European Union antitrust regulators have threatened Google with fines and a formal antitrust lawsuit if the search giant does not move to resolve lingering concerns. European Commission vice president JoaquAn Alumnia has found evidence of anticompetitive wrongdoing, however regulators are enabling the company to make a "commitment decision" as an alternative to litigation and a potential fine.
Intel may get a long expected chance to appeal a $1.45 billion EU fine at a hearing this summer. Insiders talking to Reuters had Intel making its case at an EU General Court between July 3 and 6. How it would challenge the complaint wasn't said, but it might rely on an ombudsman finding that the European Commission hadn't conducted the investigation properly and missed a meeting with Dell.
A group led by Sony on Thursday won its side of a joint bid on EMI assets. The alliance, which includes the Blackstone Group, David Geffen, Mubadala Development, and Raine Group, was cleared by the European Commission to buy EMI's publishing wing for $2.2 billion. The deal is contingent on Sony's group selling off catalog rights for Virgin's European, UK, and US divisions, along with Famous Music UK.
The European Commission have launched an investigation into regulating smart appliances in the future. Due to the vast amount of personal data at stake, the EC requested views on the “Internet of Things” (IoT) concerning privacy, safety, security, ethics, governance, and standards from the general public for the next three months.
Some progress has been made on trying to negotiate a settlment on e-book antitrust disputes in the US and Europe, insiders disclosed Wednesday. Hachette, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster have reportedly agreed to terms that would dissolve the iBookstore deals they struck, the Wall Street Journal said, which gave them control over pricing and required that they offer no lower price than at Apple's store. Apple, Macmillan, and Pearson, however, were claimed to be "reluctant" to make a deal.
The European Commission quickly acted on earlier hints on Tuesday and formally started two antitrust investigations versus Motorola. The two pursuits will look into whether Motorola was abusing its standards-based patents against Apple and Microsoft. The claims would check whether Motorola was trying to squeeze Apple over 2G and 3G licenses for iPads and iPhones, as well as similar tactics over H.264 video in Windows 7 and the Xbox 360.
Microsoft in a retaliatory move against Motorola ended teamwork with Germany company Arvato for software distribution. The move reported by Germany's Deutsche Presse-Agentur would see about 50 people lose their jobs as Microsoft relocated distribution to the Netherlands. The Windows developer argued that Motorola's H.264 video patent demands made staying in Germany untenable.
Motorola could be subject to the same sort of investigation of patent abuse that Samsung is facing, European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said in a speech during a stop in Washington, DC. He was "considering" an investigation in order to provide "more clarity" in the competitive space, AllThingsD heard. Companies like Motorola and Samsung could potentially misuse their ownership of standards patents by demanding high rates under the threat of a product ban, regardless of their public commitments to FRAND (fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory) terms.
The European Commission, already investigating Google for abusing its dominant position to promote its own services over that of rivals, has received an additional complaint from online travel agency Expedia, which accuses Google of specific business and search practices that it says violate EU competition and consumer-protection laws. This brings the total number of complaints against Google to 12, including former Expedia owner Microsoft.
Mobile phone owners in Europe will get the option to choose their own roaming carriers in the countries they visit. This is thanks to a new deal inked between the European Parliament, the European Council, and the European Commission. The original proposal to this effect was made last July.
The European Commissioner's competition head Joaquin Alumnia on Wednesday postponed a decision on possible antitrust charges versus Google. He pushed back from a promise of late March or early April until after April 8, or after Easter. Investigators had asked for "some more days, even weeks" to accommodate the holidays while still conducting a proper investigation.
Possible slips may have revealed the first stages of a possible European Commission investigation into the continent's top five carriers. The FT heard from sources that Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile), France Telecom (Orange), Telecom Italia, Telefonica (O2), and Vodafone were under scrutiny for a series of "E5" meetings on the state of the industry. Concerns existed that they had used the discussion to possibly collude on prices and policies, hurting competition.
