ICLE Senior Scholar Lazar Radic joined Associazione Copernicani and moderator Carlo Alberto Carnevale Maffè for a discussion (in Italian) of the European Union’s Digital Markets Act and the European Commission’s noncompliance investigations of Alphabet, Apple, and Meta. Video of the full discussion is embedded below.

Ayear after it was created by the Government of India’s Ministry of Corporate Affairs to examine the need for a separate law on competition in digital markets, India’s Committee on Digital Competition Law (CDCL) in February both published its report recommending adoption of such rules and submitted the draft Digital Competition Act (DCA), which is virtually identical to the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA).

Read the full piece here.

DEFINITION

The substantial lessening of competition or “SLC” test is a standard that regulatory authorities use to assess the legality of proposed mergers and acquisitions. The SLC test examines whether a prospective merger is likely to substantially lessen competition in a given market. Its purpose is to prevent mergers that increase prices, reduce output, limit consumer choice, or stifle innovation as a result of a decrease in competition. Mergers that substantially lessen competition are prohibited under the laws of the jurisdictions that utilize this test, such as the USA, EU, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and Nigeria, amongst others.

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ICLE Senior Scholar Lazar Radic joined the Euractiv Tech Brief podcast to discuss the European Commission’s €1.8 billion fine against Apple for alleged abuse of dominant position in the music-streaming market. Audio of the full episode is embedded below.

Following Monday’s announcement by the European Commission that it was handing down a €1.8 billion fine against Apple, Spotify—the Swedish music-streaming service that a decade ago lodged the initial private complaint that spawned the Commission’s investigation—published a short explainer on its website titled “Fast Five Facts: Facts that Show Apple Doesn’t Play Fair.” The gist of the company’s argument is that Apple engages in a series of unfair and anticompetitive practices. In this piece, we put some of these claims to the test.

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Just days before the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) was set to enter into force, the European Commission hit Apple—one of the six designated “gatekeepers” to which the new law will apply—with a hefty €1.8 billion fine for the kinds of anti-steering provisions that will be banned by the DMA, which enters into force on 6 March. 

The timing of the fine, and its seemingly arbitrary amount, are both curious. Announced as being the result of a four-year investigation, the decision amounts to an exclusionary-abuse turned exploitative-conduct case, and is underpinned by a flimsy theory of harm in a market that has seen exponential growth over the past decade. The fact that the Commission fined Apple for conduct that would be banned per se just two days later raises questions as to why the DMA was necessary and whether the Commission has faith in the new law’s effectiveness.

Read the full piece here.

The European Commission told Amazon in November 2023 of its preliminary view that the company’s proposed acquisition of iRobot restricted competition in the market for robot vacuum cleaners (RVCs) and could hamper rival RVC suppliers’ ability to compete effectively. The deal, the Commission asserted, would give Amazon incentive to foreclose iRobot’s competitors by engaging in several anticompetitive strategies, including delisting rival RVCs from its marketplace, reducing their visibility, limiting access to certain widget or attractive product labels (“Amazon’s Choice,” “Works with Alexa”), and/or raising rivals’ sales and advertising costs. 

Recently, and in anticipation of a negative clearance decision from the Commission, Amazon and iRobot jointly announced they had terminated their acquisition agreement. 

Read the full piece here.

The U.S. Supreme Court this week rejected both parties’ petitions for certiorari in appeals of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision Epic Games v Apple. Many observers—including Epic CEO Tim Sweeney—have marked this as an unmitigated loss for Epic. 

That’s partly right. The district court had correctly rejected Epic’s federal antitrust claims against Apple (and against Epic, on Apple’s breach-of-contract counterclaim); the 9th Circuit upheld the trial court’s decision; and the Supreme Court’s refusal to grant cert leaves those Epic losses undisturbed. 

But Apple was denied a sweep at the district court, which ruled in favor of Epic’s claim under California’s Unfair Competition Law (UCL). The 9th Circuit likewise sustained that state law decision. The Supreme Court has thus left both that state law decision and the district court’s nationwide injunction undisturbed.

Read the full piece here.

ICLE Senior Scholar Lazar Radic took part in a digital panel on ex ante regulation of digital markets hosted by the Legal Grounds Institute. Video of the full event is embedded below.