Intellectual property: harmonised EU patent rules boost innovation, investment and competitiveness in the Single Market

 EC, here. 

Competition analysis of the electric vehicle recharging market across the EU27 + the UK

 EC, prepared by CRA (another economic consultancy: no independent academic research centres available?), here. 

Cloud Portability and Interoperability under the EU Data Act: Dynamism versus Equivalence

 S. Ennis, B. Evans, here. 

RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE THE DATA ACT

 Verbraucherzentrale, here. 

Microsoft / Activision deal prevented to protect innovation and choice in cloud gaming

 CMA, who else?, here. Inquiry page with many things to read here. 

EU plans allow Big Tech to exploit your medical records, without permission

 EU Observer, here. 

Guidelines on exclusionary abuses by dominant undertakings: the 45 submissions to the public consultation

 EC, here. 

How the Commission outsourced its merger policy to Google’s best friend

 Corporate Europe, here. 

Cloud services market study

 OFT, Interim Report here; Annexes 5 to 8, here; marker research, here; Proposal to make a market investigation reference, here. 

Amazon Joins Microsoft, Google in AI Race Spurred by ChatGPT

 WSJ, here. 

Avviata istruttoria nei confronti di Enel per possibile abuso di posizione dominante nel settore della mobilità elettrica

 AGCM, qui. 

Commission prolongs Motor Vehicle Block Exemption Regulation and updates the Supplementary Guidelines

 EC, here. 

Open the black box of algorithms

 ECAT, Video here. 

Proposed commitments regarding changes to Google Play’s rules to allow certain app developers to use alternative billing systems for in-app purchases

 CMA, here. 

Epic v. Apple

 US Court of Appeals, here. 

Beyond the Consumer Welfare Standard?

 Stigler Conference, Day one here; Day two here. 

23 recommendations for fair and people-centered virtual worlds in the EU

 EC, here. 

Microsoft agrees to stop bundling Teams with Office

 FT, here. 

Interoperability of messaging services under the Digital Markets Act: a “technologists ’ paradise”?

 S. Vezzoso, here. 

Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill

 UK Government Bill, here. 

ChatGPT : un beau parleur bien entraîné

 LINC, ici. 

“SORRY IN ADVANCE!”

 Public Citizen, here. 

Google Head of Competition EMEA: Is the DMA a Challenge or an Opportunity? Interview

 Chez Oles, here. 

Enforcing the DSA: Online talk with Irene Roche Laguna

 SNV, here. 

Value extraction and institutions in digital capitalism: Towards a law and political economy synthesis for competition law

 I. Lianos, here. 

Structuring a Structural Presumption for Merger Review

 F. Lancieri, T. Valletti, here. 

Joint Public Letter to EU lawmakers on patients' rights in the European Health Data Space

 EDRI, here. 

Confronting tech power

 AINOW, here. 

South Korea Fines Google $32 Million for Squeezing Out Local Rival

 WSJ, here. 

Surprising, Inexplicable, and “A Little Bit Scary”

 A. Bedoya, here. Video here. 

Meta-Within Should Be Viewed in the Context of Meta’s Broader Efforts To Monopolize Social Networking

 B. Nye, here. 

Stacking up the Benefits: Lessons from India’s Digital Journey

 IMF, here. 

Probe started for abuse of economic dependence by Meta towards SIAE

 AGCM, here. 

The Open Letter to Stop 'Dangerous' AI Race Is a Huge Mess

 Vice, here. 

Google says Microsoft cloud practices are anti-competitive

 Reuters, here. 

On EU-China relations

 U. von der Leyen, here. 

Second Workshop on the DMA – This is not a Blueprint for the DMA: Reconciling the Technical with the Legal

 Kluwer Competition Law Blog, here. 

Solon pushes for interoperability of instant messaging apps

 PLNMedia, here. Draft bill, here. 

Inclusive AI governance Civil society participation in standards development

 ALI, here. 

A pro-innovation approach to AI regulation

 UK Gov, here. 

DATA ACT: TOWARDS A BALANCED EU DATA REGULATION

 CERRE, here. 

Video here. 

Examination of Microsoft’s significance for competition across markets

Bundeskartellamt, here.  

Reimagining platform ecosystems

 #PrivacyCamp23, Video here. 

Reparaturpflicht mit Lücken

 Netzpolitik, hier. 

