8 ms·

Why is the plaintiff, California Crane School, suing Apple and Google? As far as I see, the plaintiff is not in the tech business, as they're a school that tea

Why is the plaintiff, California Crane School, suing Apple and Google? As far as I see, the plaintiff is not in the tech business, as they're a school that teaches how to operate cranes[1] [1] https://www.californiacraneschool.com/ https://www.californiacraneschool.com/

ma2rten 5y ago
Also, why is this crane school spending the money to hire 9 lawyers to work on this lawsuit?
- dpe82 5y ago
  Likely the crane school is not footing the bill.
  - beambot 5y ago
    Would be interesting to know if it's contingency or if there's some outside bankroll.
nefitty 5y ago
They're pivoting, so to speak.
- cconcepts 5y ago
  Not many HN comments make me laugh out loud, but this did
- texasbigdata 5y ago
  You mean….swivelling?
- acallaghan 5y ago
  Someone had the do the heavy lifting I guess
  - intothemild 5y ago
    Beautiful.
- syspec 5y ago
  - nefitty 5y ago
    Do you have a better answer or do you prefer devolving this into meta?
    - dpe82 5y ago
      I think the parent was suggesting HN is a place for thoughtful, respectful and on-topic discussion. Guidance is provided here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Of course, the last one is: "Please don't post comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. It's a semi-noob illusion, as old as the hills."
smitop 5y ago
They use Google Ads: I Googled "crane schools in california" and one of the results was an ad for California Crane School. Apparently they think that they are paying too much on those ads: "The complaint alleges that advertising rates are higher than rates would be in a competitive system".
- randomsilence 5y ago
  Would more competition actually drive advertising rates down? Buyers don't have the option to buy from just one supplier. They want to reach everybody in their niche. Thus, they have to buy from every supplier and cannot negotiate the price down. If they leave, a competitor will take those clients and pay whatever those users are worth.
- echelon 5y ago
  They're entirely correct. Google and Apple operate as a cartel. If the web experience wasn't 90% Google (outside of social media), and the phone experience wasn't 50% Apple / 50% Google, everything would be cheaper due to competition. Just look at the percentages app developers pay. In a free market with five alternatives, there probably wouldn't even be an app store. We'd do native app downloads over the web and invest a ton of energy into security and privacy controls.
  - gretch 5y ago
    > We'd do native app downloads over the web and invest a ton of energy into security and privacy controls. This has been demonstrated to be false. This scenario is exactly what we used to have in the windows PC era and no one invested "a ton of energy into security and privacy controls". That unfulfilled need is exactly what propelled Apple to the #1 spot when it came to the mobile era.
    - voltagedivider 5y ago
      > no one invested "a ton of energy into security and privacy controls". Anti-virus?
    - 5y ago
bpodgursky 5y ago
The company just a vehicle for a law firm that wanted to drive the lawsuit, and the legal work is being done free of charge unless they win. The lawyers needed to find a plaintiff with standing (you can't just sue because you don't like something, you have to be able to show damages).

ma2rten 5y ago

Also, why is this crane school spending the money to hire 9 lawyers to work on this lawsuit?

dpe82 5y ago
Likely the crane school is not footing the bill.
- beambot 5y ago
  Would be interesting to know if it's contingency or if there's some outside bankroll.

nefitty 5y ago

They're pivoting, so to speak.

cconcepts 5y ago
Not many HN comments make me laugh out loud, but this did
texasbigdata 5y ago
You mean….swivelling?
acallaghan 5y ago
Someone had the do the heavy lifting I guess
- intothemild 5y ago
  Beautiful.
syspec 5y ago
- nefitty 5y ago
  Do you have a better answer or do you prefer devolving this into meta?
  - dpe82 5y ago
    I think the parent was suggesting HN is a place for thoughtful, respectful and on-topic discussion. Guidance is provided here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Of course, the last one is: "Please don't post comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. It's a semi-noob illusion, as old as the hills."

smitop 5y ago

They use Google Ads: I Googled "crane schools in california" and one of the results was an ad for California Crane School. Apparently they think that they are paying too much on those ads: "The complaint alleges that advertising rates are higher than rates would be in a competitive system".

randomsilence 5y ago
Would more competition actually drive advertising rates down? Buyers don't have the option to buy from just one supplier. They want to reach everybody in their niche. Thus, they have to buy from every supplier and cannot negotiate the price down. If they leave, a competitor will take those clients and pay whatever those users are worth.
echelon 5y ago
They're entirely correct. Google and Apple operate as a cartel. If the web experience wasn't 90% Google (outside of social media), and the phone experience wasn't 50% Apple / 50% Google, everything would be cheaper due to competition. Just look at the percentages app developers pay. In a free market with five alternatives, there probably wouldn't even be an app store. We'd do native app downloads over the web and invest a ton of energy into security and privacy controls.
- gretch 5y ago
  > We'd do native app downloads over the web and invest a ton of energy into security and privacy controls. This has been demonstrated to be false. This scenario is exactly what we used to have in the windows PC era and no one invested "a ton of energy into security and privacy controls". That unfulfilled need is exactly what propelled Apple to the #1 spot when it came to the mobile era.
  - voltagedivider 5y ago
    > no one invested "a ton of energy into security and privacy controls". Anti-virus?
  - 5y ago

bpodgursky 5y ago

The company just a vehicle for a law firm that wanted to drive the lawsuit, and the legal work is being done free of charge unless they win. The lawyers needed to find a plaintiff with standing (you can't just sue because you don't like something, you have to be able to show damages).