#Competition Law

[destiel-news-network]

(Apple source, Google source)

Note: technically the Apple "fine" is an order to pay back taxes.

[ladefense]

Competition Law and M&A: Key Considerations

[trendynewsnow]

ECJ Ruling on Intel's Loyalty Rebates: Impact on Antitrust Enforcement

European Court of Justice Ruling on Intel’s Loyalty Rebates: Implications for Antitrust Enforcement The European Commission is required to provide more substantial evidence when determining whether loyalty rebates are anticompetitive, following a significant ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ). This decision confirmed a previous lower court’s annulment of the Commission’s 2009 verdict,…

[gyaansanchaarlaw]

Distinction between competition law and competition policy

Distinction between competition law and competition policy |competition law| competition policy 1) Competition policy may be thought of as a genus, and competition law as specie. Competition law gives the authority responsible for enforcing and implementing the competition policy the required teeth. Thus, competition policy has the beneficial goal of enhancing consumer welfare. 2) The set of…

[one-time-i-dreamt]

There’s a thing called “competitive legal poetry”, which is just like any other legal battle except the lawyers are required to speak in rhyming couplets.

[ipandlegalfilings]

The bill proposes to strengthen the Commission’s review mechanism, particularly in the digital and infrastructure space, a majority of which were not reported earlier, as the asset or turnover values did not meet the jurisdictional thresholds.

[sabo-torao]

dumb thing i made while trying to fight artblock

[mostlysignssomeportents]

An Epic antitrust loss for Google

A jury just found Google guilty on all counts of antitrust violations stemming from its dispute with Epic, maker of Fortnite, which brought a variety of claims related to how Google runs its app marketplace. This is huge:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/11/technology/epic-games-google-antitrust-ruling.html

The mobile app store world is a duopoly run by Google and Apple. Both use a variety of tactics to prevent their customers from installing third party app stores, which funnels all app makers into their own app stores. Those app stores cream an eye-popping 30% off every purchase made in an app.

This is a shocking amount to charge for payment processing. The payments sector is incredibly monopolized and notorious for its price-gouging – and its standard (wildly inflated) rate is 2-5%:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/04/owning-the-libs/#swiper-no-swiping

Now, in theory, Epic doesn't have to sell in Google Play, the official Android app store. Unlike Apple's iOS, Android permit both sideloading (installing an app directly without using an app store) and configuring your device to use a different app store. In practice, Google uses a variety of anticompetitive tricks to prevent these app stores from springing up and to dissuade Android users from sideloading. Proving that Google's actions – like paying Activision $360m as part of "Project Hug" (no, really!) – were intended to prevent new app storesfrom springing up was a big lift for Epic. But they managed it, in large part thanks to Google's own internal communications, wherein executives admitted that this was exactly why Project Hug existed. This is part of a pattern with Big Tech antitrust: many of the charges are theoretically very hard to make stick, but because the companies put their evil plans in writing (think of the fraudulent crypto exchange FTX, whose top execs all conferred in a groupchat called "Wirefraud"), Big Tech keeps losing in court:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/03/big-tech-cant-stop-telling-on-itself/

Now, I do like to dunk on Big Tech for this kind of thing, because it's objectively funny and because the companies make so many unforced errors. But in an important sense, this kind of written record is impossible to avoid. Any large institution can only make and enact policy through administrative systems, and those systems leave behind a paper-trail: memos, meeting minutes, etc. Yes, we all know that quote from The Wire: "Is you taking notes on a fucking criminal conspiracy?" But inevitably, any ambitious conspiracy can only exist if someone is taking notes.

What's more, any large conspiracy involving lots of parties will inevitably produce leaks. Think of this as the corollary to the idea that the moon landing can't be a hoax, because there's no way 400,000 co-conspirators could keep the secret. Big Tech's conspiracies required hundreds or even thousands of collaborators to keep their mouths shut, and eventually someone blabs:

https://www.science.org/content/article/fake-moon-landing-you-d-need-400000-conspirators

This is part of a wave of antitrust cases being brought against the tech giants. As Matt Stoller writes, the guilty-on-all-counts jury verdict will leak into current and future actions. Remember, Google spent much of this year in court fighting the DoJ, who argued that the company bribed Apple not to make a competing search engine, paying tens of billions every year to keep a competitor from emerging. Now that a jury has convinced Google of doing that to prevent alternative app stores from emerging, claims that it used these pay-for-delay tactics in other sectros get a lot more credible:

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/boom-google-loses-antitrust-case

On that note: what about Apple? Epic brought a very similar case against Apple and lost. Both Apple and Epic are appealing that case to the Supreme Court, and now that Google has been convicted in a similar case, it might prompt the Supremes to weigh in and resolve the seeming inconsistencies in the interpretation of federal law.

