The Washington Post - 05.10.2019

S A T U R D A Y, O C T O B E R 5 , 2 0 1 9 . T H E W A S H I N G T O N P O S T EZ RE A

Economy & Business

ENERGY

EPA to require more

ethanol in fuel mix

The Trump administration on
Friday unveiled a plan to boost
U.S. biofuels consumption
starting next year to help
struggling farmers, a move that
cheered the agriculture industry
but was likely to trigger a
backlash from Big Oil.
The plan would require a yet
unspecified increase in the
amount of ethanol that oil
refiners must add to their fuel in
2020, and would also aim to
remove further barriers to the
sale of higher ethanol blends of
gasoline such as E15, the
Environmental Protection
Agency said in a statement.
The rules, which will be
finalized after a period of public
comment, would “ensure that
more than 15 billion gallons of
conventional ethanol be blended
into the nation’s fuel supply
beginning in 2020,” the EPA said.
It did not give an exact number.
Any changes to blending volumes
mandates for 2020 must be
finalized by Nov. 30.
The Trump administration had

already provided a boost to E this year by lifting Obama-era seasonal restrictions that had banned its sale during summer months. President Trump in August had promised farmers a “giant package” related to ethanol after his administration angered the powerful corn lobby by exempting 31 oil refineries from their obligations under the renewable fuel standard program. — Reuters

TECHNOLOGY

HP to cut up to 9, jobs in restructuring

HP will slash as much as 16 percent of its workforce as part of a broad restructuring meant to cut costs and boost sales growth amid the company’s first change in top leadership in four years. The personal computer giant said it will cut 7,000 to 9, positions through firings and voluntary early retirement. The job reductions will help save about $1 billion by the end of fiscal 2022, the Palo Alto, Calif.- based company said Thursday in

a statement. HP had 55, employees as of a year ago, the last time it disclosed the figure. The company released the projections as it faces a number of uncertainties. Dion Weisler, the chief executive who has shepherded the company since its 2015 split with Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Co., is stepping down Nov. 1 because of family health reasons. The incoming CEO, Enrique Lores, is a longtime HP executive. The company’s printing business, a major source of profit, has seen falling sales and recently was dubbed a “melting ice cube” by analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein. — Bloomberg News

ALSO IN BUSINESS FBI Director Christopher A. Wray said Friday that Facebook’s proposal to encrypt its popular messaging program would turn the platform into a “dream come true for predators and child pornographers.” Wray, addressing a crowd of law enforcement and child-protection officials in Washington, said that Facebook’s plan would produce “a lawless

space created not by the American people or their representatives but by the owners of one big company.”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Friday that it is reviewing a defect petition that claims Tesla failed to

issue a recall when it issued a software upgrade in 2, Model S and Model X vehicles in May. The vehicles from the 2012 through 2019 model years received a battery management software upgrade in response to a potential defect that could result in non-crash fires, the petition

said, adding it believes the update reduces the driving range.

T-Mobile’s proposed merger with Sprint has received a third “yes” vote at the Federal Communications Commission, moving the deal toward agency approval in coming days, according to two people familiar with the matter. All three Republicans on the five-member agency have voted for the deal, setting in motion procedures that would require agency action by Oct. 9, or Oct. 16 if an extension is requested by a commissioner, the people said. Neither agency Democrat has cast a vote; both support a delay.

With two of its most toy-friendly movies coming out between now and Christmas, Walt Disney released products tied to “Frozen 2” and “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” on Friday, hoping parents will pick up a blue sparkly dress and a Kylo Ren action figure on the same trip. The double- barreled launch is unusual but reflects shifting buying patterns among consumers and changes in the marketing of the brands. — From news services

D I G E S T

LYNN BO BO/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK A worker in Myanmar loads rice bags on his shoulder as he works at a jetty of the Yangon River, which is formed by the confluence of the Pegu and Myitmaka rivers. It is navigable by ocean-going vessels and plays a key role in the economy of Myanmar, also known as Burma.

