This Article outlines the most significant development in international antitrust in 2023 in eleven jurisdictions.
In May 2023, the Secretary of Trade approved the new Merger Control Review Regulation, which aims to regulate the procedure for notifying economic concentration transactions before the Antitrust Commission the (“CNDC”).
One of the main novelties of the new Regulation is the introduction of a summary procedure (“PROSUM”) as an alternative for those economic concentrations with a lower probability of significant effects to competition. The Regulation also introduces new F0, F1, and F2 forms for notification.
Furthermore, the CNDC issued Provision 62/2023, establishing the technical criteria to determine which cases may qualify for PROSUM given the economic concentrations notified under the terms in Section 9 of Law No. 27,442 (“Antitrust Law”).
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the enactment of Law No. 11,210, the first antitrust legislation in Argentina and Latin America.
As of October 2023, the CNDC unconditionally approved twenty-seven economic concentrations. A key merger case was the unconditional approval of Fiat-Peugeot.
In recent years, the CNDC has shown a tendency to issue Statements of Objection. Since 2020, the CNDC has issued nine Statements of Objection; four of these already have a final decision conditioning the transaction and in one case, the transaction was withdrawn by the parties.
The Notebooks case is about a corruption scandal that was unveiled in 2018 concerning an alleged organized corruption scheme that involved the paying of bribes to benefit from large public contracts between 2005–2015. In light of testimony given in the criminal investigation, the CNDC opened a parallel investigation into allegations of bid-rigging that involved fifty-two companies.
In September 2023, the CNDC closed this investigation, finding that there was insufficient evidence to prove the existence of an agreement between the companies to fix prices and allocate public work bids, although it issued “pro-competitive” recommendations to be implemented by the Argentine Chamber of Road Companies.
In August 2021, the Secretary of Trade fined Cervecería y Maltería Quilmes (“CMQ”) 150 million pesos and subjected it to a set of corrective measures for abusing its dominant position. CMQ appealed, but the Antitrust Law states that measures may be appealed with non-suspensive effect. Accordingly, CMQ must comply with the corrective measures until a competent court can resolve the appeal.
In February 2023, the CNDC concluded that CMQ was not implementing the mandatory corrective measures and fined CMQ 2,396,603 mobile units, approximately 389.5 million pesos. This is the first fine applied pursuant to the new provisions of the Antitrust Law, which increased potential penalties from the previous Law No. 25,156.
The Brazilian Congress is currently discussing two draft bills aimed at regulating the activities of digital platforms:
· Draft Bill No. 2768/2022 gives equivalent regulatory powers of the European Commission to Brazil’s National Telecommunications Agency, ANATEL. But the CADE would maintain the authority to analyze transactions involving digital platforms; and
· Draft Bill No. 2630/2020 aims to combat the dissemination of false content on social networks and on private messaging services. Additionally, it forbids the discrimination of platform users’ services, which includes discrimination involving access to updated data and restrictions on technical functionalities.
As of November 13, 2023, CADE reviewed 497 transactions, far more than their 2022 stats. The average review time has decreased significantly in 2023, reaching 18.7 days compared to 34.5 in 2022. As of this writing, two merger cases have been pulled by Tribunal members for reassessment. CADE has also blocked one merger case and assessed seven gun jumping infractions—five of them settled with the Parties.
CADE approved a joint venture involving agricultural commodities players aiming to develop and operate a B2B software platform for tracking and standardizing sustainability metrics across food and agricultural supply chains. This is an indication from Brazilian authorities of the growing intersection between competition and sustainability.
CADE has also published draft Vertical Merger Review Guidelines inspired by the European Commission, which are currently under public consultation.
In the last twenty years, CADE has signed 109 leniency agreements, an average of five deals each year. Recently, CADE’s Superintendent, Alexandre Barreto, said that CADE is negotiating ten leniency agreements, some of which involve international cases.
Since 2022, the formation of consortia to participate in public bids has been in the spotlight. Initially considered a common practice, it has been investigated by CADE as a potential illegal agreement between competitors in at least two cases. One case resulted in the conviction of telecom companies and the other in the dismissal of fuel distributors.
In 2023, CADE ruled on fourteen anticompetitive conduct proceedings, imposing 113,748,813.85 BRL (USD$ 23,166,764.53) in fines, which is ten percent of the 2022 total.