This is a key moment in the long project to wrest antitrust away from the pro-monopoly side, who spent decades "training" judges to produce verdicts that run counter to the plain language of America's antitrust law:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/13/post-bork-era/#manne-down

There's 40 years' worth of bad precedent to overturn. The good news is that we've got the law on our side. Literally, the wording of the laws and the records of the Congressional debate leading to their passage, all militate towards the (incredibly obvious) conclusion that the purpose of anti-monopoly law is to fight monopoly, not defend it:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/14/aiming-at-dollars/#not-men

It's amazing to realize that we got into this monopoly quagmire because judges just literally refused to enforce the law. That's what makes one part of the jury verdict against Google so exciting: the jury found that Google's insistence that Play Store sellers use its payment processor was an act of illegal tying. Today, "tying" is an obscure legal theory, but few doctrines would be more useful in disenshittifying the internet. A company is guilty of illegal tying when it forces you to use unrelated products or services as a condition of using the product you actually want. The abandonment of tying led to a host of horribles, from printer companies forcing you to buy ink at $10,000/gallon to Livenation forcing venues to sell tickets through its Ticketmaster subsidiary.

The next phase of this comes when the judge decides on the penalty. Epic doesn't want cash damages – it wants the judge to order Google to fulfill its promise of "an open, competitive Android ecosystem for all users and industry participants." They've asked the judge to order Google to facilitate third-party app stores, and to separate app stores from payment processors. As Stoller puts it, they want to "crush Google’s control over Android":

https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-US/news/epic-v-google-trial-verdict-a-win-for-all-developers

Google has sworn to appeal, surprising no one. The Times's expert says that they will have a tough time winning, given how clear the verdict was. Whatever this means for Google and Android, it means a lot for a future free from monopolies.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/12/im-feeling-lucky/#hugger-mugger

[dykealloy]

three idiots

[introspectivememories]

absolutely obsessed with the idea of the konoha girls being the core of the friend group. bc like the guys are friends, don't get them wrong, but if left up to them, they'd do that thing guys do where they think a head nod in the streets is enough friendship. but the girls? the girls bring the whole group together.

the war ends and tenten can't get out of bed for weeks on end? shino is there, as often as he can be, quiet and steady, with a soft "it'll be okay tenten-nee-san".

sakura has been taking back to back shifts at the hospital? chouji shows up with a nutritious lunch and shoulder to lean on

ino is running herself ragged trying to keep up with clan duties and T&I and the flower shop? naruto is there to pick up shifts at the flower shop so ino can rest a little

temari is having trouble navigating konoha's sprawling street set-up compared to suna's grid system? kiba and lee give a tour that ends up so legendary and generates so much paperwork that kakashi get stress headaches in june even years after he retires from being hokage

karui's having trouble fitting into konoha? enter sai who also doesn't know how to fit in and they bond over that

hinata can't sleep for years after the war? shika drags her out to the nara clan grounds to sleep by their sacred deer. it's the best she sleeps outside of naruto's arms

[shepherds-of-haven]

SHEPHERDS OF HAVEN ALPHA PREVIEW UPDATE [9/25/24]

The Shepherds of Haven alpha preview has been updated here!

Note: This is not the same thing as the public demo, which is available for everyone and covers the first four chapters of the game: the alpha preview is the early access version available to Patrons and testers!

TOTAL WORDCOUNT: 1,204,470 WORDS WITHOUT CODE

WHAT’S NEW:

15,000 words of new content!

New Ayla character interlude

New Trouble character interlude

Participate in a bizarre contest with Ayla

Let your chaotic gremlin side take over or act like a mature adult in the face of fierce competition

Surprise guest appearance by a fan-favorite character (...)

