FAOC, the company operating Fashion Arena Prague Outlet in Prague, claimed last week to have received a favorable verdict from the Supreme Court cancelling a temporary injunction that would prevent it from forbidding its tenants from opening stores in similar malls within a certain distance. The court reversed the ruling having found that sufficient legal grounds had not been provided by Fashion Arena’s new competition, writes the weekly Týden. “We’re very pleased that the supreme court in Prague confirmed our position in such a short period of time. We believed that the temporary injunction would be revoked because it’s a completely normal practice in our sector all across Europe,” said Lenka Čapková, director of the outlet mall.
However, the company running The Prague Style Outlets disputes this interpretation. “Fashion Arena can hardly claim that the Supreme Court has in any way confirmed these restrictive contractual clauses were legal and legitimate and that Fashion Arena can use them freely. The Supreme Court’s ruling implies no such thing. On the contrary, it confirmed that both outlet centers are competing with each other in the relevant market and that the problematic contractual clauses issues demanded by the operator of Fashion Arena could cause damage to the company The Prague Outlet. We are therefor convinced that the limiting contractual clauses are illegal and that by using them, Fashion Arena is breaking the law.”
