Author: Stijn Huijts
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Into Uncharted Waters – Making sense of the CAT’s Apple/CMA judgment
In November last year, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) started a market investigation into the supply of web browsers and browser engines on mobile devices, and the distribution of cloud gaming services through app stores on mobile devices. However, Apple appealed the CMA’s decision to make a market investigation reference (MIR) in the…
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Making sense of NCAs’ roles under the DMA – The Dutch proposal
In the run-up to the enactment of the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), the European Commission strongly defended its exclusive jurisdiction to enforce it. Despite valiant efforts on the part of several national competition authorities (NCAs) who wanted a formal role enforcing the new rules, the Commission’s exclusive competence remains largely in place in the…
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The DMA is coming. Here’s what it will mean for mobile gaming
The App Store and Play Store are huge profit generators for Apple and Google. As explained by Judge Gonzalez Rogers in her Epic v Apple judgment of September 2021, gaming apps account for approximately 70% of all App Store revenues. According to some, this means that Apple makes more money from games than Microsoft, Sony,…
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Geradin Partners to host London cloud gaming event on 8 March
On 8 March 2023, Geradin Partners is hosting the first ever legal event discussing the competition and regulatory aspects of cloud gaming. A stellar cast of experts from the gaming industry and the competition community will discuss the great potential this technology brings, and how it can develop on a level playing field. Gaming plays…
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Antitrust is turning its eye to gaming
Last week, I spoke at the Video Games Bar Association’s annual summit which took place at devcom in Cologne, Germany. The event confirmed to me that gaming is where the innovative technologies of the future are in many ways already a reality today. It was my contention at the conference that competition law is turning…
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UK and Germany double up on Amazon
Some days you just can’t get a break. Amazon was the recipient of not one but two pieces of bad news yesterday, with the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announcing that it has launched an investigation under the Competition Act 1998 into possible abuses of dominance by Amazon, and the German Federal Cartel Office…
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EU and UK take on ‘Jedi Blue’ – Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer?
A big development in European competition enforcement in digital markets occurred today as both the European Commission and the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced simultaneously that they are investigating the ‘Jedi Blue’ agreement. This is an agreement between Google and Meta (formerly Facebook) that may have targeted a disruptive advertising technology known as…
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CMA market study into music streaming – What you need to know
The CMA has today launched a market study into music streaming. This is a step that could lead to a range of interventions: The CMA could issue guidance or recommendations; It could launch enforcement action under its antitrust powers (as happened after the electric vehicle charging market study); or It could make a market investigation…
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Apple’s cloud gaming restrictions may be biggest news in CMA interim report
As we explained in December, the CMA’s interim report on mobile ecosystems was a great piece of work which takes a holistic view of mobile ecosystems and the competition problems associated with these ecosystems. One concern raised in the interim report was not previously seen in the multiple reports and decisions issued by competition authorities…
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Private damages in the new digital regulations – A fine balance to tread
A picture of “astonishing diversity and total underdevelopment”. Thus spoke a 2004 Report that surveyed competition damages actions across the EU at the time. It took ten years from there to adopt the Damages Directive, which finally ensured that anyone who suffered harm caused by a competition infringement can effectively claim full compensation and gave…