Apple loses bid to escape German antitrust oversight
Germany's top civil court has ruled against Apple, supporting the country's antitrust watchdog's decision to impose tighter scrutiny on the tech giant and other US-based firms operating in digital markets.
ADVERTISEMENT
Apple Inc. has failed in its attempt to overturn a ruling by Germany's top civil court, which subjects the iPhone maker to tighter antitrust scrutiny alongside other major U.S. tech firms, as per a Bloomberg report.
The judges ruled on Tuesday that the Federal Cartel Office was justified in determining that Apple's extensive market presence meets the threshold for heightened regulatory oversight.
The court emphasized that Apple, as one of the world's largest and most profitable companies, possesses extraordinary financial and operational resources, warranting stricter supervision, the report added.
Apple was contesting a May 2023 decision by Germany's antitrust watchdog, which placed it under the so-called 19a rules, a framework introduced in 2021 to curb the dominance of key tech companies in digital markets.
The ruling aligns with previous decisions against other Silicon Valley giants, including Amazon, which also failed to escape similar oversight last year.
The German regulator has likewise expanded its scrutiny of Meta Platforms Inc.'s Facebook, Alphabet Inc.'s Google, and Microsoft Corp.
