Tag archive: antitrust

AT&T is scrambling to find ways to modify its proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile to it can win the approval of regulators at the FCC and the Department of Justice. The company's latest tactic is to try to divest assets of T-Mobile USA to other companies in order to slim down the deal — the problem seems to be that nobody is buying. According to reports in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), and other… Read More

Samsung, Sharp, LG, and five other flat-screen display manufacturers have agreed to pay a total of $388 million to settle a civil class action suit brought against them by the U.S. Department of Justice over LCD price fixing. Japans's largest LCD manufacturer—Sharp—will pay the largest penalty, $105 million. Samsung will pay $72 million, with Taiwan's CMI paying up $78 million and South Korea's LG paying $75 million. The story… Read More

Hot on the heels of the European Commission launching a formal inquiry into whether five publishers colluded to raise prices on ebooks—possibly with the assistance of Apple—the U.S. Justice Department has confirmed that it is also looking into the ebook industry, as are states attorneys general. Speaking at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on oversight of antitrust enforcement agencies, the Justice Department's acting antitrust chief… Read More

Remember back in early 2010 when Apple launched iBookstore? The idea of selling electronic books wasn't new — the Kindle, Sony Reader, Barnes & Noble Nook, and other e-readers were already on the market, along with their associated book stores and third-party efforts like Google Books. But one thing that made consumers' jaws drop when Apple unveiled iBookstore was the price tags: New releases were initially priced at $12.99 to… Read More

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt fought back accusations by a group of federal lawmakers that the Internet giant is a monopoly, saying that Google is not “overwhelmingly dominant” in the online search market, and competes with the likes of Facebook, Apple, Yahoo and Microsoft. “I am confident that Google competes vigorously with a broad range of companies that go well beyond just Microsoft's Bing and Yahoo,” wrote… Read More

Microsoft's massive $8.5 billion deal to buy Skype seems to be working its way through U.S. regulatory scrutiny without much trouble, but there may be a new wrinkle emerging in the European Union. Italian VoIP company Messagenet has written to the European Commission warning that if Microsoft is permitted to acquire Skype, it will solidify Skype's dominant position in VoIP calling, excluding other VoIP companies from the market.… Read More

At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday, Google chairman Eric Schmidt tried to put the best possible face on Google's business model, characterizing the Internet as the ultimate level playing field, and noting that if consumers and businesses don't like Google, alternatives are just one click away. However, Schmidt's (and Google's) statements side-step facts that have put Google in the crosshairs of antitrust… Read More

Google chairman Eric Schmidt is currently in Washington defending his company in antitrust hearings that are investigating whether or not abuses have been made. Basically, the Senate Judiciary Committee is questioning whether or not Google is simply meeting consumer needs or if it’s purposefully trying to eliminate competition. Here are some of the more revealing question and answer segments from today’s hearing. On cooking search results… Read More

Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice filed suit to block AT&T's proposed $39 billion acquisition of number-four mobile operator T-Mobile, arguing that the combined company would mean less choice and lower quality products and services for wireless users. Now, AT&T has fired back at the Justice Department, arguing the opposite in a filing of its own (PDF). According to AT&T, the acquisition can't possibly hurt… Read More

Sprint announced today that it has filed a lawsuit in an attempt to block AT&T's planned acquisition of T-Mobile USA from German telecom giant Deutsche Telekom for $39 billion. The suit, filed today in Washington D.C., follows an antitrust lawsuit by the US Department of Justice (DoJ), which also seeks to prevent the deal from going through. Sprint's lawsuit was filed as a related case to the DoJ's legal action, the… Read More

AT&T may not be allowed to buy T-Mobile, after all. The US Justice Department has filed an antitrust complaint to block AT&T, the second largest wireless carrier in the US, from purchasing T-Mobile USA Inc. from Deutsche Telekom AG for $39 billion, reports Bloomberg. The complaint says the deal would “substantially lessen competition” in the wireless market. According to the complaint, which was filed today at a federal… Read More

The Federal Trade Commission has increased its scrutiny of Google, delving into specific aspects of the company's business — namely Android and search services — as part of an ongoing antitrust investigation. The FTC's lawyers want to know whether or not Google has strong-armed Android-based smartphone manufacturers into exclusively using its products. Additionally, regulators are investigating if Google is biased in its… Read More

Google chairman Eric Schmidt has agreed to testify to lawmakers before the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust subcommittee in September. The announcement comes in the wake of Google confirming it is the subject of a federal antitrust inquiry, even as the company works towards an antitrust settlement in the European Union and faces scrutiny in South Korea. Schmidt, who until recently was Google's chief executive, previously… Read More

The Federal Trade Commission is investigating the way Twitter deals with third-party app developers, reports Business Insider. At least one company has been contacted by the FTC through the investigation. FTC concerns about Twitter stem from action taken by the micro-blogging company in February of this year when two UberMedia apps, UberTwitter and Twidroyd, were banned due to stated “policy violations.” UberMedia has released a… Read More

French search engine 1PlusV says it has launched a €295 million (US$418 million) lawsuit against Google, claiming the Internet giant leveraged its dominance of the Internet search market to stifle competition. The French company develops a number of niche search sites, including the ejustice.fr legal search engine, says Google's business practices have hindered the company in developing verticalized search engines in particular nice… Read More