antitrust

FTC commish to Europeans: Give us some respect

ASPEN, Colo.--It must be a bit irksome being an antitrust regulator in the United States when your European counterparts are (a) more likely to interfere with the private sector and (b) look disdainfully at federal agencies as wishy-washy.

Which is probably why William Kovacic, one of the Federal Trade Commission's five members, spent nearly an hour on Monday defending the American approach as reasoned and no less thorough than that of its cross-Atlantic counterparts. There is a "tendency on the part of our European colleagues to dismiss the U.S. experience," he said.

(It should be … Read more

Microsoft's anti-Google lobbyists, revealed

If it wasn't official before, we have it in writing now: Microsoft is directing at least a small fraction of its massive (by tech industry standards) lobbying shop toward Google's proposed purchase of DoubleClick.

According to a recent public disclosure filing with the U.S. Senate, Redmond has retained veteran lobbyists Thomas Boggs and Kathleen Ireland (no, not that Kathy Ireland), along with Antitrust Modernization Commission vice chairman and former Clinton White House attorney Jonathan Yarowsky. All of them work for the prominent law firm Patton Boggs.

Their charge, according to the paperwork? "Competitive issues surrounding Google-DoubleClick … Read more

AMD study concludes what it was paid to conclude

It's much easier to analyze data when you've already determined what you want to conclude.

The author of the "economic study" produced by the ERS Group on behalf of AMD's antitrust lawyers, O'Melveny & Myers, said that his analysis of Intel's profits over the last 10 years assumed from the start that Intel was guilty of anticompetitive behavior, rather than reaching that conclusion based on the data. Michael Williams, director of the ERS Group, calculated that Intel has pocketed $60 billion in ill-gained profits after a thorough exercise that seems to have been … Read more

Intel's got some 'splaining to do

Intel's legal team will be very busy for the next 10 weeks.

That's how long the world's largest chipmaker has to come up with an explanation for business practices that the European Commission has declared "abuse of a dominant market position." The Directorate-General for Competition on Thursday sent Intel a "statement of objections," which sounds like a polite way of doing business but is quite serious.

The EC cited three examples of objectionable conduct after it investigated Intel's practices and the European PC market at the request of AMD. First, it said … Read more

Google really, really wants to be part of antitrust case

Google this week filed a brief to the federal judge overseeing Microsoft's long-running antitrust case, again trying to make its case that it should be allowed to participate in the matter as a "friend of the court."

The filing, which was not unexpected, comes after Microsoft filed its opposition to Google's entry in the case. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly did not rule directly on the matter at a hearing last month, but she did indicate that there are other ways for Google's concerns to be addressed, namely through contacting the state and federal regulators that are … Read more

Judge rejects Google's anti-Microsoft antitrust bid

Editor's note: This story was updated at 10:38 a.m. PST

WASHINGTON--A federal judge refused on Tuesday to rule on a last-minute Google antitrust complaint about Windows Vista's desktop search, saying she trusted government attorneys who said they were already satisfied with Microsoft's planned changes.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said she would rely on the U.S. Department of Justice and state attorneys to alert her if any further action is needed to address antitrust allegations lodged on Monday by Google that the search function still won't allow for adequate "user choice.&… Read more

Google: Vista search changes fall short

Google on Monday said it's still not convinced that Microsoft's planned tweaks to Windows Vista go far enough to head off its antitrust concerns.

"It appears that more may need to be done to provide a truly unbiased choice of desktop search products in Vista and achieve compliance with the Final Judgment," attorneys for the search giant wrote in a seven-page amicus brief obtained by CNET News.com and filed with U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly.

The filing arrived one day before Kollar-Kotelly, who has been overseeing Redmond's compliance with a 2002 antitrust consent … Read more

Microsoft will alter Vista to address search concerns

Microsoft plans to make changes to Windows Vista to try to assuage concerns from Google that its desktop search product is disadvantaged by the operating system.

The software maker is expected to detail its planned changes to the desktop search mechanism later Tuesday in a federal court filing being jointly made with the Justice Department. A Microsoft representative declined to comment on the report ahead of its filing. A Justice Department representative was not immediately available for comment. The planned changes were reported earlier Tuesday by Reuters and Bloomberg.

Microsoft plans to use the first service pack for Vista to … Read more

Report: FTC to probe Microsoft, Yahoo ad deals too

The Federal Trade Commission reportedly wants to take a look at a few online advertising acquisitions, not just Google's planned deal to acquire DoubleClick.

The regulatory agency also plans to look into Microsoft's $6 billion deal to buy Aquantive and Yahoo's plans to buy the rest of Right Media, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday on its Web site.

Microsoft confirmed to CNET News.com that it has been notified by the trade commission that the agency plans to review the Aquantive deal.

"We are cooperating fully and look forward to addressing any questions the FTC … Read more

Connecticut AG looking into Google's charge against Microsoft

When Google recently charged that Microsoft was engaging in anticompetitive behavior because its Windows Vista operating system doesn't accommodate Google's Desktop Search software, the U.S. government rejected the complaint. But at least one state lawmaker is willing to investigate Google's allegations: Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut's attorney general, said Monday that he was taking Google's allegations seriously and would continue to look into the matter. Several other state attorneys general are also participating; Blumenthal's office did not put out a formal statement, but confirmed that the attorney general was working on such an investigation.

"… Read more