Monopoly Attack

What about Microsoft? (Part 2)

The European Commission’s cases against Microsoft in the 2000s set the framework for the assessment of abusive conduct related to product integration and interoperability, and Microsoft became the first “big tech” company with direct experience…

What about Microsoft? (Part 1)

Depending on the day of the week, Microsoft is the most valuable company in the world, or at least in the top 5. It’s one of GAFAM, the five “big tech” companies presumptively labeled as…

Gaming Industry Consolidation

At the start of 2022, the gaming market was shaken up by a series of acquisitions, including Microsoft/Activison Blizard, Sony/Bungee and – last but not least – New York Times/Wordle. In this episode, we examine…

The CMA’s FB/GIPHY Decision

In May 2020, Facebook (now Meta) acquired the gif library GIPHY. The UK’s competition authority (the CMA) started investigating the merger and finally, in November 2021, ordered Facebook to sell GIPHY again. In this episode,…

The Google Android Appeal Hearing

In this episode, we walk through the General Court hearing in the Google Android case, which took place in Luxembourg from 27 September until 1 October. Google appealed to the General Court the European Commission’s…

The Vertical Block Exemption (VBER) Review

In this episode, we look at the Commission's draft Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) and associated Guidelines, which are set to replace the existing 11 year old legislation in advance of its expiration. The Commission…

Google’s Commitments and Designer Antitrust

In this episode, we dive into Google’s latest antitrust commitments in Europe. In June, we saw commitment decisions on Google’s ad-tech stack and its planned ‘Privacy Sandbox’ (under French and UK competition authorities' oversight) as…

Europe’s proposed Digital Markets Act (Part 2)

In this second episode on the EU’s proposed Digital Markets Act (DMA), we take a closer look at the obligations and prohibitions to be imposed on designated ‘gatekeepers’. Particular attention is given to how the…

Europe’s proposed Digital Markets Act (Part 1)

In the first of a three-part series, we dive into the EU’s proposed Digital Markets Act (DMA). This episode explores the DMA's background, why the EU finds this new regulation necessary, which platforms could be…

Antitrust Enforcement in Tech

In this first episode, we offer a bird’s-eye view of the antitrust enforcement landscape in the tech sector, both at the EU and the Member State level. We cover previously adopted decisions and judgments as…