Time for a Change in U.S. Antitrust for Technology?

Antitrust law makes it illegal For dominant firms to use their Success to impede the Competitive markets, but who Defines "impede" and "competitive?" Today’s column steps back from the fray and characterizes the strengths and weaknesses of the present system. The discussion aims at somebody who wants to understand the status quo, and why the present system works sometimes, and why proposals might want to change it. It is possible to illustrate many basic features of the U.S. approach to antitrust by comparing a settled lawsuit against a pending case. The settled case is the historical case against Microsoft. More than two decades ago, Microsoft fought a high-profile federal case over the governance of its PC operating system. It can be compared with the pending case against Alphabet, who owns and operates Google, the dominant search engine. A federal suit seeks to end exclusive deals that Google makes with others.