Take in the sights with Trouble, with plenty of Ashtown (mis)adventures to spice things up

Juicy progression and romance for both!

Please be sure to read the specific developer notes on Patreon for more info, as well as check the Incomplete Routes Guide linked in the alpha build post if you have questions about how to proceed through the alpha build! 

WHAT’S NEXT:

More character interludes, maybe Riel, Lavinet, or other! We are rapidly approaching the point of finally being able to address the Ascendancy Festival and other holidays, and all that that entails, which is very exciting... 👀

I hope you enjoy this update! Feel free to leave your thoughts here, on Patreon, and/or on our Discord! And thank you for reading--I hope you have fun--and I hope you're having a spectacular slide into fall! 🍂🍁

[creature-wizard]

I need people to understand that when you're dealing with anxiety, depression, irritability, whatever, anything that puts you into a competitive mindset can Fuck You Up.

Affirmations like "I'm an it girl, I'm so gorgeous I turn heads everywhere I go, people can't stop thinking about me" put you in a competitive mindset because you're defining your worth by how much popularity you have; basically, you're programming yourself to think that the only way you can be happy and have worth is if you're more popular than others.

Every time you stop and think about how you don't have all that popularity, your mental health is going to take a hit because right now, you feel like a worthless, unlovable loser. You might totally spiral into some very dangerous territory, psychologically speaking.

Being in a competitive mindset makes you a meaner person because you see people who are more popular and successful than you (or at least seem to be more popular and successful) as your enemy. You feel like you have to defeat them to get ahead. And if you can't take that urge out on them, you're probably going to redirect it somewhere else - on someone else - because displaced aggression is a thing.

This is also why the Law of Assumption is so dangerous. Being an early 20th century form of capitalist mysticism, it frames your personal success as a simple matter of belief and willpower. Today, it lures people in with the promise that you can become a "high value person" if you just put your mind to it.

If high value people exist, then it also follows that there must be low value people. If you are not a high value person, then you are a low value person - and therefore unworthy and unlovable. This is psychological poison, especially to those who already struggle with their self-image.

The solution to self-esteem problems isn't to try and lifehack your way to the top of the hierarchy. Not only is highly unlikely it'll work, but it wouldn't even make you happy if it did. Look at Donald Trump and Elon Musk; they have billions of dollars and loads of fame, and yet they're both miserable and insecure.

The solution is to get yourself out of competition mentality. Instead of saying affirmations like "I'm so beautiful that I turn heads everywhere I go," try "I deserve love and respect no matter how I look." Instead of "I'm an it girl," try "I am capable of learning and growing." Instead of "I'm a high value person," try "I deserve happiness and fulfillment."

Get yourself out of the competition mindset, and you'll very likely find your mental health improving quite a lot.

[feeling--pink]

Day 10 (orange) - Dakavendish 🧡

Are they dancing?? About to kiss? That's up to you!!

[trendynewsnow]

Upcoming Key Dates and Developments in EU Climate Policy and Antitrust Cases

Key Diary Dates Monday, 21 October: The European Parliament’s environment committee is set to vote on its stance regarding the upcoming climate COP29, which will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 11 to 22 November 2024. Tuesday, 22 & Wednesday, 23 October: Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) will engage in debates and subsequent voting on the 2025 EU budget, as they push back against…

[gyaansanchaarlaw]

Development of competition law

Development of competition law  Competition law is a law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is known as antitrust law in the United States and as anti-monopoly law in China and Russia. In previous years it has been known as trade practices law in the United Kingdom and Australia. According to Fali S Nariman,…

[respectthepetty]

When I grow up, I want to be Charn

He called himself "just a cute little lawyer" when his future boyfriend called him a bitch.

He laughed when his office went up in flames.

He has the best ex-boyfriend.

He has the best best friend.

He saw the person who betrayed him on the street and asked why that person wasn't dead.

He responded to a man stating he looked familiar by saying it was probably because he saw him in ONE of his sex tapes.

He told his boyfriend if he was going to be jealous of his crazy ex, then he would have to be jealous of the whole world since he has fucked most of them.

Truly a god among men.