Issue Statements
ICOMP Response to SABIP Google Books: A policy panel event
August 16, 2010
The aims of book digitalisation and efforts to improve access to knowledge, literature and culture are laudable and should not be halted. However, the proposed Google Book Settlement is not only the wrong means to achieve these aims, but will do so in a way which is unfair and will stifle innovation and competition on the Internet.
We welcome the Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property Policy’s (SABIP) recent publication of Google Books: A policy panel event and wish to add our support to the policy recommendations contained within it.
Further details on this statement are available here.
Yahoo! Japan & Google: 10 unanswered questions
August 2, 2010
Yahoo! Japan and Google announced on 27th July 2010 that Yahoo! Japan would switch its search engine and ads platform to Google. This deal will effectively bring together more than 90% of the search market in Japan, the second largest advertising market in the world.
ICOMP is concerned about the effects this deal will have on Japanese search engines, advertisers and publishers who depend on online advertising for revenue. It believes strongly that competition has a role in ensuring an innovative, transparent and healthy online marketplace, just as in the “bricks and mortar” economy. ICOMP has listed some of the unanswered questions it hopes the companies will address in the immediate future
The full list of questions is available here.
ICOMP Launches White Paper: Intellectual Property On The Internet: The Search For Sustainable Business Practices
July 1, 2010
ICOMP has published a second white paper that seeks to highlight some of the most controversial practices that are being challenged by content creators, brand owners, and other IPR owners. It concludes with a series of questions about the steps that regulators and industry might take to promote more competitive, sustainable online business practices.
The document is available here.
AdMob Clearance Signals Even Greater Need for Antitrust Scrutiny
May 25, 2010
The widespread concerns that Google has used its dominance in search to foreclose competition in other forms of online advertising have deepened with the news that the US Federal Trade Commission has decided not to oppose Google’s acquisition of AdMob.
To read the full statement, click here.
ICOMP Welcomes Microsoft/Yahoo! Agreement Whilst Expressing Concern Over State of Competition in Online Markets
The agreement will enable companies to build a search platform with at least a chance of achieving the scale necessary to offer an alternative to the dominant Google platform. As the European Commission has pointed out, Google's European market shares in internet search and online search advertising generally exceed 90%.
To read the full statement, click here.
Answer from Commissioner McCreevy to ICOMP's key questions on proposed Google Book Search Settlement
October 14, 2009
Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy has replied to ICOMP's letter on key questions on the proposed Google Book Search Settlement (see below, September 18 2009), making it clear that he supports a strong involvement of European stakeholders in the renegotiation of the proposed Settlement. The Commissioner also informed ICOMP that the repercussions that a reformulated US settlement may have for competing digitalisation initiatives will be thoroughly analysed.
To see the full text of Commissioner McCreevy's letter, click here.
Imperatives for a Healthy, Secure and Competitive Internet
October 6, 2009
The first copy of the ‘Internet Imperatives', a charter produced by ICOMP highlighting some of the key issues facing the digital economy, was presented to EU Commissioner Viviane Reding today at a lunch debate in the European Parliament hosted by Alexander Alvaro, the German Liberal MEP who is one of the Parliament's most outspoken experts on internet issues.
The document is available here.
For the press statement on the event, click here.
ICOMP White Paper ‘Openness and the Internet: The role of transparency in online search and search advertising'
October 6, 2009
The first in a series of ICOMP White Papers, ‘Openness and the Internet' takes a critical look at the extent to which the operation of the search advertising marketplace is open and transparent to advertisers and publishers.
The document is available here.
Key Questions on proposed Google Book Search Settlement
September 18 2009
This morning ICOMP, Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (German Publishers’ and Booksellers’ Association), CEPIC (Coordination of European Picture Agencies Press Stock Heritage) and SuMa (Association for the Promotion of Search Engine Technology and Free Access to Knowledge) sent a letter to the European Commission urging that satisfactory answers are sought to ten important questions on the proposed Google Book Search Settlement.
A full copy of the letter is available here.
ICOMP releases statement on competition issues presented by the proposed Google Book Search Settlement
September 7, 2009
At the invitation of the European Commission, ICOMP spoke at a Commission hearing on the proposed Google Book Search settlement. The full statement presented to the Commission is available here.
ICOMP welcomes initiatives on data protection on the Internet - and calls for others to follow suit
December 19, 2008
ICOMP, the Initiative for a Competitive Online Market-Place, welcomes the announcement by Yahoo! to anonymise user log data within 90 days with limited exceptions for fraud, security and legal obligations. For more information please click here.
ICOMP puts intellectual property into the spotlight
October 23, 2008
ICOMP's seminar "IP Issues and their Impact on Internet Commerce" attracted over 50 high profile legal experts and EU insiders to the IT Tower in Brussels on 23 October. For more information please click here.
European Parliament shows strong interest in ICOMP's e-campaigning event
September 17, 2008
ICOMP's dinner debate "European Election Campaigns in the Internet Age: what lessons from the US?" took place on 17 September in the European Parliament in Brussels and attracted a crowd of 100 high profile EU insiders. For more information please click here.