DATA ACT: TOWARDS A BALANCED EU DATA REGULATION

 CERRE, here. 

Data act: member states agree common position on fair access to and use of data

 EU Council, here. 

Zugriff und Nutzung von Fahrzeugdaten

 Kleine Anfrage der Fraktion der CDU/CSU, hier. 

Microsoft’s Battle with AI Companies: Data Restrictions Loom Over Rival Search Engines

 BigTechWire, here. 

Commission announces Guidelines on exclusionary abuses and amends Guidance on enforcement priorities

 EC, here. 

IS CREDIT SCORING AN AUTOMATED DECISION? – THE OPINION OF THE AG PIKAMÄE IN THE CASE C-634/21

 Digital Constitutionalist, here. 

The Age of AI has begun

 B. Gates, here.

Compare with B. Gates, The Internet Tidal Wave (1995), here. 

The Metaverse: Surveillant Physics, Virtual Realist Governance, and the Missing Commons

 A. McStay, here. 

Spinning Amazon’s Flywheel: How Amazon's business model harms competition -- A view from Europe

 Geradin Partners, here. 

CMA narrows scope of concerns in Microsoft – Activision review

 CMA, here. 

Is the Effects-Based Approach Too Cumbersome?: Taking Stock of Recent Practice and Case Law on Article 102 TFEU

 F. Castillo de la Torre, here. 

COMMISSION DECISION of 23.3.2023 on setting up the High-Level Group for the Digital Markets Act

 EC, here. 

Right to repair: Commission introduces new consumer rights for easy and attractive repairs

 EC, here. 

Consumer protection: enabling sustainable choices and ending greenwashing

 EC, here. 

GOOGLE-OSTACOLI ALLA PORTABILITÀ DEI DATI: impegni proposti

 AGCM, qui. 

Post-EC Technical Workshop on Messaging Interoperability: What Stakeholders are Saying

 Matrix, here. 

Carl Schwan, here. 

Firefox, here. 

J. Blessing, R. Anderson, here. 

J. Len et al., here. 

Chatbots, deepfakes, and voice clones: AI deception for sale

 FTC, here. 

Making sense of NCAs’ roles under the DMA – The Dutch proposal

 The Platform Law blog, here. 

Wettbewerb und Nachhaltigkeit in Deutschland und der EU

 HHU-Zukunftsgruppe Competition & Sustainability, hier. 

FTC Seeks Comment on Business Practices of Cloud Computing Providers that Could Impact Competition and Data Security

 FTC, here. 

Who Is Still Inside the Metaverse?

 Intelligencer, here. 

THE LOBBYING GHOST IN THE MACHINE

 Corporate Europe, here. 

THE FIRST ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION LEGAL SERVICE

 Video here. 

Microsoft plans mobile games store to rival Apple and Google

 FT, here. 

Advances in AI: Are We Ready For a Tech Revolution?

 Oversight Committee Hearing, here. 

The DMA & Interoperability of Messaging Services

 Chez Oles, Video here. 

How Three Mergers Buttressed Google’s Ad Tech Monopoly, Per DOJ

 Tech Policy Press, here. 

The Lurking Theory of Potential Competition in the DOJ’s JetBlue/Spirit Complaint

 H. Singer, here. 

Architectural options for messaging interoperability

 E. Rescorla, here.

Proposed Digital India Act 2023

 Presentation here.

The Great Antitrust Retreat: Why We Should Worry About the New Commission’s Statement of Objections to Apple

 O. Borgogno, here. 

Falling costs of AI may leave its power in hands of a small group - Start-ups will find it harder to challenge main industry players

 FT, here (and here). 

FTC Seeks Public Comment on Franchisors Exerting Control Over Franchisees and Workers

 Here. 

ChatGPT and the AI Act

 N. Helberger, N. Diakopoulos, here. 

Understanding Social Media Recommendation Algorithms

 A. Narayanan, here. 

Meta is building a decentralized, text-based social network

 Platformer, here. 

UK merger control in 2023

 CMA, here. 

"Towards the Artificial Intelligence Act"

 EDPS, here. 

WhatsApp would not remove end-to-end encryption for UK law, says chief

 The Guardian, here. 

Code of Conduct on Data Sharing in Tourism

 T. Breton introduces, here. 

U.S., EU kick off AI research collaboration

 Axios, here. 

Brazil central bank greenlights Meta's WhatsApp merchant payment system

 Reuters, here. 

