antitrust

Italy threatens Apple with fine, temporary closure

The story, reported here by Reuters centers around a provision of Italian law that guarantees customers free two-year warranties on electronic products.

Italy's AGCM competition and market authority has already imposed fines of 900,000 euros on divisions of Apple, which offers a paid technical support service, for failing to tell customers about their rights to free assistance.

But months after the previous fine, Apple has failed to comply with the antitrust request, the watchdog said. The company offers a free one-year guarantee scheme, which can be extended to two years on payment of a fee.

The AGCM said … Read more

Google offers to settle EU antitrust probe

Search behemoth Google today offered to settle an ongoing European antitrust investigation in a bid to prevent it from being served with huge fines and restrictions on its business practices in Europe.

Google chairman Eric Schmidt has sent a letter to E.U. Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia, according to a Commission spokesperson, in which Schmidt offered a deal which could prevent a fully-fledged antitrust investigation.

The letter addressed the "four areas the European Commission described" last month -- which can be found here.

The details of the letter were not open for disclosure, but a spokesperson said it &… Read more

EU: Microsoft $1B antitrust penalty stands

An EU court said today that it will uphold an 899 million euro ($1.1 billion) penalty handed out in 2008 by the European Commission, but will lower it by 39 million euros ($48 million).

The European General Court, the second highest court in the EU, said today it will lower the fine to 860 million euros ($1.07 billion) following an antitrust ruling nearly five years ago.

"The General Court essentially upholds the Commission's decision imposing a periodic penalty payment on Microsoft for failing to allow its competitors access to interoperability information on reasonable terms," the … Read more

EU General Court ready to decide fate of Microsoft's antitrust fine

Microsoft will finally learn the fate of its European Union antitrust appeal tomorrow.

The EU General Court is expected to lay down its final verdict tomorrow on whether Microsoft should be forced to pay an 899 million-euro ($1.12 billion) fine for allegedly failing to comply with a 2004 antitrust order.

Back in 2004, the European Commission required Microsoft to provide complete interoperability information to rivals to ensure their software would work with Windows. The order was part of a broader antitrust complaint that included Microsoft being required to license that information "under reasonable and nondiscriminatory" terms.

In … Read more

Google responds to WSJ guest post; defends search algorithms

Google has struck back against The Wall Street Journal after the newspaper published a rather scathing guest opinion piece lambasting the Internet giant.

Nextag CEO Jeffrey Katz wrote on Thursday evening that Google has ballooned into a monopoly, pegging its closest competition -- at least in the search space -- as one that has no hope of competing. (Interestingly enough, that's Bing, the search entry for Microsoft, which has had its own well-known monopoly-related issues in the past.)

Katz does have some solid evidence here, which is mainly statistics proving Google's dominance in the search field as well … Read more

U.S. antitrust regulators to question Google co-founders

The Federal Trade Commission plans to question Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin as part of the ongoing antitrust probe of the Web powerhouse, Bloomberg reported today.

The report's unnamed sources said the Google executives have hired a top Washington law firm to prepare for the depositions. The firm, Williams & Connolly LLP, represented President Bill Clinton, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, and the late Senator Edward Kennedy, according to Bloomberg.

Google declined to comment on the depositions but did offer a statement.

"We are happy to explain our business to regulators and answer any questions … Read more

EU's Almunia: Google has until July to address antitrust concerns

European Union competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia last month sent a notice to Google over concerns his office has with the search giant's alleged "abuses of dominance." And now, he's giving the company a deadline.

"On May 21, I sent a letter to Google underlining our concerns in its business practices that we identified in our preliminary investigations that started in November 2010," Almunia said in a speech today. "I want to give the company the opportunity to offer remedy proposals that would avoid lengthy proceedings. By early July, I expect to receive from … Read more

Google told by EC to play ball or face a trial

Google has been given an ultimatum by the European Commission: straighten up or we'll take you to court.

The search giant has been under the microscope of the EC over complaints that it has stifled competition in the search market by favoring its own businesses. Several companies have alleged that Google purposely tweaks its search results so that its own sites appear before those of potential rivals.

Until now, the EC been in no rush to launch formal charges against Google. But now the war of words has been ramped up a few notches.

Joaquin Almunia, the European Commission'… Read more

Google up against hotshot lawyer in FTC antitrust case

Google could face a rough time in the courtroom if the FTC's antitrust case against it goes to trial.

To determine whether Google violated antitrust laws, the Federal Trade Commission is using the big guns with attorney Beth Wilkinson, an ex-prosecutor for the Department of Justice.

Wilkinson has developed a reputation as a powerful and determined litigator, successfully handling several cases that have put her into the limelight, says Reuters. She was the prosecutor in the trial of Timothy McVeigh, arguing in favor of the death penalty for the Oklahoma City bomber. In private practice, she has defended tobacco … Read more