Antitrust

Microsoft-Activision Merger: The FTC Should Answer Its Call of Duty to Gamers

All too often, unscrupulous businesses weaponize the United States’ antitrust laws — which are only supposed to be utilized to protect consumers against higher prices and other consequences of monopoly power — for their own self-serving purposes.

Billion Euro Antitrust Fine Against Intel

The European antitrust regulator has announced last month that it will fine Intel Corporation $1.44 billion (1.06 billion euros) because it "harmed millions of European consumers by deliberately acting to keep competitors out of the market for computer chips for...

The Case Against Antitrust

Antitrust punishes the best companies The list of antitrust targets reads like a Who's Who of American business success stories. Standard Oil Company, Alcoa Aluminum Company, IBM, and Microsoft, are just a few. These companies were pioneers in developing new and...

Free Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! From Antitrust Fascism

Yahoo! has just released its first-quarter earnings numbers, and neither the market nor analysts are impressed. What will be the company's next move? Multiple suitors claim that they can leverage Yahoo!'s online products and talented employees better than Yahoo!'s...

More Microsoft Antitrust Suit Insanity

According to the Onalaska Life Newspaper, millions of dollars worth of vouchers that were part of Microsoft's settlement of a Wisconsin class-action antitrust case remain unclaimed. The settlement requires Microsoft to make available to class members up to...

Microsoft and Science Education

Science education is a frequent topic in the news these days. Earlier this month, Microsoft announced a campaign to improve math and science education in the Seattle area. According to Brad Smith, a senior vice president and general counsel for Microsoft: "We're very...

Microsoft’s Tacit Surrender to Antitrust

In defense of its virtues, in exasperation of being cut down and cut down again, Microsoft should simply declare that it seeks the abolition of antitrust, and refuse to rest until these laws are repealed–or risk fading into obscurity. If Microsoft takes this righteous stand, it will be known for both leading the PC revolution, and for leading a far greater revolution in American business.

Antitrust Incentives for Legalized Looting

Antirust law creates huge financial incentives-for the people who file antitrust suits. Consider the case of Lloyd Constantine's recent award of $220 million dollars as lead plaintiffs counsel in the Visa International Service Association/MasterCard Inc. antitrust...

Public Agencies Take Turn Suing Microsoft

Antitrust settlements are a lot like shark chum--they attract predators instead of staving them off. Consider the case of Microsoft. Microsoft chose to settle an antitrust suit brought by the California class action bar to the tune of $1.1 billion dollars in software...

Capitalism and (Microsoft’s) Freedom

According to Kenneth W. Starr in his Feb. 19 Washington Times Op-Ed column, "A stitch in crime," the Microsoft antitrust settlement contains loopholes that allow Microsoft to avoid competing in the marketplace on the merits. Yet rather than attack Microsoft, perhaps...

Persecution of Microsoft is Immoral

The government's persecution of Microsoft continues unabated. The U.S. appeals court is now considering whether the Bush administration and 19 states negotiated an adequate settlement in their antitrust case against Microsoft. It's time for the American public to...

Antitrust, Politics and the Media

On June 2, the Federal Communications Commission plans to vote on a new set of rules for media ownership. These rules dictate how many television stations can own, as well as cross-ownership of newspapers and television stations in the same market. The FCC's changes...

Death by Antitrust: Mountain Health Care, R.I.P.

Last Friday, Mountain Health Care of Asheville, North Carolina, will close its offices for good. The 11 year-old company died not from bankruptcy or poor business judgment, but of antitrust poisoning. More accurately, the United States Department of Justice executed...

Microsoft’s Nose, Technology’s Face

When future policymakers want to understand the law and economics surrounding one of the most watched antitrust cases in history, they will look to "Microsoft, Antitrust and the New Economy," a recent compilation of essays published by the Milken Institute. The book's...

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