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FTC’s Google Antitrust Investigation
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Abstract………………………………………………………………………………. 2
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………... 2
Is search giant Google too dominant? …………………….…………………………. 3
Effect of monopoly and oligopoly on Society ………...….…………………………. 4
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………......... 4
References………………………………………………………………………......... 4
FTC’s Google Antitrust Investigation
Abstract
Antitrust Policy consists of laws and government actions designed to prevent monopoly and promote competition. On June 23, 2011, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission initiated an antitrust probe into Google, the world’s largest search engine. FTC’s investigation entailed a broad
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(Macconnell, Brue, & Flynn, 2012)
Four particular pieces of federal legislation, as refined and extended by various amendments, constitute the basic law relating to monopoly structure and conduct. * Sherman Act of 1980 * Clayton Act of 1914 * Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914 * Celler-Kefauver Act of 1950
Is search giant Google too dominant?
One the recent major cases, that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission investigated for antitrust was Google Inc. Google handles more than two thirds of all web searches in the U.S. and has captured around 75% of the lucrative search-advertising market, according to eMarketer Inc. and other research firms. (Efrati & Kendall, 2013) Google increasingly has posted links in search results that steer users to its own specialized sites, such as its business listings, travel-search site or shopping-search site. Detractors including business-review site Yelp Inc. and travel sites TripAdvisor Inc. and Expedia Inc. alleged that Google was hogging more and more Web traffic for itself in a bid to snag more online-advertising dollars. Yelp and others also complained that Google took content from their sites in order to populate Google's business-listings pages and other specialized sites. On June 23, 2011, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission initiated an antitrust probe into Google and after nearly twenty months of investigation, the federal government announced on
Google has run into many different issues in trying to expand itself internationally in an effort to increase its market share. Google has been viewed by many countries as a threat to their cultural values and norms. Many people feel that by allowing Google to have free reign in their countries will allow them to impose the Anglo-Saxon outlook on a variety of different topics, like history, pop-culture, and even fashion. Many European and Asian countries are combating Google a few different ways to ensure that their culture is not diluted by American society. The most popular by far has been the creation of a local search engine within the country, many times
Sergey Brin noted, “Some say Google is God. Others say Google is Satan. But if they think Google is too powerful, remember that with search engines, unlike other companies, all it takes is a single click to go to another search engine.” Nicholas Carr’s essay challenges this assertion. Nicholas Carr believes even though there are multiple search engines, “the faster we surf across the Web-the more links we click and pages we view-the more opportunities Google and other companies gain to collect information about us and to feed us advertisements.” This topic elicits such strong responses because technology is a part of our everyday lives. Technology is only becoming more advanced and will continue to be a source of debate for all who use it.
Throughout history, there have been many problems present in the American life. In the time period between the 1800s to the 1900s, there were many problems such as, poor living and working conditions and powerful monopolies. Many reforms were proposed in order to solve these problems. The grisly living and working conditions, along with overpowered monopolies, were both addressed with reforms.
A) There were 4 particular Antitrust Laws that were enacted with the primary purpose of protecting consumers, striving to achieve fair competition in the market place, and to achieve and allocate efficiency. The 4 Antitrust Laws that are major pieces of legislation are;
Antitrust laws are federal and state government laws that regulate the conduct and organization or businesses. This helps promote fair competition for consumers. There are four main areas involving the
Antitrust law in the United States is a collection of federal and state government laws regulating the conduct and organization of business corporations with the intent to promote fair competition in an open-market economy for the benefit of the public. Congress passed the first antitrust statute, the Sherman Antitrust Act, in 1890 in response to the public outrage toward big business. In 1914, Congress passed two additional antitrust laws: the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Clayton Act. (The Antitrust Laws. Web.)
America's century-old antitrust law is increasingly irrelevant to our current worldwide information technology market. This law is outdated, in accordance to the modern Microsoft situation, because in the past there wasn't technology as there is now. Recently the government has been accusing Microsoft as being a monopoly. "Techno-Optimists" claim that "efforts by government to promote competition by restraining high-tech firms that acquire market power will only stifle competition." Some analysts disagree. They concede that dynamic technology makes it tough to sustain market power. Still, consumers will want compatible equipment, which will lead them to buy whatever product other consumers are using,
The purpose of the textbook, Who Rules America? by G. William Domhoff, is to explain his theory of Class Domination. My essay emphasises the relation of social class to power, the existence of a Corporate community, the relationship of the Corporate community to the upper class, and various methods used by the Corporate community to dominate the U.S Political System. Furthermore, my essay will discuss the potential limits to corporate power in America.
The U.S. government charged that Microsoft had violated antitrust law. Microsoft disagreed. Do you agree with the U.S. government, or with Microsoft? In answering this question, you may wish to address two issues. Was Microsoft a monopoly? Did it use its monopoly to compete unfairly against other companies?
An example of a smaller less capable competitor is the Internet Archive which is only concerned with the copy right of “orphan” books. The public is the largest group that will be affected. People will benefit tremendously from this digital catalog but could suffer in terms of privacy, cost and innovation if Google is the sole information access provider.
The case against Microsoft was brought buy the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as several state Attorneys General. Microsoft is accused of using and maintaining monopoly power to gain an unfair advantage in the market. The case has been under observation for a long time, but the Justice department is having trouble coming up with substantial evidence against Microsoft. Specifically, the Department must prove:That Microsoft has monopoly power and is using it to gain unfair leverage in the market.And that Microsoft has maintained this monopoly power through "exclusionary" or "predatory" acts(Rule).Some say that Microsoft is only taking advantage of its position in the market and using innovative marketing strategies
The purpose of antitrust laws is to both promote and protect competition. They aren’t designed to go after big companies simply because they are bigger or more successful than others in their industry. They aren’t anti-market or anti-business. They are intended to be just the opposite, in fact. They are meant to promote successful market economics through the assurance of healthy competition while keeping abuses of the system in check that could overrun the market.
Competition in economics is rivalry in supplying or acquiring an economic service or good. Sellers compete with other sellers, and buyers with other buyers. In its perfect form, there is competition among many small buyers and sellers, none of whom is too large to affect the market as a whole; in practice, competition is often reduced by a great variety of limitations, including monopolies. The monopoly, a limit on competition, is an example of market failure. Competition among merchants in foreign trade was common in ancient times, and it has been a characteristic of mercantile and industrial expansion since the Middle Ages. By the 19th century, classical economic theorists had come to regard
Google is arguably the most popular search engine used on the internet. The company offers superior search results and clearly employs workers with innovative ideas that can keep the company ahead of the competition. However Google’s own mission statement requires that it “Do no evil,” meaning that it has made readily available the tools that have made the company successful. The Justice Department would like to categorize Google as a monopoly, but due to its open book reporting and its development of additional services, proving monopolistic status would be difficult and perhaps ineffective.
What is a monopoly? According to Webster's dictionary, a monopoly is "the exclusive control of a commodity or service in a given market.” Such power in the hands of a few is harmful to the public and individuals because it minimizes, if not eliminates normal competition in a given market and creates undesirable price controls. This, in turn, undermines individual enterprise and causes markets to crumble. In this paper, we will present several aspects of monopolies, including unfair competition, price control, and horizontal, vertical, and conglomerate mergers.