Items tagged with antitrust
Jonathon Kanter, the Justice Department's Assistant Attorney General, likens big tech's questionable business practices to those of the oil industry during Standard Oil's dynasty years. Kanter has been reported as saying technology in 2023 represents the "lifeblood" of modern society, much like the oil industry once...
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The US Department of Justice and eight state attorneys general have filed an antitrust case against Google. If you're thinking this has happened before, you'd be right. However, this time the DOJ is going after Google's crown jewel: the ad tech business. According to the complaint, filed in federal court in Virginia...
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The United States Congress is attempting to break up the immense amount of power held by tech giants. However, companies like Amazon believe that such legislation would be detrimental. Amazon recently condemned a bill that would discourage anticompetitive practices.
The American Innovation and Choice Online Act is...
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The General Court of the European Union has overturned a massive antitrust fine levied by the EU against Intel back in 2009. At the time, the EU determined Intel had abused its dominant position in the market for x86 processors by offering conditional rebates to companies like Dell and Lenovo, and slapped the chip...
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A class action lawsuit claims tech giants Google and Apple have been colluding to break antitrust laws in the United States. The lawsuit alleges Google has been paying Apple billions of dollars to keep other search engines out of Apple's closed eco-system, with execs from both companies purportedly meeting in...
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To borrow a phrase from the South, Amazon has grown too big for its britches. That alone is not worthy of a monumental fine, but according to the Italian Antitrust Authority, some of Amazon's business practices have unfairly harmed competitors (and by extension, consumers). As a result, it imposed a fine of around...
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Google had hoped an appeal of a massive €2.42 billion (around $2.8 billion in US currency) fine in Europe over shopping ads would be negated upon appeal, but the search giant was wrong. Very wrong. Europe's General Court upheld the decision by the European Commission, and in doing so, dealt a major blow to Google's...
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Last week, we told you about NVIDIA offering the EU antitrust commission concessions to try and hurry along its acquisition of Arm. If you missed that story, here's the quick and dirty to get you up to speed: NVIDIA wants to buy Arm, and regulators around the world are scrutinizing the deal, due to its possible...
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Following NVIDIA’s announcement of its intent to acquire Arm, global antitrust concerns were almost immediately raised. However, it seemed that things had settled down until now, as the United Kingdom is considering blocking the deal, citing national security concerns.
In late 2020, NVIDIA announced that it sought to...
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A preliminary investigation into a complaint raised by Spotify over Apple's App Store polices has led the European Commission to issue a 'Statement of Objections' against Apple, saying the company "is in breach of EU competition law." It essentially amounts to an antitrust violation, with Apple having 12 weeks to...
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Valve has recently been in some hot water as the EU’s European Commission slapped the games company with a $1.9 million fine over “geo-blocking.” Now, some gamers are suing Valve in California over anti-competitive clauses in developer agreements. Valve and multiple other developers have been named defendants...
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Facebook has long been suspected of anti-competitive practices. Forty-eight states and territories and the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have now filed twin lawsuits against Facebook to address this issue. Facebook has responded to these lawsuits by stating that it is ready to fight against what it...
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Apple has been investigated and accused of anti-competitive practices over the last year, and in September, Epic Games formed a coalition against Apple for battling monopolistic store practices. The U.S Department of Justice has also been increasing antitrust investigations and inquiries into big tech companies over...
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Is Mozilla trying to have its cake and eat it too? That certainly seems to be the case with its commentary surrounding the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) antitrust lawsuit brought yesterday against Google. The DOJ has alleged that Google has partaken in a number of monopolistic practices specifically related to the...
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Today, the Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Google in what is the largest tech antitrust case since Microsoft came under fire two decades ago. The lawsuit claims that Google has “stifled competition” with its online search and advertisement businesses, arguably the most significant parts of Google as...
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Companies like Apple and Google have been accused of anti-competitive practices for many years. A United States House of Representatives antitrust subcommittee has been investigating these major tech companies for sixteen months. A memo from Representative Ken Buck (R-CO) provides some insight into the conclusions of...
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The United States Department of Justice has had a magnifying glass on Google for quite some time now, and seemingly they have found something incriminating that is worth pursuing. According to sources familiar to the situation, the US DoJ may file a lawsuit against Google as soon as next week.
Going back to 2019, the...
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Earlier this month, a U.S. Appeals Court ruled in favor of Qualcomm following an FTC antitrust lawsuit. Qualcomm was cleared after "no evidence" of anticompetitive behavior was found, and the company's $5 billion a year licensing business was left unscathed. Now, car and tech companies are up in arms, requesting that...
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Qualcomm is tasting sweet redemption this week after a U.S. Appeals Court ruled in its favor regarding a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit alleging it had violated antitrust laws. At the center of the lawsuit was Qualcomm's licensing business, which is a huge source of revenue for the company (this revenue amounted to...
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Most people are very familiar with Google’s various services, especially their popular search engine. However, is Google using its ubiquity to intentionally hamper their competition? It was recently reported that the United States Department of Justice and a group of state attorneys general are likely planning to sue...
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Google parent company Alphabet has confirmed that it is under investigation by the United States Department of Justice. Specifically, the DOJ suspects Alphabet of antitrust practices, and is demanding all information and documents related to prior antitrust investigations involving the company around the globe. While...
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Facebook recently revealed that it is working on cross-platform messaging between its three social media apps. Although the software rewrite is still in its infancy, it was immediately met with criticism and apprehension. Facebook’s intention of merging their messaging services has spurred concerns about privacy and...
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