Sorry I was having a life today and enjoying some quality time with my wife before going to see a 50th anniversary gig of a band we both love (Bonzo dog doodah band if your interested :-) ) The EU has the right to fine upto 10% of global revenue of a company that it finds has contravened EU law if that company decides to operate within the EU.
What companies have taken the EU Commission to court over their finding of un-competitive business practices like you mention? Perhaps you should look into how the Commission operates. It's not like a traditional court.
I'm not able to find any instance of a company suing the EU Commission over an unfair competition finding but you seemingly know of them. Post 'em so we can comment accurately on them.
I really do not understand exactly what you're getting at. Apple was very obviously at risk of being found guilty along with the publishers of acting as a cartel and engaging in unfair business practices. The EU Commission themselves stated that. What makes you disbelieve what they said?
It's a consent decree. The publishers have engaged in anticompetitive practices, "possibly with the help of Apple", though don't admit wrongdoing, but change their behavior to avoid a full investigation and possible fines. The 10% fine on worldwide revenue (corporate or product line, i.e., books?) is a presumptive penalty it the parties violate the consent decree. At the same time, the EU will monitor the market with the eye to balance market forces. There hasn't been any fine against the parties.
This isn't even close to the bloodletting that the U.S. DOJ and the State's attorney's general are attempting to do, and it fact, totally avoids the elephant in the room; why wasn't Amazon investigated for monopoly practices in its past ebook sales, and why hasn't there been an acknowledgement of the fact that the agency model stabilized and brought new players and content into the market? The MFN is still legal, and in fact the only thing that Apple has been accused of is "collusion", which it is appealing.
Is there a political component to the ebook antitrust action? Probably, and now The Administration's FTC is being accused of dropping antitrust actions against Google, and there is linkage with Google's close ties to the administration.
If the DOJ loses in Apple's appeal, this may well have a bearing on how the EU will ultimately manages the ebook market.
Comments
edit: Not worth spending any more time on.
That's the way I feel too. ????
(Although our conversation wouldn't even have started if you didn't feel the need to jump in whenever I was answering someone else's question/post).
The EU has the right to fine upto 10% of global revenue of a company that it finds has contravened EU law if that company decides to operate within the EU.
What companies have taken the EU Commission to court over their finding of un-competitive business practices like you mention? Perhaps you should look into how the Commission operates. It's not like a traditional court.
I'm not able to find any instance of a company suing the EU Commission over an unfair competition finding but you seemingly know of them. Post 'em so we can comment accurately on them.
I really do not understand exactly what you're getting at. Apple was very obviously at risk of being found guilty along with the publishers of acting as a cartel and engaging in unfair business practices. The EU Commission themselves stated that. What makes you disbelieve what they said?
It's a consent decree. The publishers have engaged in anticompetitive practices, "possibly with the help of Apple", though don't admit wrongdoing, but change their behavior to avoid a full investigation and possible fines. The 10% fine on worldwide revenue (corporate or product line, i.e., books?) is a presumptive penalty it the parties violate the consent decree. At the same time, the EU will monitor the market with the eye to balance market forces. There hasn't been any fine against the parties.
This isn't even close to the bloodletting that the U.S. DOJ and the State's attorney's general are attempting to do, and it fact, totally avoids the elephant in the room; why wasn't Amazon investigated for monopoly practices in its past ebook sales, and why hasn't there been an acknowledgement of the fact that the agency model stabilized and brought new players and content into the market? The MFN is still legal, and in fact the only thing that Apple has been accused of is "collusion", which it is appealing.
Is there a political component to the ebook antitrust action? Probably, and now The Administration's FTC is being accused of dropping antitrust actions against Google, and there is linkage with Google's close ties to the administration.
If the DOJ loses in Apple's appeal, this may well have a bearing on how the EU will ultimately manages the ebook market.
It ain't over until it is over.