The Buzz: Nespresso settles with French regulator on knockoff capsules

Nestle SA, the owner of Europe’s largest single-serve coffee brand, reached a final agreement with France’s competition regulator to lift obstacles to makers of knockoff capsules for Nespresso coffee machines. Nespresso will give competitors at least four months’ notice of any technical changes to its machines that may interfere with compatible capsules, the French Competition Authority said in a statement yesterday.
Four times between 2007 and 2013, Nespresso made changes to its machines that made knockoff capsules incompatible, steering clients back toward the Nestle brand, the regulator said. The Swiss company also agreed to inform competitors of upcoming changes to machines and provide them with prototypes to ensure their capsules work in Nespresso coffee makers.
Nespresso makes 85 percent of the capsules that work in its machines, the regulator said, citing 2012 data.