In recent years, exclusivity has been the second most investigated practice in Brazil and has motivated some of the recent interim measures imposed by CADE. In 2023, CADE entered into settlement agreements with Ifood and Ambev establishing restrictions on the companies signing exclusivity agreements.
Professional councils have also caught CADE’s attention through investigations concerning the allegedly abusive exercising of its regulatory power. In October 2023, GS suggested the conviction of the Pharmacy, Dentistry, and Architecture councils.
The 2022 amendments to the Competition Act, which came into force in June 2023, criminally prohibit two or more unaffiliated employers from engaging in wage-fixing or no-poach agreements. The prior C$25 million limit on fines under section 45 has also been removed.
A new set of proposed amendments to the Competition Act would expand the Competition Bureau’s (“Bureau”) power to conduct market studies in the “public interest” and seek prohibition orders to civilly address anti-competitive agreements between parties that do not necessarily compete. The amendments also propose to repeal the “efficiencies defence,” which allows merging parties to resist a Bureau challenge based on efficiencies offsetting a merger’s alleged anti-competitive effects.
Shell Canada Limited agreed to divest retail gas station assets in three markets in Western Canada to address competition concerns arising from its acquisition of a competitor’s assets in those markets.
A proposed merger between RBC, Canada’s largest bank, and HSBC, Canada’s seventh-largest bank, was approved by the Bureau, although approval by the Minister of Finance is also required for closing.
The Federal Court of Appeal (“FCA”) dismissed an appeal of the Competition Tribunal’s (“Tribunal”) decision allowing Rogers Communications Inc.’s C$26 billion acquisition of telecommunications rival, Shaw Communications Inc. The FCA’s ruling confirmed the Tribunal’s finding that Shaw’s sale of its wireless business, Freedom Mobile, to Videotron Ltd. was an appropriate “fix-it-first” remedy.
The FCA dismissed an appeal by Secure Energy Services Inc. (“Secure”) of a Tribunal decision ordering Secure to divest certain Western Canadian oilfield waste facilities in connection with Secure’s acquisition of competitor, Tervita Corporation. Secure’s reliance on the efficiencies defence was unsuccessful as the evidence was not “clear and convincing.”
Canada Bread Co. pled guilty and was sentenced to pay a fine of C$50 million for its role in a price-fixing scheme for bread—the largest price-fixing fine imposed in Canada to date.
Pharmaceutical company, Isologic, agreed with the Bureau’s request to cease using exclusivity clauses in some of its contracts with customers.
Apotex Inc. brought the first private party application for leave to the Tribunal to initiate an abuse of dominance proceeding since the provision was added in the 2022 amendments to the Competition Act. The application, which sought access to a rival’s drug samples to develop its generic version, was later discontinued.
In 2023, the State Administration for Market Regulation of China (“SAMR”) released five sets of regulations to the amended PRC Anti-Monopoly Law (“AML”), including Provisions on Prohibition of Monopoly Agreements, Provisions on Prohibition of Abuse of Dominant Market Positions, Provisions on Review of Concentrations of Undertakings, Provisions on Prohibition of Acts of Eliminating or Restricting Competition by Abuse of Administrative Power, and Provisions on Prohibition of Abuse of IPR to Exclude or Restrict Competition. The AML amendments and the regulations are devised to address new issues arising in the digital economy.
In 2023, SAMR unconditionally approved approximately 593 deals and imposed conditions in four transactions.
In Simcere Pharma/Tobishi, SAMR required the combined entity to terminate the exclusive supply agreement of batroxobin, an active pharmaceutical ingredient (“API”), in China, to divest its batroxobin injection business and to decrease the end user price. This is the first transaction below the filing thresholds to receive conditional approval.
In MaxLinear/Silicon Motion, SAMR required that the combined entity continue to supply NAND flash memory chips to Chinese customers on a FRAND basis and retain Silicon Motion’s field application engineers in China to provide support to its Chinese customers. However, the transaction was abandoned by MaxLinear shortly after SAMR’s approval.
In Wanhua Chemical/Yantai Juli, SAMR required that the annual average price of TDI supplied by the combined entity to customers in China shall not be higher than the average price during the twenty-four months preceding the decision.
In Broadcom/VMware, SAMR required the combined entity to avoid tie-in sales, to maintain interoperability, to continue with existing product certification practices, and to protect the confidential information of third-party hardware manufacturers.