Justice Department’s Suit to Block JetBlue’s Proposed Acquisition of Spirit

 D. Mekki, here. 

How we Build Platforms

 M. Nottingham, here. 

Android’s new OEM rules in India swap “requirements” with “revenue sharing”

 Ars Technica, here. 

The signal of compliance

 R. Horning, here. 

Exploring Global Enforcement Trends

 OECD Open Day 2023, here. 

An Excessive Evidentiary Burden Sunk the FTC’s Case Against the Meta/Within Merger

 S. Salop, here. 

Early thoughts on regulating generative AI like ChatGPT

 Brookings, here. 

ACTUAL POTENTIAL COMPETITION: FTC V. META/WITHIN COURT VALIDATES ODD-SOUNDING THEORY

 S. Cernak, here. 

Alexa, what happened?

 R. Roy, here. 

Reclaiming The Antitrust Law Of Potential Competition Mergers

 H. Hovenkamp, here. 

Draft guidance on the application of the Chapter I prohibition in the Competition Act 1998 to environmental sustainability agreements

 CMA, here. 

Creative destruction in digital ecosystems revisited

Hausfeld, here.  

The risk of Microsoft owning the operating system for digital economy

 Euractiv, here. 

Yale’s Tobin Center Assembles Leading Economists to Tackle Digital Market Regulation

 Yale, here. 

A Triple Shift for competition policy

 M. Vestager, here. 

Sustainable industries through digital supply chains?

 HIIG, here. 

National Cybersecurity Strategy

 The White House, here. 

The internet is about to get a lot safer

 MIT Technology Review, here. 

Expanding ecosystems of digital platform service providers

 ACCC, Issues Paper here. 

CMA Economic Research Strategy

 CMA, here. 

Reining in Dominant Digital Platforms: Restoring Competition to Our Digital Markets

 US Senate (again), Video here. 

Second EU Technical Workshop, on interoperability of messaging services: The Recording

 Here (the Italian lady continuously touching her hair and being allergic to reading her speech like almost everybody else did it's yours truly!)

Third EU technical workshop: The DMA and app store related provisions

 My Tweets: 

Starting soon! #DMA #participatoryimplementation #tweetingwave

https://twitter.com/vrobcomplaw/status/1630872337640824833

Live streaming

https://webcast.ec.europa.eu/dma-stakeholder-workshop-on-app-stores-23-03-06

[Recordings of the previous TWs are also available, ICYMT competition-policy.ec.europa.eu/dma/dma-worksh…]

DMA workshopsDMA stakeholders workshopshttps://competition-policy.ec.europa.eu/dma/dma-workshops_en

App Stores in the #DMA : much to say! @VRobCompLaw

Art 5(4) DMA an "anti-anti-steering provision" 

Art 5(5) corollary to Art 5(4) - focusing on end users
@VRobCompLaw (Kindle on my mind...) 

Art 5(7) inter alia promoting innovation in ancillary (as Vicky calls them) services... 

Compliance report key, of course - last week we discussed *a lot* the reference offer instead 

Vanessa @beuc : streaming, price matters a lot to consumers, a survey showed - lack of transparency is one of the issues - (BTW, anti-circumvention as the Star Provision so far) 

Meta, Giphy and Google are members of the
@DevsAllianceEU as well as many others developersalliance.org/community-dire… - nice discussions ahead

Community Directory - Corporate Members | Developers AllianceCorporate members committed to advocacy efforts, ensuring the best interest of developers and the companies that depend on them.https://developersalliance.org/community-directory/

"Not funded by Apple and Google" -among the corporate partners I found Microsoft and Google (?)
@FRdigitale

Our partnersBeing a France Digitale partner means being part of a collective that works to create digital champions in France and in Europe...https://francedigitale.org/en/partners

When is the "end user acquired"? 

Provisions considered in isolation, concrete risk of abuse being shifted somewhere else @Spotify 

[Can't help thinking about "The Playlist" - am I the only one?]

Throwing sand into the gears of interoperability - yep, real risk... 

FRAND + anticircumvention [a bit like reference offer + anticircumvention with regard to Article 7 - we proposed an internal dispute resolution mechanism last week as part of the "blessed" reference offer] 

Great seeing representatives of competitive app stores in the audience - and immediately discussing interoperability! 

[Yes, Vanessa: Student just wrote a thesis on deceptive/dark patterns - and it's really scary!] 

