Antitrust, Monopoly | featured news

Microsoft, Oracle, Kayak and other technology and search companies in the FairSearch.org coalition have filed a complaint with the European Union over Google’s Android mobile operating system, saying that the platform gives the tech giant an unfair advantage in mobile search.

Google once was seen as such a ripe target for investigation that the nation’s antitrust enforcers battled over the right to claim it as their own, as a potential high-tech pelt to be posted on the wall alongside Microsoft and AT&T.

The European Union's executive arm formally accused Microsoft on Wednesday of failing to comply with a binding agreement to give customers a choice among Internet browsers....

In everything it does, from product design to business deals, Apple strives for as much control as possible. But as the world's most valuable company sets out to define and dominate the rapidly evolving markets it created with the iPhone and the iPad, Apple is likely to face antitrust regulators who want to curb its power.

AT&T and T-Mobile on Monday asked a federal judge to postpone an antitrust lawsuit as the companies were assessing “whether and how” to proceed with their $39 billion mega-merger. The announcement signals that the deal as originally conceived is all but dead. The two companies could still seek ways to retool the terms to address the concerns of regulators.

The case could turn into the biggest showdown between the government and a major technology company since the Microsoft antitrust trial more than a decade ago.

Nasdaq OMX Group Inc.'s potential hostile bid for NYSE Euronext would face substantial antitrust questions in the U.S., where it would merge two direct competitors and create a monopoly in the market for corporate listings, according to antitrust lawyers.

A federal judge says a monopoly abuse lawsuit against Apple and AT&T's mobile phone unit can move forward as a class action.

With the ruling, Google may begin to feel the sclerosis that sets in when the antitrust lawyers arrive.