DOJ Parties like it's 1999!

What year is it, again? The DOJ finally commenced its trial against Google, and some of it sounds strangely similar to the turn-of-the-century Microsoft case.
Some detail about US antitrust, as promised:
In the US, federal antitrust claims can stem from three different laws-Section 1 of the Sherman Act prohibits anti-competitive practices, like price fixing, product tying, and cartels. Section 2 of the Sherman Act prohibits monopolization. Section 7 of the Clayton Act prohibits mergers and acquisitions that will create a monopoly. The government has authority to bring claims on all these grounds.
So, if you are a monopolist-meaning your company is big enough to effectively control the whole market-you can be liable under Sherman Act Section 2, even if you don’t engage in anti-competitive behavior. Under Sherman Act Section 1, you can be liable if you try to fix prices or supply, even if that doesn’t result in a monopoly.
Under the Clayton Act, you can’t just buy up a bunch of other companies to cobble together too big a company, even if all of those companies are not violating the other antitrust rules. This comes into play with, for example, Amazon.com buying into the healthcare space-which is another hobby horse of the DOJ. In the US, certain acquisitions have to pass antitrust review before they can be completed, and the DOJ can step in to prevent a transaction from happening.

[@clarel1041]

You’re the best! Learned so much from you over the years. Thank you for such generous sharing of your knowledge and wisdom 🎉

[@heathermeeker5298]

Thank you so much! If there is any topic you would like to see a video about, I'd love to hear it.