In 2023, SAMR took enforcement action in eleven cartel cases, eight abuse of dominance cases, and one resale price maintenance case. Among the cartel cases, two involved APIs, five involved public utilities and services, and three involved in the construction industry. In the Huangshan Cruise Cartel case, SAMR granted leniency in the form of a reduced fine to the first company who reported the cartel. The abuse of dominance cases involved exclusive dealing and unfairly high price by API manufacturers and public utilities companies.
Miao Chong v. SAIC-GM is the first case resulting in a victory for a plaintiff in an antitrust lawsuit against a defendant fined by SAMR for resale price maintenance. The Supreme People’s Court (“SPC”) of China held that unchallenged administrative penalty decisions by SAMR are precedential for purposes of follow-on antitrust litigation.
In Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Group v. Hefei Industrial Pharmaceutical Institute, the SPC reversed the lower court’s decision and held that (1) competitive constraints from the downstream market should be considered when evaluating the market power of API producers; and (2) exclusive dealing arrangements will not violate the AML if it is necessary for the exercise of patent rights.
Flagship legislation to regulate “gatekeeper” providers of digital platform services started to apply, and gave rise to its first challenges before the EU courts. Legislation destined to screen financial contributions given by non-EU countries to companies engaging in M&A and public procurement in the EU also entered into force. In a different area, the European Commission (“EC”) proposed legislation to regulate the licensing of Standard Essential Patents.
Further to its 2022 high-profile prohibition of Illumina’s acquisition of Grail, the EC imposed fines on the companies for gun-jumping and ordered Illumina to unwind the transaction. In a different sector, the EC blocked hotel online travel agency Booking’s proposed acquisition of flight online travel agency eTraveli, following an in-depth review that lasted close to one year. Other high profile transactions under review include Amazon’s proposed acquisition of iRobot and Adobe’s plans to acquire Figma.
In 2023 as of this article’s submission, the EC imposed fines totaling about €14.6 million (~USD $16 million) in respect of hand grenades and antispasmodic ingredient cartels, the latter marking the EC’s first cartel decision in the pharmaceuticals sector.
The EC continued a number of investigations into the tech and digital sector. It progressed its investigations into Apple’s App Store Rules and Apple Pay, as well as into Meta’s use of data in connection with its Facebook Marketplace service. The EC also opened an investigation into Microsoft’s possible tying of its Teams communication system with its Office/Microsoft 365 suites. It adopted formal charges against Google for allegedly abusive practices in the ad technology stack. Meanwhile, Google continued its legal challenges against three EC decisions imposing multi-billion fines in connection with its Shopping, AdSense, and Android search services. Finally, following a long court battle that resulted in the partial annulment of its findings against Intel’s rebate policy, the EC re-imposed a fine of €376 million (~USD $410 million) on the company, limited to the so-called naked restrictions not called into question by the EU Courts.
In two rulings, the EU Courts further clarified the scope of the essential facilities doctrine, including the evidentiary standard to characterize a refusal to deal. The EU Court of Justice also confirmed that transactions that do not trigger merger control review may be scrutinized under Article 102 TFEU (i.e. the rules on abuse of dominance). In its first ruling on the topic, the EU’s top court considered the scope of the EU’s Foreign Direct Investment Screening Regulation and its interplay with the EU’s fundamental freedom of establishment and free circulation of capital.
The Government of India passed the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2023 bringing the most significant overhaul of the Indian competition law regime since its inception.
On the merger control front, key changes include: (a) a new deal value threshold; (b) derogation of standstill obligations for certain on-market purchases; (c) codifying the “material influence” standard for the “control” definition; and (d) expedited review timelines.
On the enforcement front, changes include: (a) a new framework for commitments and settlements in vertical agreements and abuse of dominance cases; (b) a new “leniency plus” mechanism; and (c) higher penalties based on “global turnover” rather than the current “relevant turnover” standard.
The CCI cleared several notifications subject to structural and behavioral modifications, including India-specific remedies in global deals.
The CCI sought undertakings from acquirers to not participate in board meetings, or in the management and affairs of the acquired entities.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (“NCLAT”) set aside penalties imposed on ITC Limited for its failure to notify the acquisition of certain trademarks.
The CCI clarified that the notification exemption for buyback of shares would not apply where it led to the acquisition of control.
The NCLAT allowed appeals by Indian tire manufacturers, finding that the correct data showed no price parallelism among manufacturers. The CCI was directed to re-examine the case. The NCLAT upheld the CCI’s rejection of a challenge to a merger between film exhibitors. The NCLAT set aside the CCI’s sugar-mills decision given its inordinate delay in issuing the decision and the fact that an insufficient number of CCI members signed the order.
