Articles Posted in Antitrust

On Tuesday, August 4, 2021, SkinnySchool LLC and Mint Rose Day Spa LLC filed a class action lawsuit against Google LLC in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California. The lawsuit claims that Google retained its dominance by control in online advertising when it made a deal with Facebook that gave Facebook an advantage in virtual auctions related to ad rates, thus limiting revenue for online publishers.

A bipartisan group of state attorneys general argues that Google has used improper anti-competitive methods to force developers and consumers to use its app store.

In an antitrust case brought by Epic Games, Inc., Apple has asked the court to dismiss a claim that its iOS is an essential facility. While Epic’s claim iOS is an essential facility is only one of ten counts alleged against Apple, a win for Apple on this issue could be impactful.

A proposed state law would require app store operators such as Apple and Google to allow app developers to use their own payment processing systems, thus avoiding fees for the use of systems provided by app stores.

A federal judge found that the social network had not provided adequate evidence to support its complaint of antitrust and other business violations by hosting provider Amazon Web Services.

Filed in a federal district court in New York, the lawsuit claims that the e-commerce company is working with publishers to stifle the competition.

The U.S. Supreme Court announced that it would review a case testing whether the NCAA's limits on compensation for student athletes violate antitrust laws.

On Friday, December 11, 2020, the State of California filed a motion for joinder in United States of America et al v. Google, LLC, the antitrust lawsuit filed by the United States Department of Justice in October against Google. Eleven states are already named parties in the complaint; California is the first Democratic state to join the lawsuit.

On Thursday, August 24, 2020, U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers issued a ruling on Epic Games, Inc.'s request for temporary restraining order against Apple Inc. The order grants Epic Games' request for a temporary restraining order against Apple from restricting, suspending, or terminating any affiliate of Epic Games from Apple's Developer Program. However, the order denies Epic Games' request for a temporary restraining order against Apple's ban of Epic Games' videogame, Fortnite, from Apple's App Store.

The dispute between the tech giant and the smart speaker maker raises issues involving antitrust and anti-competition in addition to intellectual property.