TL;DR Japan’s new Qualified Invoice System makes purchases from tax-exempt SMEs costlier for taxable buyers. Demanding automatic 10 % price cuts or coercing suppliers to register as taxable businesses may breach the Antimonopoly Act’s “Abuse of Superior Bargaining Position” (ASBP) rules—and, for smaller subcontractors, the Subcontract Act.

TL;DR * Tokyo District Court (16 Jun 2022) found a restaurant-rating platform abused a Superior Bargaining Position by secretly tweaking its algorithm to penalise chains. * Key factors: platform dependence (31 % of sales), no prior notice, deviation from stated anti-manipulation purpose. * Damages awarded despite injunction denial—“unjust” implementation under Japan’s

TL;DR * Japan’s Antimonopoly Act allows a 50 % surcharge uplift for companies deemed “leading operators” in cartels or bid-rigging schemes. * The Tokyo District Court’s 2022 Activated Carbon decision clarifies how courts decide whether a coordinator/facilitator meets this test. * Key factors include continuous coordination at others’ request and

TL;DR Japan’s Antimonopoly Act (AMA) bans “exclusionary private monopolization” by dominant firms—conduct that artificially hinders rivals and substantially restrains competition. To stay compliant, define markets carefully, vet any practice that could impede rivals, and document genuine business justifications. A 2023 Tokyo High Court decision on airport fuel

TL;DR * Japan’s Antimonopoly Act infers a cartel when competitors share sensitive future data (prices, output) and later act in parallel. * The 2023 Tokyo High Court “Shutter cartel” ruling confirmed that even vague talk of a “10 % increase” plus subsequent aligned price hikes showed a meeting of minds. * Firms

TL;DR * A Kyushu fisheries federation imposed 100 %-supply rules on producers/co-ops and banned buyers’ direct purchases, triggering a JFTC commitment procedure. * Such exclusive-dealing and restrictive-condition practices can lose the AMA Article 22 cooperative exemption and violate Article 19 unfair-trade provisions. * The case shows that industry associations and cooperatives

TL;DR * Long-term exclusivity and post-contract non-competes in Japan’s talent-agency deals face growing Antimonopoly Act (AMA) scrutiny. * JFTC investigations and the 2019 “idol-group” warning signalled that black-listing and excessive restrictions may breach Abuse-of-Superior-Bargaining-Position (ASBP) rules. * Agencies must justify contract length, avoid retaliatory conduct and embrace clearer, proportionate terms before

TL;DR * Japan’s Antimonopoly Act polices unfair B2B conduct via the Abuse of Superior Bargaining Position (ASBP) rule. * In the 2023 Osaka High Court “Oshigami” case, a distributor failed to prove a publisher’s refusal to cut excess newspaper copies was unjust—the court accepted the publisher’s business

TL;DR * Japan lacks a single franchise statute, so antitrust rules—especially the Antimonopoly Act’s Abuse of Superior Bargaining Position (ASBP)—govern fairness. * A 2023 Tokyo District Court injunction shows franchisors may not undermine franchisees’ “reasonable territorial expectations,” even if not in the contract. * US franchisors must draft clear

TL;DR * Japan’s news ecosystem now depends heavily on a handful of digital platforms, creating bargaining-power imbalances and new antitrust risks. * The JFTC’s 2023 market study flags low licence fees, self-preferencing and opaque algorithms as potential Abuse of Superior Bargaining Position or unfair trade practices. * Publishers may pursue