The European Commission has posted details (PDF) of its approval of Google buying Motorola that may have uncovered an attempt to create a mostly one-sided licensing deal. Negotiations in late 2011 to reach a settlement had reportedly seen Motorola demand that Apple provide licensing for its entire non-standard patent collection just to get licenses for Motorola's 3G standards patents. Motorola had been aiming for a cross-licensing deal that would help all Android makers with the knowledge that Google's takeover might be approved.
European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia in comments Monday said his agency was willing to settle with publishers over an e-book price fixing investigation. He was willing to put an end to possible penalties for Hachette Livre, HarperCollins, Penguin, Simon & Schuster, and Macmillan if they addressed "all our objections [at the EC]" over the group allegedly raising prices unfairly, Reuters heard. The European regulator was working in tandem with matching US investigators, although he didn't directly confirm leaks of a possible Department of Justice lawsuit.
European Commission VP Viviane Reding hinted Android app developers and possibly Google itself might be in legal trouble over app data access. Reacting to a report by the UK's Channel 4 where many top-50 Android apps were allegedly scraping personal data and passing it on to ad suppliers, Reding believed it was "against the law" by accessing data without consent. To her, it was a deceptive practice that could demand a forced change.
European Commission official Viviane Reding in an interview with the BBC's Radio 4 on Thursday said that Google's newly in-effect unified privacy policy was so far determined to be violating EU laws. Those managing data rights in the EU believed Google was breaking terms requiring that it be transparent on how the data would be used. Data was being handed over to third parties in a way that Google account holders hadn't agreed to, she said.
The European Commission reacted to mounting pressure Wednesday by at least temporarily halting plans to ratify the ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) proposal, choosing to pass it to the European Court of Justice for inspection. The continent's high court will decide if ACTA violates fundamental EU rights. EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht took a balanced position, wanting neither to accept media labels' views at face value nor act based on preconceptions held by some of those protesting the measure.
Motorola in an SEC filing Friday said that Apple had formally complained to the European Commission that Motorola was allegedly violating the FRAND (fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory) terms around its 3G patents. The complained had been lodged the same day. Exact details of the complaint hadn't been mentioned.
Cisco has posted a formal appeal of the EU approval for Microsoft's acquisition of Skype. The networking giant accepted the merger on a basic level, but it wanted the European Commission to have imposed interoperability requirements. Making Microsoft adhere to standards would prevent it from trying to "control the future of video communications," Cisco said.
As anticipated, the European Commission on Monday approved Google's $12.5 billion buyout of Motorola. The approval was without conditions after the EU body decided that it wouldn't hurt smartphone competition or patent issues. Commissioner Joaquin Almunia was aware there was a chance Google might abuse patents to shelter Android, but he promised legal action if that was the case.
Two insiders claimed Friday that the European Commission was likely to approve Google's acquisition of Motorola. In sync with talk of a likely US approval, Reuters understood that the EU regulatory body would greenlight the deal in "unconditional" form. The EC had reportedly decided that the takeover wouldn't be anti-competitive.
The EU's Article 29 Working Party, which represents data protection rules, has sent a letter (PDF) unsuccessfully trying to persuade Google to temporarily stop implementing its unified privacy policy. Under concerns that the changes may affect much of Europe, the coalition of national and continental regulators wanted a "pause" so that there wasn't any confusion over privacy rights, according to chairman Jacob Kohnstamm. The Article 29 group also said Google would need to talk to France's data regulator CNIL as its main contact for questions.
Samsung may have overstepped its bounds in trying to counter Apple as the European Commission has launched an investigation of its practices. The EU body is hoping to determine whether Samsung breached promises to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to charge fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) rates by suing Apple over 3G in multiple European countries. It wanted to check whether Samsung was trying to "distort competition" and abuse a controlling stake in wireless.
The European Commission on Wednesday formally outlined its new data protection rules and touched on Google's own decisions. As hinted earlier, the rules would require plain, explicit permission for data, require data portability between services, and enforce a "right to be forgotten" for those who want to purge their data entirely. If a company saw a breach of information, they had 24 hours in most circumstances to notify both the regulators of affected countries and the European citizens they affected.
