Michał Derdak

Michał Derdak has over 15 years of professional experience in international law firms. His main areas of practice are competition law, consumer protection law and distribution systems, as well as commercial contracts. He has broad experience in structuring distribution systems, including classic distribution, franchising and agency models. He has also advised clients on consumer protection issues, including consumer sales, as well as consumer communication and interaction.

He has advised clients from various sectors, including pharmaceutical, FMCG (in particular food & drink, cosmetics and fashion businesses), energy, oil&gas, technology and others. His experience in advising clients covers the key competition law issues relevant for the sectors, such as rebates on dominant and near-dominant products, distribution and marketing models in various channels, parallel trade or relevant market definitions for advanced products. Michał has been noted by Chambers Europe and the Legal 500.

Antitrust

• Provided a large Polish energy company with comprehensive advice on all antitrust and merger control issues connected with development of an offshore wind farm, including in particular a contractual and internal policy framework connected with co-operation with a technology partner and a potential competitor.
  
  
• Advised Berlin Chemie / Menarini Polska (a part of Menarini Group), an international research-based pharmaceutical company, on various competition compliance issues.
  
  
• Advised a multinational conglomerate corporation operating in the fields of industry, worker safety, health care, and consumer goods, with ongoing competition law advice regarding wide scope of competition law aspects, including in relation to the rebate systems, promotional activities, relationships with distributors, dominance-related issues, as well as unfair competition-related issues.
  
  
• Advised a global IT player on competition and commercial law risks connected with various methods of passing on the potential digital services tax to customers and consumers.

Merger control

• Represented market leaders in cases where they acquired smaller competitors to further strengthen their market power (e.g. on the market of web hosting, web domain and cloud computing services, or on the market of temporary work agencies).
  
  
• Represented MCI Euroventures fund from the MCI Capital group and ABC Data S.A. (sellers) in the merger control proceedings before the European Commission regarding the transaction with the ALSO Group.
  
  
• Represented PineBridge New European Partners II-A, the major shareholder of Orzeł Biały - one of the biggest European recyclers and producers of secondary lead - in the Phase II merger control proceedings regarding the sale of its majority stake in the company to ZAP Sznajder Batterien.

State aid

• Advised a multinational supplier of video delivery software solutions on state aid issues connected with their planned acquisition of a major part of a Polish technology start-up for the successful completion of the transaction.

Consumer protection

• Represented a leading Polish listed real estate developer in the consumer protection proceedings before the Polish competition authority reviewing consumer law compliance when offering products to clients.
  
  
• Advised Viasat Inc., a global communications company and a provider of high-speed satellite broadband services and secure networking systems covering military and commercial markets, on their direct entry to the Polish market of satellite Internet service providers.

• Warsaw Bar Association (OIRP)
• Polish Competition Law Association