“Spotify’s general counsel Horacio Gutierrez — who used to be Microsoft’s second-highest-ranking in-house lawyer — has reportedly sent a letter to his counterpart at Apple alleging violation of U.S. and EU antitrust laws as Apple has so far rejected an update to Spotify’s iOS app,” Florian Mueller writes for FOSS Patents. “More generally, Spotify complains about a ‘troubling pattern of behavior by Apple to exclude and diminish the competitiveness of Spotify on iOS and as a rival to Apple Music,’ referring to “previous anticompetitive conduct aimed at Spotify.”
“At this stage, Spotify’s obvious objective is to instigate formal antitrust investigations of Apple’s conduct in the U.S., the EU (Spotify is a Swedish company), and potentially in Asia, where the scope of an ongoing investigation (in South Korea) is unclear,” Mueller writes. “Getting antitrust authorities to investigate a company like Apple requires a mix of demonstrating a genuine competition issue, broadbased support for a formal or informal complaint, and some publicity. Leaking letters is common in this situation.”
“Does Spotify have a genuine, meritorious antitrust case at this juncture?” Mueller writes. “I don’t think so. If one focused strictly on the facts, leaving aside political considerations and everything else, then antitrust authorities should either require Apple to expand the 85-15 split or move on.”
Much more in the full article – recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Desperate Spotify’s fear couldn’t be more palpable or well-founded.
Oh ok. So, enjoy your IPO, Spotify. (smirk)
SEE ALSO:
Spotify claims Apple causing them ‘grave harm’ – July 1, 2016
Elizabeth Warren accuses Apple of monopolistic-like actions; Spotify concurs – June 29, 2016
Apple Music turns one year old, already has half as many paying members as Spotify – June 29, 2016
Apple Music accumulating subscribers much more quickly than Spotify or Pandora – June 21, 2016
Spotify dims as Apple Music shines – April 27, 2016
Apple Music nabs 10 million subscribers in 6 months, which took Spotify 6 years – January 10, 2016
Oh ok, Spotify listeners are upgrading to Apple Music – July 19, 2015
Spotify urges subscribers to stop paying through Apple’s App Store – July 9, 2015
Oh ok, Spotify: Apple’s iOS 8.4 adoption already at 37 percent – July 7, 2015
Apple Music could kill more than just Spotify, it could kill music labels, too – June 25, 2015
Spotify founder: Oh ok, we don’t need to be number one in music streaming – June 11, 2015
Why Apple Music will gut and publicly execute Spotify – June 10, 2015
Spotify CEO claims to be ‘ok’ with Apple Music – June 9, 2015
Jimmy Iovine and Eddy Cue: Apple Music gunning for Spotify, YouTube, and terrestrial radio – June 9, 2015
Something about Apple Music betraying Apple’s brilliance by ignoring ‘The Harry Potter Theory of Marketing’ or some such nonsense – June 9, 2015
Bob Lefsetz on Apple Music: What team is Jimmy Iovine on? – June 9, 2015
Apple Music’s huge advantage over Spotify – June 9, 2015
Apple Music is a major mess and it won’t beat Spotify or something – June 9, 2015
When Apple Music arrives, what happens to iTunes Match? – June 9, 2015
What Apple Music says about how Apple views musicians – June 8, 2015
Apple’s revolutionary Apple Music just might prove its skeptics wrong – June 8, 2015
Apple unveils revolutionary Apple Music service – June 8, 2015
