Tag: antitrust fine

Google to Review CCI’s Antitrust Fine Over Allegation of Dominance in Android Market

Google on Friday said it will review Competition Commission’s (CCI) decision to impose a Rs. 1,338 crore penalty for alleged anti-competitive practice, and termed the order a “major setback” for Indian consumers and businesses.

In its first official response after the CCI order, Google said Android has created more choices for everyone and supports thousands of successful businesses in India and around the world.

“The CCI‘s decision is a major setback for Indian consumers and businesses, opening serious security risks for Indians who trust Android’s security features, and raising the cost of mobile devices for Indians,” a Google spokesperson said in an email statement.

Google said it will “review the decision to evaluate the next steps”.

The competition watchdog on Thursday slapped a steep penalty of Rs. 1,337.76 crore on Google for abusing its dominant position in multiple markets in relation to Android mobile devices and ordered the internet major to cease and desist from various unfair business practices.

The regulator, which passed the order after ordering a detailed probe more than three years ago, has also directed Google to modify its conduct within a defined timeline.

Android is a popular open-source, mobile operating system installed by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of smartphones and tablets.

CCI, which had started probing the case in April 2019, has directed that OEMs should not be restrained from choosing from among Google’s proprietary applications to be pre-installed and also not be forced to pre-install a bouquet of applications on their smart devices. 

In other news, Alphabet’s Google has also been sued in Texas for allegedly collecting biometric data of millions of Texans without obtaining proper consent, the attorney general’s office said in a statement on Thursday.

The complaint says that companies operating in Texas have been barred for more than a decade from collecting people’s faces, voices or other biometric data without advanced, informed consent.

The collection occurred through products like Google Photos, Google Assistant, and Nest Hub Max, the statement said.

 

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Apple’s 2020 Antitrust Fine Issued by French Watchdog Said to Be Reduced to EUR 372 Million

A French court on Thursday substantially lowered a fine against iPhone maker Apple for alleged anti-competitive behaviour to EUR 372 million (nearly Rs. 3,000 crore) from EUR 1.1 billion (nearly Rs. 8,800 crore) previously, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The original fine had been imposed by France’s antitrust watchdog in 2020 for what it described as Apple‘s anti-competitive behaviour towards its distribution and retail network.

At the time, it was the biggest fine levied by the antitrust regulator, which said Apple imposed prices on retail premium resellers so that the prices were aligned with those charged by the California firm in its own shops, or on the internet.

The appeals court backed the antitrust watchdog’s charge that Apple abused the retailers’ economic dependency on the company but tossed the fixed-pricing charge, one of the two sources said.

It also reduced the time scope of the charge of an alleged restriction of the wholesalers’ clientele, the same source said.

The court also decided to significantly lower the rate applied to calculate the overall fine, the source added.

The French antitrust authority had used a high rate in 2020 given the size and financial firepower of Apple, the source said.

Apple said it would appeal the decision. It did not mention the amount of the fine issued by the court.

“While the court correctly reversed part of the French Competition Authority’s decision, we believe it should be overturned in full and plan to appeal,” the US company said in a statement sent to Reuters.

“The decision relates to practices from more than a decade ago that even the (French authority) recognised are no longer in use.”

A spokesperson for the appeals court declined to comment on the exact content of the decision but confirmed the court “partially confirmed” the antitrust watchdog’s decision.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

 

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Intel Demands $624 Million in Interest From EU After Antitrust Fine Win

The US chipmaker Intel has filed a claim for EUR 593 million (nearly $624 million or Rs. 4,800 crore) in interest from the European Commission, five months after it convinced Europe’s second-top court to scrap a EUR 1.06 billion (nearly Rs. 8,600 crore) EU antitrust fine, an EU filing showed on Monday.

Europe’s top court paved the way for such damage demands last year in a landmark ruling which ordered the EU executive to pay default interest on reimbursed fines in annulled antitrust cases.

Judges said late payment of interest will itself incur interest as well.

Intel in its application to the Luxembourg-based General Court said the Commission, which acts as the competition watchdog in the 27-country European Union, had refused to reimburse the company the default interest.

The Commission returned $1.2 billion (nearly Rs. 9,300 crore) to Intel after its court defeat in January this year.

Intel said its claim is based on an interest rate equivalent to the European Central Bank’s refinancing rate of 1.25 percent beginning from May 2009, and that this should be increased to 3.5 percent from August 2009 to February this year when the EU repaid the company fine, minus EUR 38 million (nearly Rs. 310 crore) in an interest amount paid to Intel by the Commission.

Recently, Intel also said to have announced to frozen hiring in the division responsible for PC desktop and laptop chips, according to a memo reviewed by Reuters, as part of a series of cost-cutting measures.

Intel is “pausing all hiring and placing all job requisitions on hold” in its client computing group, according to the memo sent on Wednesday. The memo said that some hiring could resume in as little as two weeks after the division re-evaluates priorities and that all current job offers in its systems will be honoured.

“We believe we are at the beginning of a long-term growth cycle across the semiconductor industry and we have the right strategy in place,” Intel said in a statement. “Increased focus and prioritisation in our spending will help us weather macroeconomic uncertainty, execute on our strategy and meet our commitments to customers, shareholders, and employees.”

© Thomson Reuters 2022

 

 

 

 

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