Antitrust

Google may be offering European regulators a new carrot in its effort to sidestep an antitrust suit.

Under a new proposal, Google would label its own in-house services to distinguish them from those of third parties among its search results, according to the Financial Times. The offer is Google's latest attempt to placate European Union regulators who say the search giant is crowding out the rest of the market.

"People familiar" with the proposal told the FT that Google would tag its own maps, stock quotes, airline details, and other information to clearly identify them in its … Read more

Robert Bork, the fiery former federal judge whose U.S. Supreme Court nomination battle galvanized a generation of conservative activists, spent the late 1990s arguing that Microsoft should be carved up into multiple pieces because of antitrust violations.

Bork, an antitrust scholar and author of a landmark book on the topic, is now saying that Google is no Microsoft.

In a new analysis released at an event in Washington, D.C., today, Bork offers a point-by-point refutation of claims that Google has violated the law or acted in an anticompetitive fashion. Rather, Bork says, it's a case of competitors' … Read more

Microsoft has said it will comply with European antitrust authorities, after the software giant was accused of not adhering to the promises it said it would keep as part of an earlier settlement.

As quoted by Reuters, EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told reporters at an economics conference:

In my personal talks with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer he has given me assurances that they will comply immediately regardless of the conclusion of the antitrust probe.

Almunia also described the antitrust investigation as a "very, very serious issue."

Microsoft settled with EU authorities in 2009 after it was accused … Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- A decision in the multi-billion dollar trial between Apple and Samsung has been reached, and will be announced shortly.

Join our live blog as the verdict is read.

Hanging in the balance are possible sales bans on phones and tablets on both sides, as well as a damages tally that ranges from millions to billions of dollars depending on how the jury comes down.

The nine-person group heard the closing arguments from both sides on Tuesday. Apple used its time to once again paint Samsung as a copycat that threatened to undo innovation, while Samsung depicted … Read more

ASPEN, Colo.--The former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission predicts that an unfair competition lawsuit against Google would be an uphill battle for his former agency.

But William Kovacic, who left the commission last fall and is now a law professor at George Washington University, said here yesterday that his former agency might well try it anyway.

"If I were Mount Google or Mount Apple, I'd be really worried about being scaled today," Kovacic said during a panel discussion on antitrust at a Technology Policy Institute conference. Government attorneys get "extra credit for big cases,&… Read more

EU antitrust regulators are looking into complaints by rival software makers that Microsoft is preventing them from installing their browsers on one version of Windows 8, Reuters reports.

Microsoft is accused of shutting out browser makers in favor of its own Internet Explorer on Windows RT, a tablet-centric version of the Windows 8 operating system designed for devices running ARM chips.

The EU watchdog is also investigating allegations that Microsoft does not provide rival browsers with access to complete APIs (application programming interfaces, which allow the OS and other programs to talk to each other) in Windows 8, according to … Read more

Microsoft is back under the European Union antitrust spotlight after it was accused of failing to give its European customers a choice of Web browsers, following the terms of a 2009 settlement.

The European Commission said it had received complaints that Microsoft misled EU authorities over its "browser ballot" screen, which was first rolled out to Windows users in February 2010. The software giant may not have provided all customers with a screen where a choice of browser could be selected, the EU's antitrust chief said today.

The browser ballot was a mandatory update issued as part … Read more

The Federal Trade Commission plans to question Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin as part of the ongoing antitrust probe of the Web powerhouse, Bloomberg reported today.

The report's unnamed sources said the Google executives have hired a top Washington law firm to prepare for the depositions. The firm, Williams & Connolly LLP, represented President Bill Clinton, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, and the late Senator Edward Kennedy, according to Bloomberg.

Google declined to comment on the depositions but did offer a statement.

"We are happy to explain our business to regulators and answer any questions … Read more

Google has been given an ultimatum by the European Commission: straighten up or we'll take you to court.

The search giant has been under the microscope of the EC over complaints that it has stifled competition in the search market by favoring its own businesses. Several companies have alleged that Google purposely tweaks its search results so that its own sites appear before those of potential rivals.

Until now, the EC been in no rush to launch formal charges against Google. But now the war of words has been ramped up a few notches.

Joaquin Almunia, the European Commission'… Read more