Facebook Faces New Antitrust Lawsuit (nytimes.com) 11
The suit, filed by the now defunct photo start-up Phhhoto, accused the social network of stalling on a deal and then putting it out of business. From a report: Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's chief executive, downloaded a popular new app, Phhhoto, on Aug. 8, 2014, and took a selfie. Other Facebook executives and product managers soon followed suit. The social network then made overtures to integrate Phhhoto. But the interest of Facebook's top executives in Phhhoto was just a show, according to a lawsuit filed on Thursday in the Eastern District of New York by the start-up, which is now defunct. Instead, Facebook simply wanted to squash the competition, according to the suit, which accused the company of antitrust violations. In the suit, Phhhoto's founders -- Champ Bennett, Omar Elsayed and Russell Armand -- claim that after Mr. Zuckerberg and other Facebook executives downloaded their app and approached them about a partnership, no deal materialized. Facebook instead launched a competing product that mirrored Phhhoto's features. Facebook also suppressed Phhhoto's content within its photo-sharing app, Instagram, the suit says.
Phhhoto is represented by Gary L. Reback, a well-known lawyer. In the 1990s, Mr. Reback persuaded the Justice Department to sue Microsoft for violating antitrust laws, a case that Microsoft ultimately settled in 2001. Phhhoto's suit seeks unspecified monetary damages from Facebook. The lawsuit stands out because of Mr. Zuckerberg's personal involvement, Mr. Reback said in an interview. He called Mr. Zuckerberg "the monopolist's C.E.O" and said the Facebook founder had engaged in "anticompetitive conduct to an extent not seen since Bill Gates," one of the founders of Microsoft.
Phhhoto is represented by Gary L. Reback, a well-known lawyer. In the 1990s, Mr. Reback persuaded the Justice Department to sue Microsoft for violating antitrust laws, a case that Microsoft ultimately settled in 2001. Phhhoto's suit seeks unspecified monetary damages from Facebook. The lawsuit stands out because of Mr. Zuckerberg's personal involvement, Mr. Reback said in an interview. He called Mr. Zuckerberg "the monopolist's C.E.O" and said the Facebook founder had engaged in "anticompetitive conduct to an extent not seen since Bill Gates," one of the founders of Microsoft.
Own majority stock, face consequences (Score:2)
The lawsuit stands out because of Mr. Zuckerberg's personal involvement, Mr. Reback said in an interview. He called Mr. Zuckerberg "the monopolist's C.E.O" and said the Facebook founder had engaged in "anticompetitive conduct to an extent not seen since Bill Gates," one of the founders of Microsoft
If ol' Zuck wants to maintain majority ownership of the company, he's ultimately solely responsible for its actions, and any resulting consequences. His choice.
Dime a dozen (Score:2)
Stories like this are literally a dime a dozen, and Facebook isn't the only company to do it. It doesn't make it right, but not sure why it's newsworthy.
Re: (Score:2)
Which addresses exactly zero of the points from my post.
It's about freaking time (Score:2)
The government screwed this up on the first place when they approved the merger of instagram\whatsapp for facebook. I'm willing to bet people were paid under the table to get those mergers fixed up. Now we have to undo what never should have been done in the first place.
We need other competitors in the social media space, otherwise you get a power hungry tyrant that thinks says he can do the best thing for the world, doing the worst things for the world for the sake of profit.
Taken from the Microsoft playbook (Score:2)
Sound like it was taken from the playbook of billg. See Microsoft Litigation [groklaw.net], where MS has offered to partner with a company only to then bring out a competing service. After getting a close-up look at the product.
That's why you have cash upfront (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You're saying it's better to suck-up to that sign-on bonus instead of protecting your intellectual property and employees: I've got a bridge going cheap just for you.
Microsoft/Facebook come a-knocking because you have something valuable. So many CEOs turn into desperate schoolgirls because they're promised more money than they dreamed of. Money measures how serious rich people are. S_Stout (2725099) is correct: Put a price on your time, on paper, at the start. When the time runs-out, walk-out or get