The NCLAT upheld penalties against Google for its anti-competitive conduct in the Android ecosystem.
The CCI separately penalized Google for its Play Store payments policies and for self-preferencing its own payments application.
MakeMyTrip was penalized for abuse of dominance and for entering into an agreement with hotel franchisor, Oyo, to delist certain competing hotel chains on MakeMyTrip’s portal.
The Delhi High Court ruled that disputes relating to alleged anti-competitive conduct in patent rights licensing must be examined under the Patents Act, rather than the Competition Act.
There were no significant legislative developments in the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2023 (“FY2022”). That said, the Japan Fair Trade Commission (“JFTC”) has strengthened its response to rapid market changes such as digitalization by engaging in advocacy activities in addition to pure enforcement. In its market survey report on mobile OS/app distribution issued in February 2023, the JFTC pointed out that there are insufficient competitive pressures on the mobile OS and app stores provided by Google and Apple, raising potential concerns for exclusionary or abusive conduct by those companies. Presumably, by proactively releasing such fact-finding reports, the JFTC is trying to informally warn said companies as well as possibly suggest new legislation to regulate digital markets.
In FY2022, the JFTC received a total of 306 merger notifications, none of which were brought into a Phase II review and only one of which required remedies. Notably, fifteen cases were non-reportable transactions that were voluntarily submitted by the parties or investigated by the JFTC ex officio, indicating the JFTC’s increasing willingness to review non-reportable transactions that may impact competition in Japan. Other prominent features of the JFTC’s merger review include a continuous acute interest in the digital markets and more frequent use of economic analysis. A good demonstration of these features is the case of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, in which the JFTC conducted a vertical analysis to evaluate any potential incentive for input foreclosure and reviewed internal documents submitted by the parties. Both methods of evaluation are in line with the JFTC’s newly released policy on “Active Promotion of Competition Policy in Response to Socioeconomic Changes caused by Digitalization.”
In FY2022, the JFTC opened investigations against 116 cases of suspected Antimonopoly Act (“AMA”) violations and reached decisions in ninety-nine cases. The JFTC took eleven legal measures, including eight cease-and-desist orders and three commitment plan approvals.
On March 30, 2023, the JFTC issued cease-and-desist orders and surcharge payment orders against five major electricity companies for forming a cartel that led them to refrain from acquiring new customers outside their traditional supply areas. Three electricity companies were ordered to pay a total of approximately USD $670 million, thereby pushing the annual total surcharges in FY2022 to a new record high. Kansai Electric Power enjoyed full immunity from surcharge payment as the first leniency applicant in that case.
At the conclusion of its investigation into a bid-rigging case concerning the outsourcing contracts for test events during the 2020 Olympics and Paralympic Games, the JFTC filed an accusation with the Prosecutor General against six major advertisement agencies and seven individuals for criminal violations of the AMA and the Penal Code. These agencies and individuals were indicted by the Tokyo District Prosecutors’ Office on the same day and the case is currently under review by the Tokyo District Court.
On January 12, 2023, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (“KFTC”) adopted the Guidelines for Review of Abuse of Market Dominance by Online Platform Operators, supplementing the KFTC’s existing review guidelines. The new guidelines provide criteria for defining a relevant market and for assessing market dominance and anti-competitiveness involving online platforms. The guidelines also provide criteria for determining illegality of specific types of dominance-abusive conduct—i.e., restriction of multi-homing, demanding MFN treatment, self-preferencing and tying.
In November 2023, the KFTC issued a proposed amendment to its Merger Review Guidelines to reflect the unique attributes of online platforms affecting competitive analysis, such as zero-price services, multi-sided platforms, and network effects.
In May 2023, the KFTC unconditionally cleared Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard based on the parties’ low combined market share in the gaming market. The KFTC took into account the Korean market’s preference for Sony’s PlayStation over Microsoft’s Xbox and PC games over cloud games.
In October 2023, the KFTC conditionally approved Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, a leading company in the server virtualization software market. The KFTC found that post-transaction, Broadcom could foreclose its FC HBA rivals by degrading interoperability between their FC HBAs and VMware’s server virtualization software. The KFTC required Broadcom to ensure interoperability over the next ten years.
