The post U.S. files appeal in Google search antitrust case appeared first on MacDailyNews.

The U.S. Department of Justice and a majority of U.S. states filed notices on Tuesday to appeal the remedies in a landmark antitrust case against Alphabet’s Google, according to court filings.

In 2024, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled that Google maintained an illegal monopoly in the online search market, but declined to impose the most aggressive remedies sought by the government, such as forcing a divestiture of Chrome or banning key default search deals.

Reuters:
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The Department of Justice and state attorneys general did not provide details in court documents about their appeal. Their challenge will likely focus on the judge’s decision not to make Google sell off its Chrome browser or end its lucrative arrangement with Apple to provide the default search engine on new devices.

Google is already appealing U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta’s ruling that it broke the law to stave off competition in online search and related advertising. Google has asked the judge to pause his order that would require the company to share data with rivals during the appeal process, which could last many months.

Mehta rejected tougher remedies, such as making Google sell its Chrome browser or Android operating system, or banning the company from paying tens of billions of dollars to Apple to be the default search engine on new devices.

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MacDailyNews Take: The odds of something substantive happening to reign in Google remain low.

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The post U.S. appeals court considers reviving Apple App Store class action lawsuit appeared first on MacDailyNews.

A U.S. appeals court announced on Thursday that it will review a lower court’s decision to decertify a massive class-action lawsuit against Apple, potentially allowing millions of iPhone users to collectively sue the company for allegedly monopolizing the app distribution market and overcharging consumers.

In a short order, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to examine the ruling that stripped class-action status from a group of nearly 200 million consumers, who allege Apple’s restrictive App Store policies resulted in roughly $20 billion in inflated prices for apps and in-app purchases.

Mike Scarcella for Reuters:
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U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, ruled in October that the customers failed to provide a model “capable of reliably showing classwide injury and damages in one stroke” by matching Apple accounts to consumers, while limiting the number of “unharmed” consumers in the class.

The three plaintiffs asked the appeals court to overturn the decision and revive the class action before their individual claims are decided. Class actions can expose companies to far greater damages than individual lawsuits.

The lawsuit, filed in 2011, accuses Apple of violating U.S. antitrust law by too tightly restraining how customers download apps and pay for transactions, causing overcharges for apps and in-app content on their iPhones and iPads.

Apple told the appeals court that the plaintiffs still can pursue individual claims and that review was unwarranted because the decertification order turned on fact-specific rulings, not unsettled law.

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MacDailyNews Take: Again, the vast majority of developers who pay Apple an App Store commission, pay 15%. That amounts to 12 cents of “inflated prices” for non-free apps on average. So, if you bought 50 apps for your iPhone, it would cost you, on the average, a total of $40. Halving Apple’s commission would reduce that price to $37. Removing Apple’s commission entirely would reduce that price to $34.

Here you see the absolute horror of “inflated prices” caused by Apple trying to cover costs to run their App Store for 1.4+ billion iOS/iPadOS users. A total of $3-$6 per every 50 apps, on average. How can any app consumer survive such abject gouging?!!!

How much did it cost developers to have their apps burned onto CDs, boxed, shipped, displayed on store shelves prior to Apple remaking the world for the better for umpteenth time? Does Apple not have costs to store, review, organize, surface, and distribute apps to 1+ billion users? – MacDailyNews, July 30, 2021

Ultimately, the end user pays, regardless.

Either Apple continues to take App Store commissions to pay for their infrastructure costs or they increase hardware and/or subscription prices to pay for the government interference.

As usual, Big Government is a meddling middleman just attempting to move costs around in order to appeal to their base: “We fought the big, bad corporation meanies and saved you oh-so-much money on your apps (a whole 12 cents per). (We won’t talk about your other costs – hardware, subscription rates, etc. – that were increased in order to compensate for our meddling). We think you’re stupid. Vote for us.”

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The post Apple seeks to block India antitrust case with challenge to penalty law appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Apple is attempting to halt antitrust investigations in India by legally challenging a provision that permits penalties to be based on the company’s worldwide revenue, according to the country’s Competition Commission, further intensifying the standoff between New Delhi and the U.S. tech giant.

