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nVidia ends GeForce Partner Program

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58 minutes ago, mr moose said:

Rule number one when faced with bad PR, tread carefully and say nothing unless you are absolutely sure it won't backfire.

I'm pretty sure "don't say anything unless your lawyer is present" applies here. 

 

You don't want to say anything unless you have someone, usually a lawyer, screen responses with before culpability can be assured. 

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9 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

I'm pretty sure "don't say anything unless your lawyer is present" applies here. 

 

You don't want to say anything unless you have someone, usually a lawyer, to screen responses with before culpability can be assured. 

First thing I thought of was the Mozilla CEO resignation.  Whilst  not really comparable to this, a legal activity and opinion he engaged in 6 years earlier lost him his job purely due to BAD PR.

 

 

Grammar and spelling is not indicative of intelligence/knowledge.  Not having the same opinion does not always mean lack of understanding.  

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1 hour ago, mr moose said:

 

But finding it a little strange is not the same as being illegal or underhanded.   Rule number one when faced with bad PR, tread carefully and say nothing unless you are absolutely sure it won't backfire.   A lot of PR nightmares don't actually come from a what a company has done but what they say after the fact.

 

 

Just in regard tot he rest of the thread:

 

I'm not too sure what is going on on these forums of late, but why is it o.k for some people assume correlation is enough to proclaim guilt, but several examples of something being an industry standard practice is just written off as "not the same thing"? 

 

 

Those were my thoughts on Nvidia's handling of the matter which I find questionable considering the they deem their actions legal. I still think it's illegal going by the ACCC's definition of "Misuse of Market Power". I'd assume you would be more familiar with this than most and would at least be able to see the similarities there.

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3 hours ago, Carclis said:

Those were my thoughts on Nvidia's handling of the matter which I find questionable considering the they deem their actions legal. I still think it's illegal going by the ACCC's definition of "Misuse of Market Power". I'd assume you would be more familiar with this than most and would at least be able to see the similarities there.

To decide if it meets the criteria for misuse of market power you have to know more details regarding the contracts,  However let's assume what we think is true actually is:

 

Does nvidia hold market power?  Keeping in mind market share is not he same as market power.  Market power is almost exclusively the ability to control the market,  does nvidia set the standards? do they control who gets to manufacturer products that compete in that specific market?   Yes and no,  yes they do but only with products that use Nvidia specific hardware acceleration (cuda cores). 

 

Do they control the product use market? no because consumers have a choice to use openCL.  In games both cards work effectively enough to play the game.  Sure Nvidia is way in front on performance (in both categories), but so is Lambourgini and you wouldn't argue they control the market when more hyundai's are used every week.  

 

Does nvidia control the functional level of this specific market (production/distibution)?  No,  they can only control the use of their GPU, Whilst it does extend into branding rights and advertising/pricing criteria, it has always done this and so does AMD, so it almost certainly does not provide evidence of market control through production and distribution.

 

So by this reasoning alone they would not fit the category to be a market power.  Sure they are big, they have the lions share of the market and their products are better, but their products do not intrinsically force a consumers hand, if AMD make a better product there is no reason to stay with nvidia.

 

Then on top of that it can be argued that Nvidias financial situation puts them in a position where they can afford to restrict competition or that by using their market share they can force an unfair advantage, however those have to be proven in:

 

Quote

-‘Purpose’ refers to a firm’s intention to achieve a particular result. It can be established by direct evidence or by inference. The purpose specified in s. 46 need not be a firm’s only purpose, but it needs to be a substantial purpose.

It needs to be shown that the direct purpose of GPP was to limit/reduce AMD sales. This is hard to prove given the voluntary nature of GPP and the fact that none of the contracts (as we've been told) expressly prevented AIB partners from selling AMD stock.    Branding may play a role in sales success, but a marketing campaign is just that, a campaign of branding and ads, it is not a direct action that can specifically achieve a particular result.

 

Quote

-‘Effect’ refers to the direct consequence of a firm’s conduct. This is determined objectively by examining the actual impact on the competitive process within the relevant market. Although not determinative, evidence of consumer or competitive detriment will be relevant to the ACCC’s consideration of whether to pursue a matter.

This effectively says AMD sales have to drop before they will consider anything,  and when they do they don't need causal proof, an array of coonditions that determine a markets likely outcome can be enough.  AMD market share is still growing so this isn't going to be considered.

 

Quote

-‘Likely effect’ refers to the likely consequences of a firm’s conduct, including its potential impact on the competitive process. ‘Likely’ means that there is a real chance or a possibility that is not remote.

The best case scenario for AMD here is if they do suffer sales losses, that they can point to branding as the cause, because if their losses are across the board (from AIB manufacturers who do not sign up to GPP or even sell Nvidia) then their case is shot.  You cannot argue likely effect to be caused by one action when it is happening to everything irrespective of that one action.

 

 

 

So, no I don't think it passes muster with misuse of market power.   Does this mean it wasn't unethical? of course not, it may have been, but we just have no evidence for any of it. 

 

EDIT: and just to add, lets assume the GPP has the effect of reducing AMD sales.  The consumer law in effect here states:

Quote

It is not illegal to have market power or to use it. Conduct by a business with market power is only a contravention of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (CCA) if it  has the purpose, effect or likely effect of substantially lessening competition.

This means running AMD out of business or reducing their sales substanntially, I.E given they have 30% market share GPP would likely have to reduce their sales drastically before it would even be considered.

Grammar and spelling is not indicative of intelligence/knowledge.  Not having the same opinion does not always mean lack of understanding.  

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49 minutes ago, mr moose said:

-snip-

Not sure if I agree on your comparison to the car market (there being far more competitors and options as well as less barriers to entry) but I can understand why you don't think it's illegal.

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10 hours ago, Carclis said:

Not sure if I agree on your comparison to the car market (there being far more competitors and options as well as less barriers to entry) but I can understand why you don't think it's illegal.

My car thing wasn't so much meant to be an analogy but more to highlight the difference between controlling a product that everyone wants/performs the best versus producing a product that is heavily used in the market that competitors can compete with.       Not everyone can make a car like the Lamborghini, but just about anyone can make something to compete with Hyundai and that's whats in the market place and holds the market share. 

Grammar and spelling is not indicative of intelligence/knowledge.  Not having the same opinion does not always mean lack of understanding.  

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