The European Union moved forward on two key policy changes to potentially improve technology adoption. European Commission VP Vivane Reding in a speech at the DLD conference on Sunday said the EU would have tougher rules on data collection as of January 25, according to Reuters. Companies would be required to tell officials as soon as data was known to have been misused or stolen, and they would have to give users a right to export, import, and completely wipe their information.
The latest to speak out against the controversial SOPA and PIPA bills is European Union Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes. "Glad tide is turning on SOPA: don't need bad legislation when should be safeguarding benefits of open net," she wrote in a Twitter message. The legislation, if passed, would give the US Justice Department to shut down sites simply suspected of sharing pirated content.
The European Commission on Thursday set a February 13 deadline for its decision on whether or not it will approve Google's acquisition of Motorola. The fixed date came after Google brought forward documents requested during a temporary freeze of its approval process. EC staff haven't given clues as how they might rule and are likely to remain silent on their opinion until the ruling.
EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia in a discussion late Tuesday raised the possibility that a formal antitrust dispute with Google could start in late March. He informed Reuters that comments from investigators would come in near the end of the quarter, which ends that month, and that he didn't "expect anything sooner" for a full complaint. Leaks had tipped an early 2012 filing, if it went ahead at all, but hadn't been corroborated directly until now.
European Union ministers has asked the European Commission and pan-European regulator BEREC to look into whether some ISPs are throttling some services in favor of others. According to a Tuesday Reuters report, the concern is that net neutrality may be hampered, with Internet calling services such as Skype possibly affected. BEREC will publish a joint report from regulators in the 27 EU member states in February that will summarize its findings.
The EU is readying a strategy to support political activists using the Internet and social networking to communicate their views in countries that are inclined to repress freedom of expression. Neelie Kroes, VP of the European Commission, told a Dutch conference on Internet freedom that she will be announcing a plan to assist activists speaking out for democracy in their countries. Kroes' words mirrored comments made by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday on Internet restrictions in Russia, Syria and China.
The European Commission detailed plans Tuesday for a formal investigation into major publishers and Apple as to whether their deal might violate EU antitrust law. Officials will determine whether Hachette Livre, HarperCollins, Penguin, Simon & Schuster, and Macmillan have possibly used Apple to shut out e-book competition from rival stores or publishers. EC staff are worried that the agency model, where the store makes a flat rate and the publishers set the prices, is keeping the price of titles on the iBookstore and elsewhere artificially high.
The European Commission could formally accuse Google of antitrust abuse early next year, insiders disclosed late Thursday. A large 400-page draft of a statement of objections was underway, the Financial Times said, that would accuse Google of an "abuse of dominance." It would be an amalgam of different complaints that would involve Microsoft, likely including its formal complaints over ad interoperability and access to code for YouTube apps.
European Commission's antitrust head for home electronics, Per Hellstroem, mentioned at a conference Wednesday that the investgation of Apple and Samsung hadn't been prompted by another company. Instead of an official complaint, he said the constant patent lawsuits between the two could "involve competition issues" that warranted a look. The EC could make requests for data from the two, and other parties, to see if there was a problem.
Three key European regulatory bodies have reached an agreement for a plan to create bandwidth for LTE-based 4G phone networks. The European Parliament, European Commission and member states in the European Council have all agreed that wireless spectrum must be set aside for the high-speed mobile networks by January 1, 2013. The bandwidth will be made available by auctioning off access the frequencies currently used for analog TV broadcasts.
Microsoft's $8.5 billion purchase of Skype has been approved on Friday by the European Commission. The software giant's largest-ever buy was announced in May and received the blessing of the US Federal Trade Commission back in June. The European Commission found that the two companies overlap in video communications and there are no competition concerns regarding the acquisition.
Spain has started an antitrust probe against Microsoft after that country's National Competition Commission said it had collected information that could indicate a potential violation. The investigation centers on charges that Microsoft's business units in Spain and Ireland allegedly blocked the sale of software licenses by third parties. The investigation must be completed within 18 months.
The Council of the European Union has voted to extend copyright protection terms for sound recordings by 20 years. The move was widely supported by the recording industry, pushed through as a way to "help aging sessions musicians" by ensuring that royalties would not be cut off as the copyright holders were ready to retire.
