8 posts and columns on consent decree

QOTD: Microsoft Finally Gets to Take Off the Ankle Monitor

“Our experience has changed us and shaped how we view our responsibility to the industry. We are pleased to bring this matter to successful resolution, and we are excited to keep delivering great products and services for our partners and customers.”

– Microsoft on the expiration of its 10-year antitrust consent decree

Beltway Hustle: Google Quickly Gaining on Microsoft in D.C. Lobbying Spending

in News on January 26, 2010 at 5:12 am PT

While Microsoft has needed all the help it could hire in Washington, D.C., after its antitrust debacle many years ago, Google is quickly catching up to it as a tech power to be reckoned with in the nation’s capital. According to the most recent public reports filed by Google with the Senate on its lobbying spending there, the search giant has significantly increased its outlay in 2009 from the previous two years. Yes, it’s on.

Ticketmaster-Live Nation Merger Gets Conditional Thumbs Up From DOJ (Plus D7 Video With TKTM CEO Azoff)

in News on January 25, 2010 at 4:46 pm PT

While many thought it would not sail through regulatory scrutiny easily, and it has taken a year, the merger of two entertainment industry giants–Ticketmaster and Live Nation–can go forward as long as a certain set of conditions is met, the Department of Justice said. And while DOJ’s antitrust head, Christine Varney, told reporters today that she warned the two companies that the federal government was prepared to litigate if necessary, it–well–did not. Now, the combined company will be able to do everything from selling tickets to booking artists to selling their T-shirts and more. Does this concentration of power mean ticket prices will go up for consumers?

Feds Launch Antitrust Probe of IBM

in News on October 8, 2009 at 11:00 am PT

Justice Department Looking to Punch IBM's Card?

in News on October 8, 2009 at 4:43 am PT

It has been nearly eight years since the U.S. Department of Justice agreed to dissolve its 1956 consent decree with IBM, lifting restrictions that had prevented the company from becoming a monopoly in the market for punch card tabulating machines. But perhaps those restrictions were better left in place. Because on Thursday, the DOJ opened a new investigation into IBM’s business practices, seeking to determine if the company has abused its monopoly position in the mainframe market.
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Justice Department Looking to Punch IBM’s Card?

in News on October 8, 2009 at 4:43 am PT

It has been nearly eight years since the U.S. Department of Justice agreed to dissolve its 1956 consent decree with IBM, lifting restrictions that had prevented the company from becoming a monopoly in the market for punch card tabulating machines. But perhaps those restrictions were better left in place. Because on Thursday, the DOJ opened a new investigation into IBM’s business practices, seeking to determine if the company has abused its monopoly position in the mainframe market.
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Is Google Playing Chicken With the Justice Department?

in News on October 31, 2008 at 1:12 am PT

Are Google and Yahoo thinking of walking away from their controversial search advertising deal, as reported in an amusingly hedged report in The Wall Street Journal last night? I would bet my Barry Manilow record collection, based on rumblings on Wednesday among those close to the case, that Google is a key whispery source here, sending a very public signal to the Justice Department that it would walk if pushed too far and leave regulators with egg on their faces for not letting the search giant help the struggling Yahoo.

Astronomers Puzzled by New, Colorful Black Hole

in News on September 24, 2008 at 5:12 am PT

No surprises here: The American Antitrust Institute won’t be endorsing Google’s proposed advertising partnership with Yahoo. In a white paper published Tuesday, the group decried the deal as one that “could end up as a black hole that swallows up Yahoo, despite Yahoo’s intentions to stay in the business.”