In September 2023, the KFTC announced sanctions of approximately KRW 19.1 billion on Broadcom for abusing its superior bargaining position against Samsung Electronics. The KFTC found that Broadcom coerced Samsung to enter into unfavourable long-term agreements that prevented Samsung from using other suppliers through sanctions like suspending shipments. This left Samsung particularly vulnerable given the competition with Apple in the premium smart device market. Earlier in June, the KFTC rejected Broadcom’s proposed consent decree due to insufficient compensatory measures.
In June 2023, the KFTC fined Kakao Mobility approximately KRW 25.7 billion for abusing its dominant position in the ride-hailing market to monopolize the adjacent taxi franchise market. The KFTC alleged that since its launch of taxi franchise Kakao T Blue in March 2019, Kakao Mobility engaged in unlawful self-preferencing by manipulating algorithms in its ride-hailing app to favour its cab drivers from Kakao T Blue. This significantly increased the number of Kakao T Blue drivers, which appreciably increased Kakao T Blue’s share in the taxi franchise market, from 14.2% in 2019 to 73.7% in 2021.
In July 2023, the KFTC fined Google approximately KRW 42.1 billion for abusing its dominant position to exclude its local rival Android-based app store, ONE Store. The KFTC alleged that from June 2016 to April 2018, Google pushed gaming developers to release their games exclusively on Google Play in exchange for support for global expansion and in-app featuring, which resulted in a significant drop in ONE Store’s market share.
In April 2023, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the KFTC against Qualcomm. In 2017, the KFTC fined Qualcomm approximately KRW 1.03 trillion for abusing its position as a dominant manufacturer of modem chipsets and holder of standard essential patents (SEPs). The KFTC alleged that Qualcomm, in violation of its FRAND obligations, refused to license its SEPs and forced mobile phone manufacturers to exclusively use Qualcomm’s chipsets. The Seoul High Court and the Supreme Court both dismissed Qualcomm’s appeals in large part and upheld the fine.
The Competition Commission (“Commission”) released two sets of guidelines; on the Exchange of Competitively Sensitive Information, and a draft update to the Public Interest Guidelines Relating to Merger Control. The latter is controversial for the emphasis placed on promoting black and worker ownership in merging entities.
The most notable trend is the Commission’s negotiation for public interest conditions that expand ownership of black persons or workers in the merging parties. Such conditions do not necessarily address identifiable harms to the public interest arising out of the mergers.
Regarding the proposed merger between Epiroc and Polkadots, the Tribunal held that a public interest analysis is a holistic one. The factors listed must be assessed separately and if necessary, weighed against each other to conclude on the effects.
The Commission is doubling down on excessive pricing investigations and prosecutions. It initiated a complaint against Johnson & Johnson alleging exclusionary practices and excessive pricing in the supply of tuberculosis treatment. This follows an ongoing referral against Roche for alleged excessive pricing of breast cancer treatment.
Adding to the growing dismissals of bid rigging referrals, the Tribunal dismissed another case as the parties could not be considered competitors unless they were competitors before the relevant bids.
The Commission published its report on the Online Intermediation Platforms Market Inquiry (“OIPMI”). The report recommends remedial actions by local and international digital platforms, including divestiture. The Commission also launched Market Inquiries into Fresh Produce and Media and Digital Platforms.
In April 2023, the UK Government introduced the Digital Markets, Competition, and Consumers Bill (“Bill”), which proposes wide-ranging reforms to UK competition law, including revised jurisdictional thresholds for merger control and strengthening investigative and enforcement powers under the Competition Act 1998 (“CA98”). The Bill will also implement the UK Government’s digital markets strategy, which includes tailored codes of conduct and a bespoke merger control regime for designated companies.
2023 has also seen the introduction of new horizontal block exemptions (covering Research & Development agreements and Specialisation agreements) and guidelines, as well as specific guidance on how competition law applies to environmental sustainability agreements.
The Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) continues to take an interventionist approach. It referred fifteen cases for a Phase 2 investigation between April 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023, including two fast-track references in Carpenter/Recticel and Sika/MBCC Group. Of the nineteeth Phase 2 investigations completed in the same period, only six were unconditionally cleared: four were prohibited, six required remedies, and three were abandoned.
Some CMA prohibitions have been controversial. For example, the CMA’s original prohibition of the Microsoft/Activision Blizzard deal, which had received clearances in other jurisdictions, attracted negative comments from leading politicians. In a rare move, Microsoft submitted a request to the CMA to reconsider its prohibition decision in light of “significant” new material. This request was rejected and Microsoft subsequently filed a restructured deal with the CMA, providing for the sale of Activision’s cloud streaming rights to Ubisoft, which was cleared by the CMA on October 13, 2023.
