California’s Unfair Competition Law: An Existing and Flexible Response to Emerging Tech Dominance Issues

Competition and monopoly power in technology platforms have become global issues in the past decade. In many cases, challenges to those platforms have struggled to adapt the antitrust laws to new technological and economic realities. Two main solutions have arisen: writing new laws and re-invigorating existing ones. First, new legislation provides laws that specifically address issues arising in technology platforms. Second, existing law, such as California’s Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”), provide effective ways to curb anticompetitive and unfair practices. This article gives an overview of proposed and enacted new legislation, and then discusses the UCL, its application in the Epic v. Apple decision, and its broad power to promote competition.

By Paula Blizzard, Brian Wang, Peter Adelson, Matthew Maeder & Tom Zick^[1]

Monopolization of technology platforms by their owners has become a globally-recognized issue over the last decade. In many cases, enforcement actions have proven difficult, as most existing antitrust laws were written long before digital marketplaces arrived.

Two solutions have arisen: passing new legislation on the one hand, and re-invigorating existing laws on the other. On the legislative front, regulators and legislators in the U.S. and abroad have been trying to pass new laws that can further ensure competition on modern technology platforms. Foreign regulators in Europe and Asia have