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.
The European Commission on Wednesday announced several key decisions, one of which involves fining six LCD makers for being involved in a price-fixing cartel between October 2001 and February 2006. The fines amount to the equivalent of $856 million (649 million euros) and need to be paid by Korea's Samsung and LG as well as Taiwan's AU Optronics, Chimei InnoLux, Chunghwa Picture Tubes and HannStar. While the companies are based outside of Europe, the cartel's actions affected the price of products sold in Europe.
The EU is expanding its limits on data roaming to where they might go away entirely, Commissioner Neelie Kroes said on Friday. While it put caps on data on the carriers themselves, the official noted that carriers weren't moving the lower charges on to customers. EU member of Parliament Paul Rübig suggested to the New York Times that the cap would either be applied to retail or that the wholesale cap would increase so much that prices might have to come down.
The European Commission today said it would investigate Google following antitrust allegations. Officials would check whether it abused a "dominant market position" in both search and in ads. The company has been accused by French legal site ejustice.fr, UK price site Foundem.co.uk and Microsoft-owned Ciao of deliberately lowering their search rankings as competitors.
The European commissioner in charge of telecommunications, Neelie Kroes, on Thursday said the continent will take a wait-and-see approach when it comes to introducing new net neutrality rules. Europe has enough legal safeguards to prevent telephone operators from managing consumer access to the web, the commissioner told the New York Times. As such, the bloc will not be involved in the numerous network neutrality debates ongoing in North America and Europe.
The European Court of Justice today ruled that EU countries had to scale back the reach of levies meant to compensate for perceived digital piracy with gadgets. Officials found in a Spanish case of a refusal to pay that member states should only apply levies on devices that were explicitly meant for private copying. Copyright holders and governments couldn't simply apply levies to any device that can make a copy, the court said.
In a new attempt to fight the rising rate of music piracy, the French government will subsidize the cost of digital music, a Tuesday report said. The strategy was approved by the European Union and was praised for its promotion of cultural diversity. French residents who buy a card to download music from subscription-based websites will only have to pay half of a 50 euro (about $70) card, with the government paying for the remainder.
The European Commission on Saturday said it was putting an end to an investigation of Apple's app policies. Competition Policy VP Joaquín Almunia claimed that Apple had relaxed iPhone development rules in direct response to EU investigations. Apple's move was characterized as proof change could be voluntary.
The European Union's telecoms chief is calling the high roaming fees charged by European carriers an "outdated concept" and says work will continue on reducing them. According to a Thursday report, Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes blames the issue on a lack of competition.
Apple has posted a listing for an iTunes Pan-EU Label Relations head that would help the company meet its agreement with the European Commission to have Europe-wide music licensing. The official would help manage deals with labels in "key European markets," among them Scandinavian countries and Spain. No direct clues were given as to when the deals would take effect.
The European Commission has joined with the US Federal Trade Commission in probing Apple policies towards Flash, a source for the New York Post claims. Little else is known about the effort, although the Commission has taken a strong stance on interoperability, with which Apple's locks on iOS and the App Store may come into conflict. A combined investigation could take as long as four to six months, the source says.
Apple products are gaining special favor in Europe, reports say. In the UK, the BBC is currently said to be running limited internal trials of the iPad, in order to judge whether it might improve work efficiency while eliminating paper waste. The broadcaster's production, location and technical departments have been given units, as have some managers. The organization hopes that some people may be able to abandon dependence on desktop computers.
EU commissioner Neelie Kroes in an interview has warned that the iPhone and other phones may be pushed open by new European interoperability rules. Citing Apple as an example, she observed that the App Store and other closed platforms were examples of customer lock-in for proprietary technology. Kroes stopped short of proposing exact measures in a EurActiv talk but made clear Apple wouldn't be immune to an overall push for interoperability by the European Commission, whose Digital Agenda could make licensing and publishing formats a legal requirement.
The European Commission believes cell phone subscribers in European Union countries pay high prices because of the varied application of EU telecoms rules, says a Tuesday report. The charges for a one-minute call range from 0.04 euro (about $0.05) in Latvia to 0.24 ($0.30) in Malta. The disparity is reportedly keeping the EU from having a true single market and contributed to zero growth in the last year.
Microsoft has lost share in web browsers since Europe's browser ballot was rolled out, new data confirmed today. While Internet Explorer's worldwide share has been largely stable, European data from Statcounter shows that the browser has lost almost 1 percent in the UK, 1.3 percent in Italy and 2.5 percent in France with about a month of the ballot being active in trial form. A full deployment is due in May.
A bill has been passed by the British House of Lords that, if it becomes law, would require Internet Service Providers to report suspected file sharers and copyright violators to copyright holders as well as the UK's Office of Communications (OFCOM). The Digital Economy Bill would be at odds with the way the European Commission handles enforce copyright infringements. OFCOM would need to decide on what ISPs are obligated to do with customers they suspect of infringing copyrights.
Downloads of Opera's web browser have tripled since the EU implemented the trial version of its Windows browser ballot two days ago, the company's chief strategy officer Rolf Assev said today. The combination of a new beta and a prominent if randomized place in the Windows choice system has triggered the huge surge in key countries, including France, Spain and the UK as well as smaller nations like Belgium and Poland. Assev didn't provide a specific tally.
The European Commission has initiated part of its new roaming regulations for cellular providers based in countries of the EU. As of Monday, carriers are now required to introduce cut-off mechanisms designed to protect against "bill shock" when subscribers utilize data services while traveling throughout countries in Europe.
The European Commission on Wednesday greenlit Microsoft's updated proposal for a browser ballot within Windows 7. Now referred to as a "choice screen," the ballot will give EU users what the Commission says is as neutral a choice as possible for their browser. Those first booting a Windows PC will get a neutral window to pick their browser and will see the browsers presented in a random order that gives equal weight to Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera and Safari.
The European Commission today negotiated a deal with Rambus to avert a possible legal penalty for the American memory designer. Terms in the new agreement will require it to drop its royalty rates for its more recent RAM from 3.5 percent to 1.5 percent and to let those using some of its older memory technologies obtain it for free. In return, the company won't face charges filed against it in 2007 that accused it of abusing its position within the JEDEC memory standards group to develop a standard while hiding the truth that it held patents those standards would use.
