Silicon Valley braces for antitrust shift

Dick Taffe — Mon, 18 May 2009 15:51:36 +0000

Silicon Valley companies, particularly Google, are bracing for an expected new phase of tough new antitrust scrutiny under the Obama administration. School of Law Professor Keith Hylton, an antitrust law expert, says the Justice Department is shifting from cartel enforcement back toward prosecuting big firms for monopolization.

“The key obstacle for the Obama administration will be the courts. Over the past 25 years, federal courts have adopted rules that have favored defendants in monopolization cases. The Obama administration can bring more prosecutions against big firms, but unless the law changes, they will lose a lot of their cases.”

Contact Keith Hylton, 617-353-8959, knhylton@bu.edu

Antitrust inquiry into Google Book Search

Dick Taffe — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:48:44 +0000

Law School Professor Keith Hylton, an antitrust-law expert, says the Department of Justice is smart to review Google’s settlement with authors and publishers over its Google Book search service. But what happens next, he says, is unclear.

“If the rumors of Google’s influence in the new administration are true, the firm is presumably better off with the book deal under the review of the Justice Department than under the FTC. The dangers appear to be speculative at this stage.

“Google should be expected to get some reward for its effort, and that is why monopolies are sometimes desirable in the short run. Perhaps the monopolization concerns could be allayed by treating this like a patent case in which the monopoly is allowed to exist unregulated for a limited period, after which the terms of the deal could be examined by the Justice Department.”

Contact Keith Hylton, 617-353-8959, knhylton@bu.edu

BU Now » monopoly

Silicon Valley braces for antitrust shift

Antitrust inquiry into Google Book Search