Google is facing nine antitrust complaints in Europe, two sources who wish to remain unnamed told Reuters. The complaints began in February of last year and came from three companies. To date, the European Commission has only confirmed four cases against Google.
The European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda, which provides oversight for wireless communications, has proposed sweeping new legislation (PDF) that will attack the problem of high mobile roaming costs in the EU by letting users pick their roaming deals, among other changes. The proposal would give both users and alternative carriers greater flexibility and access to alternative roaming networks. The intent is to eliminate any differences in rates between calls made locally and roaming by 2015.
The European Commission has released a statement that would virtually eliminate roaming charges for voice calls in the European Union by 2015. The plan will be presented next week. Under rules set to expire next year, roaming charges are capped at €0.35 ($0.51) for calls made abroad and €0.11 ($0.16) for calls received. Text messages also have the 11 cent surcharge added.
The proposed 22 million euro (about $31 million) SYMBEOSE project (Symbian -- the Embedded Operating System for Europe) has now been scrapped by the European Commission. The stillborn project didn't cost any of that proposed money was spent. The deciding factor was likely Nokia's partnership with Microsoft for Windows Phone putting Symbian on an effective death notice.
Microsoft has finally made good on its promise to appeal a $1.3 billion fine imposed by the European Commission back in February of 2008. The fine was a result of Microsoft not complying with the regulating body's order from 2004 to provide information that would let other products work on computers running Microsoft software. Microsoft on Tuesday told an EU court the antitrust fine was excessive.
The European Union's Article 29 Working Party regulator group said on Thursday that it would put out a non-binding opinion that would set the direction for location data on smartphones and other devices. The statement would call on companies to assume location was personal information and get permission, avoid tying location to a person, and purge the information after a certain amount of time. It could serve as a possible guideline, however, for future action by the European Commission or individual countries that would make location privacy a requirement.
The European Commission will, yet again, propose legislation over the next few weeks that would reduce roaming charges across European Union member countries, Reuters was told on Thursday. The cuts would be closer to national rates and while they would cut profits for carriers such as Vodafone, Telefonica (O2), Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile, and France Telecom (Orange), subscribers would get closer to regular rates for roaming. The draft is expected to be approved by June and would lower the price maximums carriers can charge for voice calls and text messages while their subscribers are traveling throughout Europe.
The European Commission on Monday put out a ruling (PDF) ordering that EU member countries had to open up the 900MHz and 1,800MHz bands for 4G mobile data. The decision would require allowing carriers to use LTE and WiMAX on the existing frequencies before the end of the year. The faster speeds aren't expected to clash with GSM, HSPA, or other 2G and 3G technologies that already use the airspace.
The European Commissionpreliminary UK investigations and suspected the unnamed companies of having "violated EU antitrust rules" by pushing for the agency model in the iBookstore, the Kindle Store and other portals. The structure lets publishers set the pricing and has raised worries of collusion and price fixing that would keep e-books artificially expensive.
The European Commission has now received the first samples of the universal phone charger it has finalized a standard based on a microUSB connection. A press conference was held on Tuesday to celebrate the milestone, and the charger will be compatible with more than 90 percent of cell phones. Fourteen companies in all support the standard, including Apple, LG, Motorola, Nokia, RIM, Samsung and Sony Ericsson.
The European Commission has extended its contract for Microsoft software early, according to reports. The controversial $66.8 million deal was said by Computer Weekly to have been extended with reseller Fujitsu on December 8 rather than February. The EC Directorate for Informatics, also called Digit, renewed the contract the day after the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) started a campaign against deals for any closed-source software.
The European Commission has now approved the $7.68 million buyout of McAfee by Intel. The approval required Intel's promise to ensure the interoperability of the new McAfee products with those of Intel's competitors in order to eliminate antitrust concerns. The commission praised Intel's cooperation in contrast to its resisting antitrust fines in 2009.
Music labels including EMI and Universal said on Friday that they were working on an international copyright licensing base that would significantly accelerate the spread of online music. The consulting group Deloitte has been tasked with creating a global repertoire database that would show which individual or label owned the rights to a given song. A comprehensive library would let a music store, a show producer or others know who to reach to sell or license tracks.
