Corporate & Securities Law

Google And Antitrust

By David Fischer

The New York Times has an article suggesting that DOJ is targeting Google.

Last week, the Obama administration declared a sharp break with the Bush years, vowing to toughen antitrust enforcement, especially for dominant companies. The approach is closer to that of the European Union, where regulators last week fined Intel $1.45 billion for abusing its power in the chip market.

In this new climate, the stakes appear to be highest for Google, the rising power of the Internet economy.

The new antitrust leadership, legal experts say, is likely to scrutinize networks ? technology platforms that become so dominant that everyone feels the need to plug into them. The advantages to the companies that control such networks snowball as they attract more users, advertisers or software developers.

There is one small problem with going after Google via the antitrust laws as the article mentions at the very end:

In her speech last week, Christine A. Varney, head of the Justice Department?s antitrust division, said the touchstone of antitrust policy should be ?the protection of consumer welfare.?

By that standard, Google seems an elusive target for antitrust enforcers, since most of its services are free. And in the new markets it is entering, including cellphone software and online alternatives to desktop programs, Google is an insurgent going up against large, well-heeled rivals, notably Microsoft.

Full post as published by Antitrust Review on May 18, 2009 (boomark / email).