BY REED ALBERGOTTI

An app developer is accusing
Apple of patent infringement and
antitrust violations in a lawsuit
filed Friday in Delaware federal
court.
Blix, the maker of an email
client called Blue Mail, alleged
that the recently launched “Sign
in with Apple” feature infringes
on its patents.
While some developers have
complained that Apple borrows
their ideas and competes unfairly,
it’s rare for software developers to
confront Apple, much less file
suit. When they do, they are usu-
ally large corporations, like the
music-streaming service Spotify,
which complained to the Euro-
pean Union earlier this year that

Apple uses its platform to favor its own music service. But times are changing. The biggest tech companies, including Apple, are being scrutinized by lawmakers and regulators for how they wield their market dom- inance. House lawmakers last month issued sweeping docu- ment requests to Silicon Valley giants, including Apple, in hopes of shedding light on their com- petitive practices. For instance, Apple was asked to turn over information on how it decides which apps and features to copy and why. The new scrutiny on Silicon Valley may be emboldening some of big tech’s smaller competitors. Blix’s BlueMail launched in 2015 and has been installed by about 10 million users globally, according to the research firm Sensor Tower. In 2017, it was featured in a segment on NBC’S “Today” show. Blue Mail also offers the ability to create and use random email addresses. That allows Blue Mail

users to email back and forth without the person on the other end ever knowing the actual email address of the person using Blue Mail. Apple’s new sign-in feature offers a similar service. Apple customers can create new Internet accounts using their Apple cre- dentials. In the process, they can create randomly generated email addresses instead of sharing their actual addresses with outside companies. Emails to the random address are forwarded by Apple to the real address, and customers can choose to stop receiving mail from the random address. For instance, if there’s too much spam. Blue Mail doesn’t claim to be the first company to conceive of masked email addresses. There are many other services that offer a similar feature. But it’s accusing Apple of using its patented method for doing it, which Blue Mail says is novel and user-friendly. Apple spokesman Fred Sainz declined to comment.

Blue Mail alleges in its lawsuit, filed by law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, that in Au- gust 2018, shortly after it launched its “anonymous share” feature, its standing in Apple’s

App Store began falling. The lawsuit doesn’t offer any specific evidence that Apple de- liberately hurt its downloads. And according to Sensor Tower, Blue Mail’s popularity, which peaked in 2016, was in decline by

But Blue Mail does offer a
possible motive: Apple was plan-
ning to announce a similar fea-

ture in less than a year. Then, in May 2019, Blue Mail launched a desktop application for Mac. According to the lawsuit, the app was climbing the rank- ings in the store before Blue Mail

received an email from Apple informing it that the app had violated Apple’s terms of service. The app was spammy, or it was too similar to other apps. Blue Mail claims in its lawsuit that Apple customers are less likely to install an application on their Mac computer if it’s not available through Apple’s built-in

App Store. The suit cites security warnings Apple gives to customers who try to install apps by downloading the software outside the App Store. According to correspondence cited in the lawsuit, Blue Mail pushed Apple for more details on why it was being barred from the Mac App Store. Apple responded, citing Blue Mail’s similarity to a different mail client called Type- App. That one, though, was also owned by Blue Mail’s parent company, and the company had stopped offering it on the App Store. In response, Blue Mail asked how it could be too similar to TypeApp, when TypeApp was no longer in the App store. Apple still wouldn’t budge, according to the complaint. “After further review and consideration we have found that your application is still not in compliance with our guidelines,” the company wrote. Apple removed the app from the store. [email protected]

