eBizcuss: judgment of the Cour de Cassation, January 30th 2019

Sygna advises eBizcuss, a former distributor of Apple computers and smartphones now in receivership, has been in dispute since 2012 with Apple, accusing it of being at the root of its bankruptcy. Apple argued that this action fell within the jurisdiction of the Irish courts pursuant to a jurisdiction clause in the distribution agreement between the two parties. On this point, it raised a question for a preliminary ruling to the European Court of Justice (Supreme Court of EU Law), which delivered a judgment on 24 October 2018. On 30 January 2019, the Court of Cassation followed this decision by ruling that, as soon as violations of competition law materialise in contractual relations, a jurisdiction clause is applicable to such a dispute. The Court of Cassation held that this was the case in this case and that the Irish courts had jurisdiction. To be continued.