This week we saw the US government launch an(other) investigation against IBM, and now the AP's Joelle Tessler writes in Tech industry braces for more antitrust scrutiny:
But it's up to lawyer specialists to determine if American law has been broken. A co-chair of the antitrust practice group at Dewey LeBoeuf says:
Christine Varney, the head of the [Justice] department's antitrust division, vowed in a May speech that her office will take a tough look at potential abuses of market power across some of the nation's biggest industries, including high tech and telecom.There is rough and tough competition in CAD's mature marketplace, and sometimes I hear of tactics that gives me pause. A puzzler for me is jurisdiction. The largest CAD vendor is American; the next two are half-American, with head offices located overseas.
But it's up to lawyer specialists to determine if American law has been broken. A co-chair of the antitrust practice group at Dewey LeBoeuf says:
Antitrust enforcers tend to look at companies with the most significant market share. Wherever you have market power, there are just more possibilities for anticompetitive issues.Tech has had a "free ride" for eight years, says the head of Computer and Communications Industry Association:
The last administration was not focused on competition, but with the Obama administration there is a recognition that overconcentration in the economy can have unhealthy consequences.Obvious non-CAD targets include Google, Intel, and Microsoft. Autodesk was investigated in 1998, and was found innocent of abusing market share.
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