Author: Florian Mueller
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Apple effectively kills numerous browser games in the EU: unprecedented slap in the face of tech regulation
The latest iOS beta version shows that Apple is prepared to flip the bird to the institutions of the Europan Union in response to an attempt to better regulate digital markets.
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TikTok loss in EU court case benefits Apple’s resistance to Digital Markets Act as EU Commission risks BILLIONS
Bytedance failed to win a court order that would have suspended the EU Commission’s designation of TikTok as a gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act. But the court’s reasoning shows certain limits of DMA enforcement.
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Microsoft to appeals court: Activision Blizzard was planning significant job cuts even as independent company
Context: Yesterday (February 7, 2024), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a letter with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, arguing that a recent announcement of 1,900 job cuts at Activision Blizzard strengthened its case for an injunction. The FTC said that it would become difficult to spin off ABK in…
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Disney-Epic Games alliance has important past and current connections with Apple, Google app store fights
App store antitrust matters are not mentioned in the announcement of Disney’s $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games, but there are important implications, some of which are not merely speculative.
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U.S. court certifies 12-year-old consumer class-action claiming Apple’s standard App Store tax should be < 14%, not 30%
A 2011 consumer class-action lawsuit over Apple’s App Store that says a competitive commission would have been 13.69% instead of 30% has finally reached the point of class certification, but significant hurdles remain.
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Meta CEO Zuckerberg confirms Apple’s rules in response to EU DMA discourage creation of alternative iOS app stores
Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirms what others have said: Apple’s new EU rules generally don’t create an opportunity for alternative app stores.
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Google wants Epic’s jury trial win overturned or at least a new trial, then without a jury: long list of arguments
Context: Last year, a San Francisco jury found for Epic Games on all counts against Google in an antitrust litigation over the Google Play Store. A motion for judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) that Google brought before jury deliberations even began was limited by the judge to only two pages, yet provided an…
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Epic Games formally tells U.S. court Apple isn’t complying with App Store injunction, announces contempt motion
Context: On January 16, 2024, Epic Games’ 2021 anti-anti-steering injunction under California law (but of nationwide scope and to the benefit of all app makers in the U.S.) entered into force after the Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear the matter (games fray article). Within hours, Apple filed an obviously prepared notice…
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Microsoft criticizes Apple’s new EU rules: what this means for Xbox app store, xCloud iOS app, UK CMA investigation
Microsoft Xbox president Sarah Bond called on Apple to be constructive and shared a much more aggressive statement on Apple’s new EU app rules by Spotify. It’s important to distinguish between the cloud gaming issue, which is a worldwide rlue change and where the UK CMA won’t let Apple off the hook too easily.
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Explaining the disproportionate impact of Apple’s 50-cent fee in response to the EU Digital Markets Act
Apple’s fee of 50 eurocents (US$0.54) per user per year if developers wish to distribute via alternative app stores has an effect that is way bigger than the seemingly small number suggests.