european commission

Microsoft Facing Fresh Antitrust Investigations in US, EU, Private Suits in US, UK
Actions initiated as antitrust enforcement of Big Tech changes hands in the US. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reportedly is investigating Microsoft for potential anti-competitive…

Corning, Leading Maker of Mobile Device Screens, Subject of Antitrust Investigation in Europe
The European Commission announced on Nov. 5 it is investigating Corning Inc., maker of the popular Gorilla Glass product used for many mobile device screens,…

EC’s $2.6B Antitrust Fine Against Google Ad Business Struck Down
Court says EC did not establish competition foreclosure or harm. The General Court of the European Union has overturned a $2.57 billion fine imposed…

EC Asks Antitrust Question: What Establishes Abuse of Dominance?
BRUSSELS – The European Commission is gathering feedback on a new approach to enforcing prohibitions of “exclusionary abuses of dominance” described in Article 102 of…

Google’s $500M Effort to Undermine Microsoft EU Cloud Deal Fails: Bloomberg Reports
Reports of Google’s muscular attempt to thwart a Microsoft antitrust settlement in the European Union underscores the fierce rivalry between these tech giants and the…

EC Antitrust Law Enforcers Accept Apple Pay Promises
The European Commission has made legally binding the commitments Apple offered to address antitrust concerns about its refusal to give Apple rivals access to the…

EU Antitrust Enforcers Fine Fragrance and Flavors Giant for Deleting Chat Messages During Probe
The European Commission fined New York-based International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. and its French counterpart (“IFF”) yesterday the equivalent of $17 million for obstructing an…

Microsoft Teams Tying Violates EU Antitrust Law, EC Says in Preliminary Finding
The European Commission this week informed Microsoft of its preliminary finding that the company was violating EU antitrust rules by tying Teams, its workplace communication and collaboration…

EC Antitrust Officials Conduct Surprise Inspections of Aftermarket Tire Maker “Consultancy”
The European Commission conducted surprise on-site inspections of a “consultancy firm” in two EU Member States, suspecting the firm of violating antitrust rules under Article…

EC Antitrust Enforcers Investigating Maker of Leading Pain Medicine for Dogs
EC Concerned Company Blocked Competing Product The European Commission has opened a formal antitrust investigation to assess whether animal health company Zoetis may…

Google, Meta List Efforts to Comply with New EU Law After Smaller Firms Claim No Progress
DMA will constitute a ‘paradigm shift in digital markets,’ say rivals. The world’s leading tech, ecommerce, and social media companies have until March 7,…

Facing Pressure from Global Antitrust Law Enforcers, Adobe and Figma Call it Quits
Adobe Inc. and Figma Inc. have agreed to terminate their merger rather than combat European, British, and U.S. competition law agencies which shared the opinion…

European Antitrust Officials Continue Fashion Probe
EC concerned Cardin and manufacturer have been colluding for years. EC wants to know if companies engaged in “absolute territorial protection.” Companies allegedly…

Europe Joins U.S. in Ordering the Unwinding of Illumina-GRAIL Merger
FTC cited the EC’s earlier decision against the merger in ordering its undoing in the U.S. The European Commission today directed Illumina to unwind its $8…

Intel Fined $400M in Europe for Abusing Dominance in CPU Market
Naked Restriction: EC finds Intel paid computer makers to delay products using competing chips. Citing what it calls Intel Corp.’s series of anticompetitive efforts to…

Microsoft Fails to Quell Antitrust Concerns in Europe Over Teams Bundling
Microsoft Corp.’s plan to unbundle Teams from its flagship Office offerings in Europe has not allayed the antitrust concerns of competition regulators in Luxemburg. The…

Six More Platforms Must Show Compliance with EU’s Digital Markets Act
Signaling greater antitrust scrutiny in Europe, Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, ByteDance (TikTok), Meta (Facebook), and Microsoft have earned designations as “gatekeepers” by the European Commission…

EU Commission Investigating Teva for Allegedly Interfering with Medication Research
Pharmaceutical company Teva is under investigation by the European Commission over their competition practices, which the commission says interferes with medication research. Teva held a…

CISPE.cloud Files Licensing Complaint Against Microsoft
In November of 2022, Cloud Infrastructure Service Providers in Europe (CISPE) announced it was filing a formal complaint against Microsoft with the European Commission’s Directorate-General…

Antitrust Fines Against Apple and Amazon Scrapped in Italy
At the start of October, an Italian administrative court ruled that Apple and Amazon no longer have to pay a $225 million fine levied by…

EC Investigates Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard Acquisition
The European Commission is putting the Microsoft and Activision Blizzard merger on hold as they investigate whether the deal will reduce competition among PC gaming…

Leaked: EU to Charge Meta/Facebook Over Secret Agreement with Google
While the European Commission announced back in March that they would investigate Facebook, sources have leaked that it is ready to announce formal charges, according…

EC Adopts Vertical Deal Guidelines for Supply Chains
The European Commission has adopted new Vertical Block Exemption Regulations (‘VBER’) accompanied by new Vertical Guidelines, which will allow, subject to conditions, agreements between companies…

European Commission Examining Aon’s Acquisition of Willis Towers Watson
The European Commission announced Dec. 21 that it is investigating Aon’s proposed acquisition of Willis Towers Watson, a deal that would combine two leading providers…