Items tagged with antitrust
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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Price fixing in the DRAM market is nothing new unfortunately. As recently as January this year, a Chinese regulator accused Samsung other chip manufacturers of artificially increasing prices to pad their margins. Samsung is also no stranger to price fixing, as a $300 million judgement against it and Hynix was handed...
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The United States Department of Justice is about to go on a trust-busting escapade. The Justice Department is investigating whether AT&T, Verizon, and the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSMA) collectively prevented consumers from switching carriers on devices with eSIM. The three organizations reportedly...
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Qualcomm has been hit with a hefty NT$23.4 billion (around $773 million in US currency) imposed by Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission over violations to Taiwanese competition law, and specifically over licensing fees on mobile phone processors and patents that it collected over the past 7 years. Naturally the...
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Google just cannot seem to catch a break from European regulators. Fresh off being hit with a record-setting €2.42 billion fine (around $2.7 billion in U.S. currency) for favoring its own shopping search engine in search results over third-party comparison shopping tools, antitrust regulators in the European Union are...
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When the European Union comes at technology firms for perceived antitrust violations, it comes at them hard. Such is the case yet again, this time with the European Commission issuing a record-breaking fine of €2.42 billion (around $2.7 billion in U.S. currency) to Google for running afoul of antitrust law. The fine...
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The Google/European Union saga continues and could potentially lead to heavy consequences for Google. The corporation could face fines above €1 billion, with some estimating a fine as high as $1.4 billion USD. Google could also be forced to change how it manages its services and operations in the EU.
The EU...
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The pieces to the puzzle are starting to come together. Earlier this week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) hit Qualcomm with a lawsuit concerning anticompetitive practices with its licensing. The FTC specifically called out Qualcomm’s actions towards Apple, writing, “Qualcomm recognized that any competitor that won...
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Google does not plan on going down without a fight in its battle against the European Union (EU). Google has formally rebuffed the EU’s antitrust charges in a blog post entitled “Improving Quality Isn’t Anti-Competitive”.
Google has been accused of exclusively promoting its own shopping services to edge out its...
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If Google had been hoping that the European Union would back off on its pursuit of proving that it's anti-competitive, it appears that the company hasn't been hoping hard enough. Today, the EU shot another set of charges at Google for anti-competitive practices, this time squarely targeting its AdSense for Search...
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As huge as Google is, it's sometimes easy to think of it as being invincible. The American company seemingly gets away with whatever it wants simply because it dominates its competition. But, the European Union has time and time again proven that Google is not invincible, and in fact, it could now be facing the EU's...
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When Google's Android OS began overtaking every other mobile OS in terms of marketshare, it seemed obvious that at some point, the company would be catching a bit of flak for it. In fact, it seemed inevitable that the EU would have something to say about it, as it's traditionally been strict amount companies that...
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Google is once again taking heat from the Federal Trade Commission, according to Bloomberg. The FTC is apparently in the very early stages of determining whether Google’s handling of its Android mobile phone operating system violated antitrust laws. With both Google and the FTC offering no official information about...
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It’s hardly been a secret that Google is the European Union’s doghouse, but now the hostility is official. The EU delivered Google with a Statement of Objections that accuses it of skewing search results towards the company’s own services. To top things off, the EU is looking into accusations that Android, Google’s...
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Tensions between the European Union and Google never seem to subside, nor are they likely to anytime soon as the former reportedly prepares to issue antitrust charges against the latter as part of a five-year investigation. Early indications are that this could be the most high-profile antitrust case brought on by the EU since it spanked Microsoft with
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Google has once again found itself in the sights of an anti-competitive watchdog, and this time, it's in Russia. For the first time since 2010, Russia's biggest search engine, Yandex, has dipped below 60% marketshare, and it blames Google's Android OS for causing it to happen.
At last check, Yandex counts its...
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Qualcomm managed to negotiate its way out of paying the full amount of what could have been a $1.6 billion fine in China over antitrust violations. Instead, China's National Development and Reform Commission imposed a record fine of $975 million, a figure Qualcomm agreed not to contest even though it's "disappointed"...
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Following a 14-month investigation into potential antitrust violations, Chinese regulators could fine U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm over 10 billion yuan, or $1.6 billion in U.S. currency. It would rank as China's largest antitrust penalty ever, though regulators and Qualcomm have been in discussions the past week and may...
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A case against Apple regarding antitrust violations for the company’s iPod restrictions has been going on for roughly a decade. However, the case was finally closed today when the jury unanimously voted to clear Apple of the charges.
Plaintiffs, representing a group of consumers who purchased iPods from 2006 to 2009, claimed that Apple
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