No one can say with any seriousness that Google has captured a large share of Web search, and search advertising, with anything other than smarter software writers and more refined product developers. It simply built a better mousetrap. The EU’s challenge is that reality does not support the amorphous and transparently biased charges leveled against Google by rivals who have been unable to top it in the marketplace.
That Google competitors do not like that the FTC will not sue for search monopolization is sour grapes, rather than a failure of will by the antitrust agencies. Governmental prudence toward search neutrality represents wisdom, not capitulation.
The SEC’s charge against the CEO of Netflix for a Facebook post illustrates that even government agencies that “get it” technically are often trapped in outmoded world views.
The first and best example of Internet disintermediation, Amazon.com, is quietly going a bit in the other direction.
NFC and competing technologies are revolutionizing mobile payment processing, but the driver of change is not what many would expect.
Google faces a moment of truth in the coming weeks over a lengthy US probe into potential abuse of its Internet search dominance.
With some educated guesses, knowledgeable observers can assess whether an FTC prosecution of Google would succeed. Others may (and do) differ, but this author believes an FTC monopolization case — or a “pure” Section 5 case — against Google would be a really bad idea.
The operative question remains whether whatever Google is charged with having done, or may do in the future, respecting its display of Web search results should be considered exclusionary conduct for antitrust purposes. The answer to date is a resounding “No.”
The current pas de deux between politicians and commentators over whether the FTC should sue Google under the antitrust laws may not be right, but is completely unexceptional in Washington, DC.
[This series of posts dissects the threatened FTC antitrust case against Google and concludes that a monopolization prosecution by the federal government would be a very bad idea. We divide the topic into five parts, one policy and four legal. Check out Part I and Part II.] Antitrust law is characterized by rigorous, fact-intensive analysis, so much so that the prevailing jurisprudence […]
