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Let them be, it's quite okay... Because i've already switched to Walgreen's who welcome my iPhone as payment... Problem solved.

:apple:
 
Don't know if this is good or bad. It could force these companies to re-enable NFC, however it could encourage some other companies to never even install NFC terminals so they cannot be targeted by such legal action.

Only if they (allegedly) collude with other merchants to exclude another provider. The issue isn't NFC, it's the (alleged) collusion. (About which I have no strong opinion.)
 
The lawyers don't pay themselves...

And nobody else would pay them either for this type of stuff, if the lawyers weren't thinking up crazy ideas for lawsuits, and then going out and convincing lots of blokes who don't really care that much (to spend more than a minute of their own time) to sign up to make it a class action.

No one here (who isn't a lawyer) would think of spending their own time waiting in court to sue CVS.

Whereas Apple makes stuff, puts it in stores, and people (many here!) line up in front of the stores to have their money taken. Please!
 
It's not collusion if their agreement with MCX which was formed in 2011 - long before Apple Pay was announced prevented them from adopting other technologies.

The only in might be the Google Wallet angle. But so far no one has addressed that from the MCX/retailer side as to why that was allowed.

... and your JD is from where? Which state bar is proud to call you a member?

Laughable!
 
It's been stated here already, but it's worth repeating.

These places ALREADY accept Visa, MC and Amex. And using Apple Pay is exactly like using your card. So there is no difference as far as the merchant is concerned. Now, whether it's legal or not to block a WAY of using your credit card that is already accepted is another matter which may be worth pursuing. Although, I believe capitalism works best in the hands of the consumer rather than the lawyers. Let the consumer hold court and judge these places ill-fit to take our cash.

And again, Walgreens accepts Apple Pay. Soooo....
 
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I'll assume you're correct for the argument's sake.

The question may be that if the store accepts card X from you by swiping, but doesn't accept the same card X from me because I want to use NFC (of which the store is capable).

Are they treating us differently and why?

(I'm not saying I'm for any law suit, just pointing out the possible "discrimination ")

It has nothing to do with "discrimination," or treating you, the customer, differently from other customers. The allegation has to do with merchants banding together (allegedly) illegally to provide their own service while blocking a competing service.

And that's why it's also not about what CVS, or WalMart, or RiteAid chooses to accept as a payment method. The (alleged) violation of the law occurs when they all negotiate and agree with each other to block a certain payment method.
 
Don't know if this is good or bad. It could force these companies to re-enable NFC, however it could encourage some other companies to never even install NFC terminals so they cannot be targeted by such legal action.

Nope, almost all chip and pin units have NFC now and there will be a mandate where they will have to switch to chip and pin in the very near future as I recall
 
It's been stated here already, but it's worth repeating.

These places ALREADY accept Visa, MC and Amex. And using Apple Pay is exactly like using your card. So there is no difference as far as the merchant is concerned. Now, whether it's legal or not to block a WAY of using your credit card that is already accepted is another matter which may be worth pursuing.

And again, Walgreens accepts Apple Pay. Soooo....

That maybe the angle they go from. If you sign up for credit cards already. You may not be able to single out a specific way in which they work. Especially if your system already allows it to work. MC, Visa, Amex, etc may have rules in place that require a merchant to use whatever method they allow to accept payments, to work. Provided they have the hardware to support it. So, magnetic strip, they all have. IF they have NFC, they have to also support it, however it may be presented so long as it is supported by the card.

I'm just guessing on that, but it would be the only way I can think of this law suit sticking.


Also, with the new rules coming next year. They may have to support NFC style payments IF they are accepting credit cards of any kind. All cards will have Chip and Pin, and NFC no?
 
For those calling this baseless, actually there is a good reason to investigate litigating.

Per the FCC regarding investigating antitrust behavior between MCX and others:



"27. Joint ventures that are collaborations between competitors may warrant antitrust scrutiny. The Antitrust Guidelines for Collaborations Among Competitors issued by the U.S. antitrust agencies in April 2000 describe the principles for evaluating agreements among competitors and the analytical framework for doing so.23 Two broad categories of anticompetitive harm theories are (1) “exclusion” and (2) “overly inclusive joint venture.” For exclusion, harm may arise if a joint venture denies some key element to rival systems and thereby reduces competition.24 Whether this is a viable theory would depend on factors such as the freedom that the joint venture’s members have to participate in multiple mobile payment systems (“multi-home”), the extent to which the members, individually or collectively, have market power with respect to the denied element, and the availability of adequate substitutes for that element. For the “overly inclusive joint venture” theory, harm may arise if a joint venture’s membership is so expansive, or its rules sufficiently restrictive, as to prevent the emergence or viability of a rival mobile payment system that might otherwise threaten the joint venture’s market power. Factors relevant to this analysis include the joint venture’s exclusivity, membership scope, whether current members would help form competing systems but for the overly inclusive nature of the joint venture, and if so, the impact of such participation on the timeliness, likelihood, and sufficiency of such entry."

