Tag: antitrust

Qualcomm Win Confirmed as EU Regulators Won’t Appeal Court Ruling Against $1 Billion Fine

Qualcomm’s win against antitrust regulators in Europe was confirmed on Friday, after the latter reportedly stated that they would not appeal a court ruling in favour of the chip designer. EU regulators had accused Qualcomm in 2018 of paying billions of dollars to Apple from 2011 to 2016, to block out rivals like Intel. A European court had previously criticised the competition watchdog over procedural irregularities, while ruling against the EUR 997 million (roughly Rs. 8,000 crore) fine against Qualcomm.

According to a report by Reuters, the European Commission announced on Friday that it will not appeal the General Court’s decision in June to scrap its EUR 997 million (roughly Rs. 8,000 crore) fine against chipmaker Qualcomm. The regulator has reportedly decided to scrap the deal over the difficulty of winning over the European Court of Justice.

A spokesperson confirmed the development to Reuters, stating: “The Commission has carefully studied the judgment of the General Court in the Qualcomm [exclusivity payments] case and decided not to appeal to the Court of Justice.”

Back in June, the General Court ruled against the EU regulator’s fine on the chipmaker, while criticising ‘procedural irregularities’ on its part, which affected the chipmaker’s right of defence in court, as per the report.

The case dates to a 2018 decision in which the European Commission accused Qualcomm of paying billions of dollars to Apple from 2011 to 2016, to block out rival chipmakers like Intel and ensure that the Cupertino company uses its chips in iPhone and iPad models. The General Court ruled against the EUR 997 million (roughly Rs. 8,000 crore) in June.

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Google Pays Billions to Industry Giants to Maintain Top Search Engine Spot, Says US DOJ

Google reportedly paid billions of dollars to telecom giants like Apple, Samsung, and more to “illegally” remain the default search engine on their products, according to US Department of Justice (DOJ) attorney Kenneth Dintzer, who made these arguments to Judge Amit Mehta during a hearing in Washington on Thursday. Google has been accused of “buying default exclusivity” on most browsers and all US mobile phones. This exclusivity is believed to deny rivals user data, which is the key to the success of a search engine.

According to a Bloomberg report, these Google contracts are the basis of the US DOJ’s landmark antitrust lawsuit, which accuses the company of maintaining its search monopoly by violating antitrust laws.

Google has contracts with smartphone makers like Apple. Samsung, Motorola and three telecom carriers AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, as per the report. Dintzer argued that this exclusivity prevents Google’s rivals from scaling up to challenge the search engine.

As part of their defence, Google has argued that several of these contracts have been in place since the 2000s. Furthermore, they are seemingly essential for companies like Mozilla that offer their services for free.

This antitrust lawsuit is expected to formally begin next year. Thursday’s hearing was the first significant one in this case, according to the report.

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Match Reportedly Files Antitrust Case Against Apple in India Over In-App Purchases

Match, the owner of popular dating app Tinder, has reportedly filed an antitrust case against Apple in India. In the latest challenge to the iPhone maker’s commision charged on in-app purchases, Match has accused Apple of monopolistic conduct due to its 30 percent commission, according to a report. It has also reportedly argued that Apple’s mandatory in-app purchases restricted innovation and development of app developers. The Cupertino company is currently facing pushback from several companies in multiple countries, over its App Store policies. 

According to a report by Reuters based on a legal filing, the antitrust case filed by Match against Apple with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) alleges “monopolistic conduct” over the company’s policy. for “excessive” commisions on in-app purchases for applications hosted on its App Store. This is the first non-Indian firm to take on Apple in India in an antitrust case, as per the report. 

Apple collects a 30 percent commission from app developers for all transactions made in apps and games and has previously booted popular battle royale game Fortnite from the App Store over developer Epic Games’ refusal to comply with the App Store policy and share revenue with the company. 

As per the report, Match has argued that a “state backed online transfer system” was preferred, likely referring to the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), and that payments methods preferred by users in other countries were not supported by Apple. Match has also reportedly argued that Apple’s reduction of its commission to 15 percent for smaller developers does not apply to its apps.  

Apple has previously argued that it is not a dominant player in the country, stating that it had a market share of up to 5 percent. Last year, the CCI ordered a detailed probe against the company for alleged unfair business practices in connection with the App Store in India.  

The report also states that Match alleges discrimination on Apple’s part against online taxi hailing services like Ola and Uber, which are allowed to provide alternate payment services that bypass Apple’s 30 percent commission, on the basis of them providing physical goods and services. The company argued that it performs a “similar matchmaking” function, but Apple has declared both apps to be different, according to the report.  

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