The CMA continues to pursue anti-competitive behaviour, imposing fines in two cases in 2023: £880,000 in relation to branded football merchandise and over £59 million for bid-rigging in the construction services market. In 2023, the CMA opened three investigations in relation to: chemicals used in the construction industry, labour in production, creation and broadcasting of TV content (excluding sports), and the fragrance sector.
The UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (“CAT”) upheld fines imposed by the CMA for excessive pricing in breach of the CA98 in two cases in 2023. In Hydrocortisone, the CAT upheld the CMA’s findings on liability but reduced the fine to almost £130 million for the period where one of the parent companies was subject to “hold separate” commitments. These are the highest penalties upheld by the CAT.
The U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division (“DOJ”) and the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) have been incredibly active in 2023, promoting new policies and procedures, bringing cases against big tech, adopting an increasingly hard line in merger enforcement, and prosecuting cartel activity. Civil plaintiffs and state attorneys general have joined in these efforts.
The FTC and DOJ released a draft for new Merger Guidelines in July 2023. The draft Guidelines are much broader than prior Guidelines, covering both horizontal and non-horizontal transactions and setting out a wide range of theories of potential anticompetitive harm.
The FTC also proposed changes to the Hart-Scott-Rodino (“HSR”) premerger notification process, which would require HSR filers to provide significantly more information and documentation.
In June 2023, the FTC sued to enjoin Microsoft from acquiring Activision, alleging that the acquisition would enable Microsoft to exclude competitors by making Activision’s content exclusive. The district court denied the preliminary injunction, and the FTC has appealed despite the deal being closed in October.
In June 2023, the FTC challenged pharmaceutical company Amgen’s acquisition of Horizon, alleging that Amgen would leverage its large drug portfolio to pressure insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers into favoring Horizon’s drugs. The case settled with a rare behavioral remedy, prohibiting Amgen from bundling Amgen and Horizon products or using any product rebate or contract terms.
The DOJ continued to prosecute cases alleging collusion relating to labor markets, notably “no-poach” arrangements. Those prosecutions have been largely unsuccessful. In March 2023, a jury acquitted defendants in the DOJ’s action against managers of home healthcare staffing agencies for allegedly fixing wages and restricting job mobility of caretakers. In April 2023, a district court dismissed the DOJ’s no-poach case involving aerospace industry executives for allegedly agreeing to refrain from hiring or recruiting engineers from one another.
There are several civil litigations brought by private plaintiffs and federal and state regulators against entities that act as information exchanges and help their customers set prices using common algorithms. Notable cases involve property management software (RealPage) and healthcare cost and pricing management programs (MultiPlan).
In September 2023, the FTC and seventeen state attorneys general brought a landmark lawsuit against Amazon, alleging that Amazon uses anti-discounting measures to prevent competitors from growing by offering lower prices and coercive tactics involving order-fulfillment services.
The DOJ and several attorneys general have two ongoing cases against Google. The first, alleging that Google monopolized search and search advertising markets, went to trial in late 2023. The second case filed in January 2023, alleges that Google has monopolized multiple digital advertising technology products (the “ad tech stack”) crucial for website publishers to sell and advertisers to purchase digital ads.
Kate McNeece, editor, thanks Lucinda Chitapain, Aya Fahmi, and Sam Steeves for their assistance in editing this Article. Miguel del Pino, Brenda Madonna Ackermann and Sofia Blanco Ziegler are the authors of the section on Argentina. Milena Mundim is the author of the section on Brazil. The section on Canada is authored by Adam Goodman and Simon Kupi. The section on China is authored by Yizhe Zhang and Peter Wang. Laurie-Anne Grelier is the author of the section on the European Union. Naval Satarawala Chopra and Aman Singh Sethi are the authors of the section on India. The section on Japan is authored by Shigeyoshi Ezaki, Vassili Moussis, Kiyoko Yagami and Ran An. Youngjin Jung, Jiyeon Song, Maria Hajiyerou, and Eun Sun Jang are the authors of the section on Korea. Laura Granville is the author of the section on South Africa and thanks Mmakgabo Makgabo and Halalisani Xulu for their assistance. Neil Cuninghame and Fiona Garside are the authors of the section on the United Kingdom. The section on the United States is authored by Lisl Dunlop and Geunyoung Kim.
