Google Antitrust Inversi

Google Antitrust Investigation

Tiffany Trimm

ECON- 312

March 23, 2014

Google Antitrust Investigation

Antitrust Policy comprises of laws and a government action designed to prevent monopoly and promotes competition. Over the last couple of years there has been many cases of antitrust against one major company in particular both at home and overseas, and the company is Google. The most recent antitrust investigation beginning in May 2013 is in regards to whether the company violates the laws against how it handles some ad sales. Prior to this only four months prior they had just finished an investigation into the company’s professional practices and whether it was abusing its influence to direct traffic to its own sites versus competing websites and services. After almost twenty months of investigation, the national government announced on January 3, 2013, that it is dropping the comprehensive probe into Google as it found no indication the corporation was misusing its search power.

Google was probed under violating the Sherman Antitrust Act. “The definitive antitrust statute, passed by Congress in 1890, that prohibits monopolies or unreasonable combinations of companies to restrict or in any way control interstate commerce. Specifically outlawed is two or more persons engaging in monopolistic practices, such as price fixing, although it does not outlaw price-fixing per se. It was amended in 1914 by the Clayton Act, which outlaws interlocking directorates and deals with acquisitions that aim to restrain or eliminate competition” (Your Dictionary Law). The Sherman Act forbids monopolies, efforts to monopolize, or schemes to monopolize. A monopoly is a form of market arrangement where only one or very few businesses control the total sales of a specific product or service, such as Google. “But the FTC has indicated that its investigation may reopen in the future if further evidence comes to light, and that Google's leadership in the search engine industry...