The company filed a challenge last month against the Indian antitrust law that enables the regulator to calculate fines using global turnover, arguing that the rule could result in excessively harsh penalties for violations confined solely to the Indian market.

Arpan Chaturvedi for Reuters:
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Apple argued it risks facing a fine of up to $38 billion after it was found to have breached laws in a case where Tinder-owner Match and Indian startups succeeded in convincing the watchdog the tech firm’s in-app fee hurts smaller players, and is anti-competitive.

A final decision on the case, including the fine, is still pending.

On Monday, a lawyer for the Competition Commission of India (CCI) accused Apple of trying to “stall the proceedings” dating back to 2021. Apple’s counsel urged the court to prevent the regulator from taking coercive steps.

Judges at the Delhi High Court asked the CCI to file a detailed response to Apple’s arguments.

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MacDailyNews Take: Any country or consortium of countries trying to grab 10% of Apple’s average global turnover would be committing a grossly disproportionate and patently unjust act.

The vast majority of developers who pay Apple an App Store commission, pay 15%. That amounts to 12 cents of “inflated prices” for non-free apps on average. So, if you bought 50 apps for your iPhone, it would cost you, on the average, a total of $40. Halving Apple’s commission would reduce that price to $37. Removing Apple’s commission entirely would reduce that price to $34.

Here you see the absolute horror of “inflated prices” caused by Apple trying to cover costs to run their App Stores for 2.35 billion users (and counting). A total of $3-$6 per every 50 apps, on average. How can any app consumer survive such abject gouging?!

How much did it cost developers to have their apps burned onto CDs, boxed, shipped, displayed on store shelves prior to Apple remaking the world for the better for umpteenth time? Does Apple not have costs to store, review, organize, surface, and distribute apps to 1+ billion users? – MacDailyNews, July 30, 2021

Either Apple continues to take App Store commissions to pay for their infrastructure costs or they increase hardware and/or subscription prices to pay for government interference.

As usual, Big Government is a meddling middleman just attempting to move costs around in order to appeal to their base: “We fought the big, bad corporation meanies and saved you oh-so-much money on your apps (a whole 12 cents per). (We won’t talk about your other costs – hardware, subscription rates, etc. – that were increased in order to compensate for our meddling). We think you’re stupid. Vote for us.”

‎
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!

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The post Apple seeks to block India antitrust case with challenge to penalty law appeared first on MacDailyNews.

The post Apple challenges India’s new antitrust penalty law appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Apple has filed a petition at the Delhi High Court challenging India’s updated antitrust regulations, which could expose the U.S. tech giant to fines as high as $38 billion, according to a court document reviewed by Reuters.

This marks the inaugural legal challenge to the antitrust penalty framework, enacted last year, empowering India’s Competition Commission (CCI) to base fines on a company’s worldwide revenue when penalizing violations of market dominance rules.

Reuters:
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Since 2022, Tinder-owner Match and Indian startups have been locked in an antitrust battle with Apple at the CCI, where investigators last year issued a report saying the U.S. smartphone company had engaged in “abusive conduct” on the apps market of its iPhone Operating System, iOS.

Apple denied all wrongdoing, and the CCI is yet to make a final decision in the case, including about any penalty.

The company is asking judges to declare as illegal the 2024 law that allowed the CCI to use global turnover, not just that in India, when calculating penalties, according to its 545-page court filing, which is not public.

Apple’s “maximum penalty exposure” at the rate of 10% of its average global turnover derived from all of its services globally for three fiscal years to 2024 could be around $38 billion, it said in the filing.

Such a “penalty based on global turnover…would be manifestly arbitrary, unconstitutional, grossly disproportionate, unjust,” it added.

Companies also risk fines of as much as 10% of their global turnover for antitrust violations in the European Union.

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MacDailyNews Take: Any country or consortium of countries trying to grab 10% of Apple’s average global turnover would be committing a grossly disproportionate and patently unjust act.

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