Apple

Antitrust, Apple, Big data, Competition enforcement, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets, Dominance, Enforcement, Germany, Online platforms

(Heinz & Zagrosek Partner mbB, Germany)/ /Leave a comment

In January 2021, the latest reform of the German competition law (“ARC”) entered into force, including significant new rules regarding digital platform markets.  These include new powers for the Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) under Section 19a ARC regarding digital gatekeepers with paramount cross-market significance for competition (for more details on the new norm, see here). A…

Apple, Competition proceedings, Fundamental rights, Nemo Tenetur, Switzerland

, (Lenz & Staehelin)/ /Leave a comment

Early April, the Federal Supreme Court clarified controversial questions regarding the privilege against self-incrimination in Competition Law Proceedings in three much-noticed decisions (2C_383/2020, 2C_87/2020 and 2C_88/2020)[1]. The Decisions In 2018, the Swiss Competition Commission (“ComCo“) opened proceedings against various financial institutions regarding an alleged boycott in Switzerland. The Competition Commission suspected that the addressees of…

Abuse of dominance, Advertising, Algorithms, Apple, Big data, Data protection, Digital economy, Digital Markets Act, Digital Services Act, E-commerce, European Union, Facebook, France, Google, Online advertising, Online advertising restrictions, Online platforms, Platforms

(BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation) and (University of Vienna, Austria)/ /2 Comments

Recently, Google and Apple have changed their policy for targeted online advertising. Privacy-conscious users have been switching to alternatives for years, however, completely avoiding being tracked by online tech giants is virtually impossible. Nevertheless, the online ad industry has grown tremendously in the last decade, and targeted behavioural advertising has become ubiquitous in the online…

Abuse of dominance, Apple, Complaint, Russia

(Elbert, Nazaretsky, Rakov & Co)/ /2 Comments

The plot of the case Two weeks ago, Apple Inc. filed a lawsuit against the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS). The court hearing is scheduled for the 18th of January 2021 at the Commercial Court of Moscow city. The reason for such legal action is the fact that, at the end of August 2020, the FAS…

Amazon, Apple, Brand Gating, Digital economy, Germany, Self-preferencing

(University of Vienna, Austria)/ /4 Comments

The German Federal Cartel Authority continues its campaign against tech-giants by once again launching a probe into Amazon. This time, Amazon is not the only company affected. The authority also takes a closer look at Apple. Amazon has contracts with Apple, according to which only Apple dealerships and Amazon can offer Apple products on the…

Apple, Arm's length principle, European Commission, European Court of Justice, Fiscal aid, Ireland, State aid, Taxation

(Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP)/ /Leave a comment

Background On July 15, 2020, the General Court annulled the 2016 Commission Decision ordering Ireland to recover EUR 13 billion of illegal State aid from Apple,[1] chiefly, because the Commission had not demonstrated to the requisite legal standard that an advantage had been granted.[2] On the same day, the Commission’s Executive Vice-President M. Vestager released…

Apple, European Union, State aid, Taxation

(Stockholm University)/ /Leave a comment

The General Court’s awaited ruling in the Apple[1] case contains some surprising parts, and it is not easily reconciled with case law from this Court and from the Court of Justice. But as in the Fiat[2] and Starbucks[3] cases, it reveals an impressive effort to analyse the issues at depth. The facts are described in…

Apple, Competition law, Fiscal aid, Ireland, State aid, Taxation, Vestager

(Athens Law School)/ /Leave a comment

Some cases just have it all; the Apple case is one of them. First, size: at more than thirteen billion euros, the recovery order Ireland had to enforce dwarfed the previously biggest one (EDF, at around one billion euros). Second, international political implications: the case ignited transatlantic tensions between the EU and the USA, both…