App developer sues Apple, alleges patent infringement with email feature

Plaintiff also contends its treatment by App Store was antitrust violation

BY ELI ROSENBERG

The U.S. economy added a
modest 136,000 jobs in Septem-
ber, sending the unemployment
rate to a nearly 50-year low, a
mixed bag that some economists
said was more evidence the coun-
try could be headed for a slow-
down.
The pace was well below last
year’s average monthly growth,
though the unemployment rate,
3.5 percent, was the country’s
lowest since 1969. Consumer
spending continues to help pace
the economy, even as business
investment has pulled back.
“It’s kind of a mixed picture,”
said Douglas Kruse, an economist
at Rutgers University and a for-
mer White House adviser under
President Barack Obama. “The
job growth was less than what
Wall Street and economists were
expecting, but the drop in the
unemployment rate was unex-
pected.”
Manufacturing has already en-
tered a decline. The new report,
issued by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, showed that the econo-
my lost 2,000 manufacturing jobs
in September, something that is
expected to be a focus for presi-
dential candidates next year as
both parties try to appeal to
blue-collar workers.
The National Retail Federation
warned Thursday that economic
uncertainty, new tariffs and fluc-
tuations in the stock market
could derail Americans’ spending
plans in the run-up to the holi-
days. Retail lost about 11,
jobs, driven by employment de-
clines at clothing stores. Some
other sectors performed much
better, however, as health-care
and business services added
more than 70,000 jobs combined.
Nick Bunker, an economist at
the jobs site Indeed, said that the
lower unemployment rate was a
good sign but that other eco-

nomic indicators complicated the picture. Of particular note, he said, was that wage growth slowed from 3.2 percent to 2.9 percent in September. “You would expect wage growth to be much stronger given this unemployment rate,” he said. Economists have puzzled over why wage growth has remained modest since the recession de- spite the falling jobless rate.

“There’s just been a large pool of people out there who are available to be employed without rais- ing wages, but that just can’t keep going on,” Kruse said. “We’re hitting the point where we’re going to have to see wage growth, or employers aren’t going to find workers they need.” Bunker said the slowing wage and payroll growth made for a concerning picture.

“Those two trends are a sign that this is a labor market that is slowing down,” he said. “Not because we’re hitting full employment, but rather this is a slow- down for employers and a slack- ening in economic growth.” The employment rate for prime working-age Americans is strong, but it is still lower than levels in the late 1990s, Bunker noted.

Economists also point to other signs, including a manufacturing recession, that are affecting employers as they struggle to find workers in a tight job market. President Trump is focusing part of his 2020 reelection cam- paign on the strength of the economy, and he immediately cheered the low unemployment rate. “Breaking News: Unemploy- ment Rate, at 3.5%, drops to a 50

YEAR LOW,” he wrote on Twitter. Then he added, with apparent sarcasm, “Wow America, lets im- peach your President (even though he did nothing wrong!).” Democrats, however, pointed out aspects of the report that seemed more troubling. “Today’s jobs report... shows a continuing slump in the manufacturing sector and that wage growth was flat, further evidence that the Trump-GOP economic policies, which the president promised would revitalize both, are failing,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D.-N.Y.) said in a statement. As the unemployment rate has fallen to historic lows, economists have watched wage data closely to see whether a tight labor market would eventually lead to higher income levels. A prime focus, both for business leaders and political leaders, continues to be the slump in manufacturing. September was the worst month for U.S. manufacturing since June 2009, according to a closely watched industry index. And concerns have grown that the manufacturing contraction could spill over into other indus- tries. Economists have begun warning about a significant risk of recession. The labor force participation rate — the percentage of people older than 16 who are working or actively looking for work — remained steady at 63.2 percent, a number that is below historic averages and prerecession levels. Monthly job growth averaged 223,000 in 2018 but has fallen this year to 161,000. The economy is a subject of particularly intense scrutiny heading into an election year. [email protected]

Heather Long contributed to this report.

‘Mixed picture’ as unemployment rate hits 50-year low

With U.S. adding jobs at a slower pace last month, some economists see indicators of weakness

JAHI CHIKWENDIU/THE WASHINGTON POST Job-seekers line up for Amazon Career Day in Arlington, Va., last month. The economy added 136,000 jobs in September.

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Blue Mail doesn’t claim to be the first

company to conceive of masked email addresses.

But it’s accusing Apple of using its patented method

for doing it, which Blue Mail says is novel

and user-friendly.

The Washington Post - 05.10.2019

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