The New York State Senate today approved legislation (S.933C) that would make New York the only state to adopt a European-style “abuse of dominance” antitrust standard — allowing the state Attorney General and class action lawyers to sue companies for winning over customers by offering a better product than their competitors.

Chamber of Progress, a center-left tech industry organization, said the legislation would hinder companies’ incentives to offer product advancements for consumers.

“This bill would let the government sue Apple because the iPhone made the Blackberry obsolete — or sue Ford for the Model T putting horse and buggy companies out of business,” said Chamber of Progress CEO Adam Kovacevich.  “That would hurt consumers, who benefit when companies build a better product or lower prices. Hopefully the Assembly and Governor Hochul will recognize New York has bigger priorities than suing companies for selling consumer-friendly products.”

S.933C would depart from U.S. law by allowing any company with 40 percent of a market in New York state to be deemed as “dominant,” and adopting Europe’s expansive “abuse of dominance” antitrust standard — allowing the state Attorney General to protect companies from competitors even when consumers benefit. 

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Chamber of Progress (progresschamber.org) is a center-left tech industry policy coalition promoting technology’s progressive future. We work to ensure that all Americans benefit from technological leaps, and that the tech industry operates responsibly and fairly.  
Our corporate partners do not have a vote on or veto over our positions. We do not speak for individual partner companies and remain true to our stated principles even when our partners disagree.