Author: Damien Geradin
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Platform antitrust/regulation in 2023: Our eleven predictions
Happy New Year to all! The authors of this blog wish you the best for what will be a thrilling year for those interested in platforms. It has never been more exciting to operate in the tech space. To start the new year, we have put our heads together to make eleven predictions about 2023.…
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The draft Implementing Regulation of the Digital Markets Act: Initial thoughts
On Friday 9 December 2022, the European Commission (“Commission”) published three documents relating to the implementation of the Digital Markets Act. Interested parties have until 6 January 2023 to comment on these documents. The purpose of this blog post is not to provide a detailed description of these documents, but some first general impressions. These…
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The CMA’s investigation of competition restrictions regarding browsers
On 22 November 2022, the CMA launched a market investigation into cloud gaming and mobile browsers. In this post, I focus on this investigation as it relates to mobile browsers. This blog has already discussed cloud gaming in an earlier post, and we will return to the topic in the future. CMA market investigations must…
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Why it is now clear that the Australian ex ante regime will be much closer to the proposed UK regime than the EU Digital Markets Act
On 11 November 2022, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (“ACCC”) released the fifth interim report for the Digital Platform Services inquiry (the “Interim Report”). This report recommends a range of new measures to address harms from digital platforms to Australian consumers, small businesses and competition. The diagnostic of the ACCC is not different from…
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The DMA has been published: Now the real challenges start
The Digital Market Act (“DMA”) has been published today. It is a remarkable instrument in many ways. Since the publication of the Commission proposal in December 2020, it took less than 1.5 years for the Council and the Parliament to agree on the final text. The supersonic adoption of the DMA was due to several…
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Google’s latest attempts to squeeze app developers in the face of regulation: When principles and coherence no longer matter
As the readers of this blog know, app developers selling digital content have been unhappy for many years with Apple’s App Store policies, which force them to use its in-app payment solution (“IAP) and charges them a 30% commission, which is reduced to 15% in limited circumstances. These policies led Apple into trouble in the…
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Embracing rather than fighting digital regulation: Microsoft’s vision for the future
Yesterday, I attended a presentation by Brad Smith, Microsoft’s President and Vice-Chair, at an event organised by Brussels think tank Bruegel. I have listened to Brad Smith a few times in the past, but yesterday he was really at his best. He is a truly impressive public speaker and I liked the message he was…
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When Brexit means falling behind: The probable death of the DMU regime
Everything had started well with the excellent Furman report, which emphasized the need to adopt an ex ante regulatory regime that would apply to Big Tech firms in the UK. That report had indeed found that competition rules would not be sufficient to control these firms’ market power. The UK had the lead and was…
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The leaked “final” version of the Digital Markets Act: A summary in ten points
Last week, a version of the Digital Markets Act dated 13 April 2022 was leaked. This version is based on the political agreement reached by the Commission, the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament on 25 March 2022. This “final” version (subject to some final adjustments) comprises a fair amount of new language compared…
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The fast growing concentration of the connected TV OS market: Getting Ahead of Another Big Tech Duopoly, Before It’s Too Late
The European Commission recently published its final report into the Internet of Things, with Executive Vice-President Vestager stating: “The consumer Internet of Things sector is increasingly becoming part of our everyday life … This is a market with high barriers to entry, few vertically integrated players and concerns about access to data, interoperability or exclusivity…