Lawyer Monthly - August 2021 Edition

MONTHLY ROUND-UP British Airways has stated that it is pleased to have settled a legal claim by some of the 42,000 people who were affected by a major data breach in 2018. The breach included names, addresses, and payment card details, with BA customers and employees affected. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has accused US computer chip supplier Broadcom of illegally monopolising the market for semiconductor components. BRITISH AIRWAYS SETTLES DATA BREACH CLAIM FTC CHARGES BROADCOM WITH ILLEGAL MONOPOLISATION The Information Commission- er’s Office handed the British airline giant a fine of £20 mil- lion, its largest to date. The Information Commissioner’s Office labelled British Airways’ failure to protect its staff and customers as “unacceptable”. The amount British Airways is expected to pay in its settle- ment, however, remains con- fidential. In the UK, collective legal ac- tion does not happen as fre- quently as class-action suits occur in the US. However, terms are confidential, it re- mains unclear as to how much British Airways will pay out and how many of the 16,000 affected individuals will re- ceive financial compensation. A complaint was issued against Broadcom by the FTC, accusing the company of illegally monopolising markets for semiconductor components used to deliver broadband internet services and television. The FTC has also issued a proposed con- tent order that would settle the charges. The consent order states that Broadcom can no longer ex- clusively require its custom- ers to source components from Broadcom. The FTC’s complaint claims that Broadcom is a monopo- list in the sale of three dif- ferent semiconductor com- ponents types. Broadcom competitors. Under these agreements, customers were exclusively required to pur- chase and use Broadcom’s chips. The FTC claims that the company entered into such group actions do occur. Ear- lier this year, Pogust, Good- head, Mousinho, Bianchini and Martins (PGMBM), the lead firm in the action, said that British Airways compen- sation claim had become the biggest group-action person- al-data claim in UK history. Over 16,000 affected individu- als are involved. On 6 July, PGMB announced that British Airways’ settle- ment will include compensa- tion for qualifying claimants. However, as the settlement British Airways has apolo- gised to its customers and reinforced its position that the company acted quickly as soon as the breach was dis- covered. LM is also one of the few major suppliers of five related chip types, which include the core circuitry for streaming-capa- ble broadband devices, as well as Wi-Fi chips and “front- end” chips for both set-top devices and broadband de- vices. Broadcom’s customers are original equipment man- ufacturers who use Broad- com’s components to build the aforementioned devices. The FTC’s complaint also claims that Broadcom illegal- ly upheld its influence in the three monopolised markets by entering into agreements with service providers and OEMs that stopped custom- ers from purchasing com- ponents from Broadcom’s exclusivity agreements with at least ten OEMs and that Broadcom made similar agreements with major US service providers. Broad- com is accused of creating overwhelming barriers for its competitors. LM 6 WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM | AUG 2021