Order of the Court of First Instance of 30 September 2009 - Impala v Commission
(Competition - Concentration - Sony BMG joint venture - Original decision annulled by the Court of First Instance - New decision declaring the concentration compatible with the common market - Action deprived of purpose - No need to adjudicate)
Language of the case: English
Parties
Applicant: Independent Music Publishers and Labels Association (Impala, association internationale (Brussels, Belgium) (represented by: S. Crosby, J. Golding, Solicitors and I. Wekstein, lawyer)
Defendant: Commission of the European Communities (represented by: X. Lewis, F. Arbault and K. Mojzesowicz, Agents)
Interveners in support of the defendant: Sony Corporation of America, (New York, New York, United States), (represented by N. Levy, Barrister, R. Snelders and T. Graf, lawyers); and Bertelsmann AG (Gütersloh, Germany) (represented by P. Chappatte, J. Boyce and A. Lyle-Smythe, Solicitors)
Re:
Application for annulment of Commission Decision C (2007) 4507 of 3 October 2007 declaring compatible with the common market and the functioning of the EEA Agreement a concentration whereby the activities of Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann AG in the recorded music sector were combined into a joint venture (Case COMP/M.3333 - Sony/BMG), adopted following the annulment by the judgment delivered in Case T-464/04 Impala v Commission [2006] ECR II-2289 of Commission Decision 2005/188/EC of 19 July 2004 declaring a concentration compatible with the common market and the functioning of the EEA Agreement (Case COMP/M.3333 - Sony/BMG) (OJ 2005 L 62, p. 30).
Operative part of the order
There is no longer any need to adjudicate on the present action.
Independent Music Publishers and Labels Association (Impala, association internationale) shall bear its own costs and those of the Commission of the European Communities.
Bertelsmann AG and Sony Corporation of America shall bear their own costs.
____________1 - OJ C 197, 2.8.2008.