Andrew Paul Stuart Hamilton v Facebook Inc. & Google LLC NSD899/2020
On 20 November 2020, I appeared (by MS Teams) for the second time before Justice Rares of the Federal Court of Australia (at about 1 am my time).
I made these opening remarks.
Remarks of the Applicant - Interlocutory Hearing 20 Nov 2020
I am the Applicant Your Honour.
If I may make some short opening remarks.
Imagine if 25 years ago Telstra, AT&T and other telcos had inserted provisions in their Standard Contracts banning the use of their services for providing internet access.
Because the internet was “frequently associated with” pornography and copyright breaches.
If Regulators had failed to act against such exclusionary provisions, there would be no internet as we know it today, let alone trillion dollar online businesses like the Respondents’.
I was there in Telstra’s in-house legal team 25 years ago preventing such unlawful and anti-competitive provisions getting into Telstra’s Standard Contracts.
And I am here today in this Court seeking an injunction and damages against the Respondents because they inserted unlawful and anti-competitive provisions into their Standard Contracts.
These exclusionary cartel provisions have caused immense harm to an entire industry that seeks to compete with the Respondents using the powerful new technology of blockchain.
Paraphrasing the recent words of William Barr, the United States Attorney General, in launching anti-trust action against Google for other exclusionary contracts “if we let Google [and Facebook] continue [their] anticompetitive ways, we will lose the next wave of innovators and [the world] may never get to benefit from the ‘next Google’ [and the ‘next Facebook’].”
Within the Cryptocurrency Industry are the next Google and the next Facebook.
I stand before this Court asking for relief against continuing anti-competitive conduct that has severely hampered their emergence.
Summary of Hearing
I then spent about 90 minutes going over the case with the Judge and debating various points of law.
I was very happy that the Judge seems to have got his head around the core legal claim of cartel conduct by Facebook & Google.
We have a little disagreement as to whether I can bring the class action purely from the public interest or whether I have to demonstrate my own personal losses from sales of cryptocurrency after the Crypto Ad Ban dropped the prices.
This is not a crucial point for the success of my case, as I have already pleaded my personal losses in great detail, but is an important point of legal interpretation and principle.
The upshot is that the Judge seems inclined to rule that I have a prima facie case and give me leave to serve the proceedings on Facebook and Google in the USA.
I just need to provide the extracts from my Crypto wallet and Cryptocurrency Exchange accounts showing my ETH holding prior to the ad ban and sales of ETH at lower prices afterwards. This is the sort of paperwork that all class members will need to do eventually to get paid out.
I already had most of this material prepared and will put it into evidence before 11 Dec 2020.
The next hearing is 18 Dec 2020. A copy of the Court's Orders is below.
How to Support the Crypto Class Action
I am bringing this claim using my own resources and those of @jpbliberty on behalf of everyone on Hive (and the whole cryptocurrency industry excluding Yuchen Sun).
I am seeking substantial payouts for everyone on Hive and a lifting of the Crypto Ad Ban.
Thanks to @jpbliberty for funding this case and to @brianoflondon for his amazing assistance. @littlescribe was also in attendance at the hearing and thought it went well.
You can support this class action with simple votes:
SUFB Tokens are still selling for only 2 Hive on Hive-Engine if you want to get a piece of the action (share of damages payout).
Please vote for my Hive witness. (KeyChain or HiveSigner)
Witness Vote using direct Hivesigner
I'm biased, but I think $SUFB tokens at the current price of 2 Hive are worth a punt in alt season! It would also be great if anyone on Hive who is broadly supportive of what we're trying to do for the entire crypto industry could vote for @apshamilton's witness and even take a look at our proposal too.
Interesting case and a brave initiative. To get damages payed, to what level do you have to prove that your loses were incurred by the 'crypto ad ban'? I assume it will be difficult to demonstrate that no other factors where of influence (non-spurious relationship between the ad ban and the bear market). Or perhaps it works in a different way?
What of their defense that they were acting in good faith and protecting their users from the many crypto related scams that used their advertising tool to be more effective.
Good luck in the case, will follow your updates!
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
At this stage I just have to show I sold ETH for less after the 29 Jan 2018 (when Ad Ban started) than the price before that date.
There is no defence of good faith available.
Or indeed any other defence.
They should have sought authorisation from the Competition Regulator and they didn't.
In any case the amount of scams is wildly exagerated and based on little or no evidence. They banned the legit industry and let the scams through.
Thanks for the update.
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