The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New Jersey, alleges that Apple has monopoly power in the smartphone market and uses its control over the iPhone to “engage in a broad, sustained and illegal course of conduct.” The lawsuit — which was also filed with 16 state attorneys general — is the latest example of the Justice Department’s approach to aggressive enforcement of federal antitrust law that officials say is aimed at ensuring a fair and competitive market, even as it has lost some significant anticompetition cases.
The case could reshape the rules of how other businesses can make money on the Android operating system.
Amazon is asking a federal judge to throw out Federal Trade Commission charges that the company illegally hindered competition in the “online superstore” market, to the detriment of third-party sellers that use the platform as well as consumers. In a motion filed with U.S. District Court Judge John Chun in Seattle, Amazon argues that FTC’s allegations concern “common retail practices that presumptively benefit consumers.”
A lawyer for the U.S. Justice Department pressed a Google executive on Wednesday about techniques the search and advertising giant used to push up online advertising prices in an allegedly unfair way. Testifying at a once-in-a-generation antitrust trial in Washington where the U.S. has accused Google of abusing its dominance of search and some advertising, Google VP of Product Management Adam Juda said the company uses a formula, which includes the quality of an ad, to decide who wins auctions used to place advertising on websites.
YouTube TV subscribers filed a class action lawsuit accusing Disney of essentially operating the business as a single entity, which has allowed it to drive up prices for live-streaming pay TV services across the board.
Google and the federal government will face off in a trial next week that could reshape how the tech giant is structured and the future of antitrust enforcement against tech platforms. The trial is kicking off nearly three years after the Department of Justice and a coalition of states’ attorneys general filed the complaint. The suit alleges Google has an anticompetitive monopoly over the search market.
Company, states agree to tentative deal to resolve Google Play monopoly allegations.
Microsoft Corp.’s success fighting the Federal Trade Commission’s challenge to its $69 billion Activision Blizzard Inc. acquisition could ease the path to more deals at a time when Wall Street has been confronting a severe merger drought. Stiffer enforcement by the FTC and Justice Department under the Biden administration has deterred a number of deals in recent years, but those regulators’ losing record in the courtroom will likely weaken that effect, experts say.
The proposed road map for regulatory reviews, last updated in 2020, includes a focus on tech platforms for the first time. Pictured: Jonathan Kanter, who leads the Justice Department’s antitrust division, and Lina Khan, chair of the Federal Trade Commission, at a Senate hearing last September. (Graeme Sloan/Sipa, via Associated Press)
The agency is expected to focus on Amazon’s online marketplace. Khan is deemed unlikely to accept any tweaks to the business.
The country’s largest newspaper chain said that Google’s power over ad technology has contributed to the decline of local news.
The PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia-backed challenger LIV Golf avoided calling their proposed partnership a merger. But their shock announcement is already raising serious concerns with US and European antitrust enforcers, according to people familiar with the matter. The tie-up, which was announced Tuesday, is being viewed by officials as a brazen play loaded with red flags, not the least of which is creating a giant monopoly in an industry that had only recently gained a competitor, said the people, who asked not be identified discussing non-public matters.