EU judge sees technology giant litigation against new law – 03/17/2023 – Market

Tech giants are likely to challenge a new European Union law aimed at reining in their power, with the first cases in a potential wave of litigation due later in the year, one of the bloc’s top judges said on Friday.

The Digital Markets Act (DMA), which took effect in November, will classify online platforms with more than 45 million users as “gatekeepers”, among other criteria.

Gatekeepers —companies that control data and access to platforms— are subject to a list of do’s, such as making their messaging services interoperable, and do’s and don’ts, including not favoring their products and services on their platforms.

The list of gatekeepers to which the DMA will apply is expected to be announced on September 6 and will likely include Alphabet’s Google, Meta, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft.

Companies that disagree with the classification and requirements are likely to bring their complaint to the Luxembourg-based General Court within a few months, said its president, Marc van der Woude.

The General Court forms part of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and handles cases ranging from competition law to trade and the environment.

“Probably at the end of this year or the beginning of next year we will be able to see the first cases and I don’t think they will stop,” he told a conference organized by the European Commission.

Some companies, such as Google and Apple, lobbied intensely against the law.

“We remain concerned that some DMA provisions will create unnecessary privacy and security vulnerabilities for our users, while others will prohibit us from charging for intellectual property in which we invest heavily,” Apple said in March 2022.

Google echoed those sentiments and said it was also concerned that the new rules could dampen innovation.

But van der Woude said the legislation was still evolving and the areas of dispute were likely to focus on the designation of the gatekeeper, the specification of his duties and during the application of the new law.