Right. Insofar as analyzing a potential claim, bear in mind 'collective action' and 'exclusion.' E.g. while an individual store may be free to embrace or refrain from a particular payment system, a consortium of competing stores explicitly banding together and excluding a particular method of payment may run afoul of regulations.
 
Your statement about all new terminals having NFC built in is wrong. I would suggest you look at the terminals at WalMart that support chip cards but do not support NFC. Chip cards have nothing to do with NFC, and I think that is a common confusion.

Kudos to you, sir, for beating me to the post.
 
The part that grabs my attention in the source blog post is this paragraph:

CVS and Rite Aid have long allowed contactless payments at their retail stores, but less than one week after Apple, Inc. deployed Apple Pay, the large retail pharmacy chains disabled those system to prohibit the payment method.

Would there be any merit to the lawsuit if they had turned it off in response to Apple Pay, after going so long accepting it before?

The fact they turned it off after Apple Pay was released smells rotten to me but I'm also not a lawyer ;):cool:
 
Uh, I don't think you can force someone to accept your new form of moon-payment.

This is like saying that you want to sue to force them to accept bitcoin or something.

Yeah, NFC is neat. Losing is sucked. But it wasn't some major payment system that millions of people used.

Shop elsewhere, don't sue them.
 
Right. Insofar as analyzing a potential claim, bear in mind 'collective action' and 'exclusion.' E.g. while an individual store may be free to embrace or refrain from a particular payment system, a consortium of competing stores explicitly banding together and excluding a particular method of payment may run afoul of regulations.

What I find interesting is the issue over the word method. Because I suspect it's an important element.

These stores and the consortium are still allowing its customers to pay with exactly the same "methods." They have only crippled one of the technologies in which to do so. Cash, Credit, Store Cards, etc are still all accepted as payment methods. The technology being used has been adjusted.

Any lawsuit would and should only be between the companies involved. Consumers are collateral damage in the "war."
 
MCX sounds like a problem in search of a solution.

Do you also have to give the 'secret handshake', and stand on one leg when you do it?

Rube Goldberg would be so proud...
 
Maybe, but ...

I don't think it's quite the same as taking one type of credit card but not another?

As you said, they can accept (or decline) whatever forms of payment they wish (as in any lender's payment product .... VISA, M/C, Discover, AmEx, PayPal, or even Bitcoin).

But locking down a payment technology so consumers can only move the money through the "conduit" if they use a specific company (regardless of which payment source they're trying to pay with) is a bit different.

IMO, this would be a bit more like a company saying they'll accept personal checks, but then finding out they'll only take your check if it comes from Bank of America; not Capital One or Wells Fargo or Chase.


I'm not sure this is going to fly. As the merchant, they have every right to accept whatever form(s) of payment they wish and they're contractually obligated to MCX to have "exclusivity", which is (probably) legally no different than accepting Visa/MC but not AmEx or Diner's Club.
 
Where's yours. I already stated I'm no lawyer. But at least I read entire threads before trying to insult someone :)

You specify that you are not a lawyer, yet you state quite unequivocally as fact (and I quote)
It's not collusion if their agreement with MCX which was formed in 2011 - long before Apple Pay was announced prevented them from adopting other technologies.

The statutes do not require any competing service from being blocked... You seem to fail to understand that the issue involves competitive enterprises banding together in a group with agreements which can and do most definitely affect pricing policies and decisions.
 
Yes, keep the law out of these things. There shouldn't be a law requiring seatbelts, certainly after enough people die not wearing seat belts the market will fix it.

No need to regulate pollution, if people find out a company is ruining the lakes and rivers, they will vote with their dollars by buying the more expensive products (since that company is properly handling their pollutants) and all the companies will stop polluting.

And certainly if people are willing to work at unsafe jobs they should be able to. The market will simply increase what those jobs pay so companies will make them safe on their own to reduce salaries.

And if a store doesn't want minorities shopping there, those minorities will shop somewhere else, hurting their bottom line, so again we don't need the law getting involved here.

That's actually completely true. That's freedom.
 
This is good. The law firm will rake in millions, everyone with an iPhone 6 or 6+ don't forget to respond to the email awarding you $1.32 while they net tens of millions of dollars.

Listen, this is no different then a store refusing to take checks, Amex, discover, ect.
 
You specify that you are not a lawyer, yet you state quite unequivocally as fact (and I quote)


The statutes do not require any competing service from being blocked... You seem to fail to understand that the issue involves competitive enterprises banding together in a group with agreements which can and do most definitely affect pricing policies and decisions.

You haven't answered my question. Where is your JD from?
 
Is it in favor of their own proprietary system? If Apple/Google blocked the CurrentC app from the App Stores would that not be a violation? I mean which is it?

Apple have always arbitrarily rejected apps for their app store, no one cries foul then. They also don't allow any payment methods other than their own where they take 30%. They even reach beyond the app store and forbid the mere mention of other channels for purchase and (used to) demand that the products/services offered within apps in their app store are not sold cheaper in any other place.
 
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