App developer: "we all agree that the past is the past". In the future, how can we make ensure that smaller developers can profit from a trusted environment? 

Huge incentives for gatekeepers still to provide app stores under the DMA - oh yeah, and Hayek would agree (wrote about it in WuW research.owlit.de/document/5ef7f…)

https://research.owlit.de/document/5ef7fc44-5b56-31fd-9507-e7702854779a

App developers' incentives to provide privacy and security 🤔- choice to continue with the app store but you'd have the *choice* as an app developer #DMAisaboutchoice printed on my new T-shirt 

Alternative OSs! Yes, let's talk about future frictions - but also learning from the past 

Compliance reports should be live documents if you ask me... 

Yes, juicy technical questions -luckily, last weeks we had other panels taking care of those 😊 

Keynote from a NCA @AutoriteitCM - yes, involve them #participatoryimplementation forward looking 

"The gatekeepers are going to be regulated companies" - banking provides good lessons, indeed! 

"Effective compliance" is not only legal compliance - continuous process 👏 

"Details matter" - avoiding friction is key here. Consult specialists, consumer groups, behavioural psychologists 

Cooperation among digital regulators - Inspired by the UK, inspired by Giovanni Buttarelli - why is it still taking so long, the naive mind is asking? 

I asked Martijn @AutoriteitCM online what the most effective things are that the NCAs could concretely do to make the DMA work as the legislator intended - no time/no choice. Idea 🤔... seconding staff with more regulatory experience, for instance? 

"Outside the app": web based apps, sideloading and alternative app stores @kraemer_ 

Art 6(4) - Art 5(7) - Art 6(3) - Art 6(7) - provisions not to be implemented in isolation #obligationsarenotislands 

"Unprecedented change in the regulatory framework" @Apple 

"Necessary steps": discuss. 

"New world of alternative distribution* @Apple - in the service of European citizens, ultimately benefitting them [Non-EU consumers wondering why they are excluded from these benefits, at some point 🤔?] 

Third-party stores: what do they need? Fair competition based on trust [apply EU rules already there; essential, useful security prompts; no extra fees], etc.] 

Loose coalition of independent software engineers @OpenWebAdvocacy

Contributors & Supporters - Open Web AdvocacyTeam of contributors to the Open Web Advocacy initiativehttps://open-web-advocacy.org/contributors/

"Web apps need to be just apps" 

No gatekeeper should be entitled to decide what security, privacy, etc. look like. 

Source code for effective review - with no dual/triple role (making a cut; own apps) - [Q.: how on earth are we still be discussing whether mobile ecosystems are totally flawed or not? The legislator has decided they are, we have rules that should be implemented - full stop] 

[Lively discussion on Mastodon as well] 

We are at the beginning of this process, months and years to come, says @Apple - well, the EU legislator has set the pace, for gatekeepers to comply 

Coming up, hopefully, a more "all hands on deck" panel discussion on how to properly implement those provisions - in Rupprecht @ruppe_p we trust. 

What are the conditions of access as of Article 6(12)? ✅
What is FRAND? The DMA might help✅

COM Assessment

Separating fees, creating transparency, based on hard data, etc., so difficult? We'll see... 

The importance of data, reminds @SchibstedGroup - access to data - compliant with the GDPR. 

The App Association, @actmembers - also sponsored by Apple?

AboutOur world has become increasingly mobile; by accessing data in the cloud, apps and connected devices are a central part of how we work, play, shop, and stay healthy. From medical records and financial…https://actonline.org/about/

The importance of engineers talking to engineers - agreed, @Google 

Where does the value sit, both for app developers and the app marketplace providers? 

One q in sli.do "Should analysis of "value" include the value that GKs derive from the presence of apps in their stores? inc value of data collected and how it is used by GKs?" and, I would add, also in terms of profiting from "innovation disclosure"?

Slido - Audience Interaction Made EasySlido is the ultimate Q&A and polling platform for live and virtual meetings and events. It offers interactive Q&A, live polls and insights about your audience.http://sli.do

Well, associations should disclose whether they get financing from potential gatekeepers. I did disclose that I wrote a study for a MEP. 

My Q: "How would Prof. Podszum envisage that the EC could involve third parties when assessing FRAND conditions ("as part of safety net, as he pointed out")? 

Thank you for the answer, Rupprecht - agreed, many tables! @ruppe_p