investigation against the 4C, 6C and MPEG-LA DVD patent pools, as well as Thomson/Technicolor for various breaches of Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty 

  • Advised company before the European Commission seeking to block the Procter & Gamble/Gillette merger

  • Provided strategic EC competition law advice to Cinram in its defense to patent claims brought by Matsushita in U.S. federal court litigation (6C DVD patent pool)

  • Advised Cisco Systems on EC antitrust issues involving global alliance with Siemens

  • Represented Furukawa Electric in connection with acquisition of Lucent's optical fibers business, which entailed global national merger filings

  • Represented Newell Rubbermaid in acquisition of American Tool Company, entailing multiple notifications in Europe

  • Lead counsel in National Data Corporation's successful EC interim measures investigation against IMS based on application of Article 82 (compulsory license of copyright), and co-counsel for NDC in the appeal of this decision before the EC Court of First Instance

  • Advised National Data Corporation in challenge to IMS/PMSI merger before MMC

  • Advised Halifax and Cetelem (Paribas) in Form CO notification of U.K. concentrative joint venture; 

  • Advised William Grant in three-way joint venture with Remy and Bacardi-Martini

  • Represented Laidlaw Environmental, a U.S. waste management firm, in its $1.5 billion acquisition of Safety-Kleen

  • Represented Hewlett-Packard in its $1.2 billion acquisition of VeriFone

  • Advised Birmingham International Airport in a joint takeover by Aer Rianta and NatWest Group

  • Advised CalComp, a Lockheed Martin subsidiary, in its acquisition of Summagraphics, which required notification in a number of EU countries

  • Advised Lockheed Martin in its $9.1 billion acquisition of Loral

  • Responsibility for merger notifications and/or clearances in a number of countries in Eastern and Western Europe resulting from the $5 billion acquisition of Amax by Cyprus Mineral

Education Background
  • LL.M. (with honors, 1986) and Ph.D. (1995) in EC Competition Law from Cambridge University

  • J.D. in Loyola Law School, Los Angeles (1982) 

Professional Qualifications
  • Bar admission in California and the District of Columbia (US) 

  • Bar admission in the UK 

Recognitions and Affiliations
  • Listed in AsiaLaw Leading Lawyers for Chinese Antitrust Law and in European Legal Experts for EU Competition Law. 

  • A Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. 

  • Vice-Chair of the Cartel and Criminal Practice, International and Intellectual Property Committees of the ABA Antitrust Section. 

  • A former member of the Section's Civil Redress Task Force and Publications Advisory Board. 

  • Sits on the Advisory Boards of the Center for Financial Regulation and Economic Development of the City University of Hong Kong, the Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business, and the Antitrust Report (LexisNexis)

Selected Publications
  • General Editor of European Competition Laws, a three-volume loose-leaf treatise published by Lexis Nexis. 

  • Editor-in-Chief of the China Antitrust Law Journal (LexisNexis), the first China-based law review on antitrust. 

  • Author of The EC Competition Law on Technology Licensing (Sweet & Maxwell, 2006).         

  • Author of Mergers and Joint Ventures in Europe: The Law and Policy of the EEC (Kluwer, 1994).         

  • Co-Editor of Federal Antitrust Guidelines for the Licensing of Intellectual Property (3rd ed.), the ABA publication.  

  • Editor-in-Chief of the Loyola International & Comparative Law Journal (1982)

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