Struggling chipmaker AMD has added a new allegation to the company's antitrust complaint against rival chipmaker Intel. In a 108-page document filed in federal court, plaintiff AMD accused defendant Intel of paying manufacturers like Dell not to use AMD processors, citing internal emails and other documents which…
Microsoft's bid for Yahoo may have been dropped at a meeting in Washington state, but it was lost in Washington, D.C. Google's first word on the prospective deal, from top lawyer David Drummond, was of the cominbation's monopoly in email and instant messaging. That proved the last word, too. By making Yahoo fearful…
Years ago, PayPal was an independent company which fought constantly with eBay to be allowed on the site as a way to settle accounts after an auction was won. Now, years after eBay bought PayPal, the payments service is elbowing out all manner of competition. In Australia, eBay is limiting purchases to either PayPal…
After a careful and thorough review of the proposed transaction, the Division concluded that the evidence does not demonstrate that the proposed merger of XM and Sirius is likely to substantially lessen competition, and that the transaction therefore is not likely to harm consumers. The Division reached this…
European Union regulators fined Microsoft 899 million euros — $1.35 billion and counting — for failing to comply with a 2004 antitrust decision. The order said Microsoft overcharged for patent licenses and documentation which developers needed to build applications on Windows. Compliance with this antitrust order is…
Sergey Brin told press gathered at the Googleplex yesterday that he finds Microsoft's Yahoo takeover attempt "unnerving." Because see, the Internet is meant to be wide open and not controlled by one powerful company, Brin told the AP.
To fend off European regulators, Microsoft has released 30,000 pages of documentation about its development practices. Company spokespeople insist the online reference library will make Microsoft more "open" — a word used 17 times in the press release today as Microsoft complies with a ruling it fought tooth and…
Brin, Page and Schmidt have cut and run on Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang. Word is Google execs visited with Yang and the Yahoo board last week and encouraged them to say no to Microsoft's offer. As incentive to do so, Google is said to have offered to take over Yahoo search and immediately boost the floundering company's…
A Microsoft-Yahoo merger would give Microsoft control of more than 90 percent of email and instant messaging traffic worldwide. But when a reporter from AdAge asked Microsoft VP Yusuf Mehdi about it, he shushed her. "The core of the combination is around search and advertising," Mehdi said, "The other allegations…
Microsoft has been making Google miserable for a year over its DoubleClick purchase — and now, with Microsoft trying to buy Yahoo, it's payback time. That's the true meaning of top Google lawyer David Drummond's statement about the Microsoft bid. He's not saying that the deal is anticompetitive: He's just asking…
Answer: No. Don't wait around for Google to swoop in and put Yahoo out of its misery. Larry and Sergey can't even kill DoubleClick, a much smaller company they've been trying to acquire for almost a year now. Beltway busybodies are already talking up an antitrust investigation into Microsoft's bid. Now imagine…
Like a developmentally disabled child getting praised for his classroom manners, Microsoft has won praise from the judge overseeing its behavior after an antitrust case. Though Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly has extended her period of oversight until November 2009, citing an "extreme and unforeseen delay in the…
European Union regulators plan to drag Microsoft back into court over monopolistic practices. Specifically, they argue Microsoft should not require developers to code Web software in languages only Microsoft's Internet Explorer can read. The regulators will also argue for open office-document standards, a practice…
Federal Trade Commission regulators voted 4-1 to approve the Google-DoubleClick merger. According to the WSJ, the commission ruled that the deal is "unlikely to substantially lessen competition." Google announced the merger eight months ago, but antitrust and privacy concerns brought by Microsoft slowed the deal in…
The Federal Communications Commission has voted to allow broadcasters in the 20 largest media markets to also own their very own newspaper. The decision overturns a 1975 ban that noted "it is unrealistic to expect true diversity from a commonly owned station-newspaper combination." Ah, so goes the final obstacle…
Opera Software, maker of a feature-laden but forgotten Web browser, is complaining to the European Commission about Microsoft's Internet Explorer. It's an old gripe: Opera points out — duh — that IE is bundled with Windows. Opera claims this is illegal and that IE holds back the web with lousy support for standards.…
Rep. John Conyers, D-MI, said he was "dismayed to learn" that the head of the Department of Justice's antitrust division may approve the XM-Sirius merger "over the objections of department staff." [AP]
The Federal Trade Commission announced yesterday that its decision regarding Google's purchase of DoubleClick will focus on antitrust rather than privacy issues. A decision could come this month. And this has absolutely nothing to do with the detailed search logs Google keeps on all queries originating from ftc.gov. […
Harrison Bergeron ain't got nothing on Bill Gates. Microsoft and the European Commission announced an agreement to handicap the software giant enough to make it equal to everyone else, in compliance with a 2004 ruling. Now Microsoft competitors will pay only a one-time fee of 10,000 euros to access the code needed…
Google modified details of its proposed DoubleClick acquisition in order to placate customers and competitors in Europe, say reports. As a result, the European Commission today extended its inquiry into the purchase to until November 13. The ordeal stems from complaints by competitors, in particular long-time…
