Paris when it stifles

Peter Gordon takes note of the latest skirmish in the world's war against the commuter;

Online car-service companies including Uber Technologies Inc. plan to challenge a new French regulation that slows how quickly they can pick up passengers, escalating a battle over apps that are upending the traditional taxi business.

California-based Uber and French competitors including Chauffeur-Prive.com and Allocab.com said Monday that they are planning an appeal to France's Conseil d'Etat, the country's highest administrative court, to block the new French decree on competition grounds soon after it goes into effect on Jan. 1.

Which HSIB has been following for awhile now. As the French see it;

"It's an effort by the government to slow down innovation to preserve the interests of traditional companies," said Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, Uber's head of France and Northern Europe. "We feel good about our chances of blocking it."

The legal tussle is the latest skirmish in a broader fight between companies in regulated markets and new competitors that operate largely online. Dallas and other cities have tried to regulate and restrict the operation of companies such as Uber. Apartment-rental company Airbnb has faced challenges in New York and elsewhere over hotel regulations.

Under capitalism man exploits man. Under socialism the reverse is true.