Antitrust

A key U.S. senator is urging the Justice Department to keep up its investigation into the antitrust implications of the Internet advertising partnership that Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. plan to launch this month. In a letter, Wisconsin Democrat Herb Kohl, chairman of the Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, said his panel concluded that "important competition issues are raised by this transaction." He urged the department to "continue to monitor the state of competition in this industry."

Eddy Cue, the Apple Inc. executive in charge of negotiating the company's controversial e-book deals, defended how the tech giant started its online bookstore as he made his highly anticipated appearance on the witness stand in a federal antitrust trial. During five hours of testimony Thursday and questioning that at times grew contentious, government lawyers pressed their case that the agreements Apple signed in 2010 with five major publishers amounted to a conspiracy to get consumers to pay more for electronic books.

WASHINGTON -- Antitrust officials are expected to announce Wednesday that they are filing suit against Apple Inc. and five major book publishers for allegedly colluding to fix the price of e-books. News reports said the Justice Department sued Apple, along with Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette and Penguin. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder and the head of the Justice Department's antitrust division, Sharis Pozen, have scheduled a news conference in Washington for 9 a.m. PDT to announce "a significant antitrust matter.

NEW YORK - Apple Inc. and five major publishers conspired to fix prices on e-books, costing consumers hundreds of millions of dollars, a U.S. Justice Department attorney argued during the first day of a marquee antitrust trial. Apple's attorney denied the government's accusations and said that the company had brought innovation to a broken e-book market that has benefited consumers. The verbal sparring came on the first day of a federal antitrust trial in which federal prosecutors accused Apple of colluding with the publishers.

A $3.6-billion deal between Verizon Wireless and several cable companies received a go-ahead Thursday from the U.S. Justice Department. The agreement now awaits final approval from the Federal Communications Commission. If approved, the deal would allow Verizon to continue expanding its 4G LTE network by gaining unused portions of the airwaves from the cable companies. T-Mobile would also benefit from the approval. The company entered into a deal with Verizon in June that would help T-Mobile improve its own 4G network and an LTE network expected to roll out next year.

Stephen Greenberg, baseball's deputy commissioner, said Tuesday that the Seattle Mariners probably won't be sold by opening day and that threats to the game's antitrust exemption were "the wrong approach." A group 60% financed by a Japanese businessman has offered to purchase the team from Jeff Smulyan for $100 million. Officials in St. Petersburg, Fla., have been anticipating that the deal will not gain approval and have indicated they will attempt to buy the team. Sen. Slade Gorton (R-Wash.

Halliburton Co., the world's second-biggest oil field services provider, said the Justice Department was investigating possible antitrust violations involving the former chairman of its Kellogg, Brown & Root unit. Halliburton said in a filing Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission that a previously disclosed investigation into possible improper payments to Nigerian officials uncovered information suggesting that A.

Stung by unfavorable court rulings, Microsoft Corp. has positioned one of its top lawyers to run a legal committee that would influence how much oversight U.S. courts may exercise in antitrust settlements like the one the company negotiated with the Bush administration. This summer, Microsoft associate general counsel Richard J. Wallis will become chairman of the American Bar Assn.'s antitrust section, an unusual role for a corporate lawyer.

U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder and a team of top federal officials on Friday pledged a sweeping examination of alleged monopolistic practices in the food sector, and promised to bust those who violate antitrust laws. But it was the issue of competition -- and veiled nods to the government's current probe into seed giant Monsanto Co.'s marketing practices -- that emerged as a dominant theme of the day. Speaking at a public workshop organized by the Justice Department and the U.S. Department of Agriculture at a community college, Holder told the packed conference hall that "concrete action" would emerge from the unusual coordination between the two federal agencies.

Chip maker Qualcomm Inc. has agreed to pay a $1.8-million penalty to settle complaints that it violated antitrust rules in its $600-million purchase of Flarion Technologies Inc., the Justice Department said. San Diego-based Qualcomm obtained operational control over Flarion despite a waiting period in which the companies were supposed to function independently, the department said.

For a company that beat down prices of online music, Apple Inc. finds itself in the odd situation of defending itself against government claims that it conspired to fix prices for electronic books. Starting Monday, the Justice Department will lay out in a civil antitrust trial its accusations that Apple masterminded a cartel with publishers to raise prices in an e-book market in which the Cupertino, Calif., company remains a bit player compared with rival Amazon.com Inc. As opening statements begin, perhaps the biggest question hovering over the proceedings is this: Why is this case even going to trial?

SAN FRANCISCO -- Google Inc. is under fire from a coalition of companies including Microsoft Corp. which have called on European antitrust authorities to launch an investigation into the Internet giant's dominance on smartphones. The FairSearch group alleges Google is violating European antitrust laws by giving away its Android mobile operating system to device manufacturers on the condition that its applications such as Google Maps and YouTube be prominently displayed on devices. Android mobile software is installed on about 70% of new smartphones, making it the dominant mobile software platform around the world.

WASHINGTON - A government attorney urged the Supreme Court to allow authorities to crack down on cash deals among prescription drug makers that delay the introduction of generic drugs and keep consumer prices high. The so-called pay-for-delay deals, which allow brand-name drug companies to keep cheaper generic drugs off the market for a time, violate antitrust laws, the Federal Trade Commission argued Monday. "It's unlawful to buy off the competition," said Malcolm Stewart, the deputy solicitor general who represented the FTC and the Justice Department.

A federal judge has ruled that Apple's Chief Executive Tim Cook must testify in the U.S. government's e-books antitrust case against the company. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan granted the Department of Justice's request to order Cook to testify for four hours in the lawsuit, according to Reuters . Apple had tried to block attempts to have Cook sit for a deposition, saying it would be "cumulative and duplicative" because the government had already deposed 11 other Apple executives, Reuters said.

The cable company Cablevision says it's just looking out for consumers in its lawsuit against Viacom, owner of MTV and Nickelodeon, over bundled programming packages that drive monthly bills higher. And the company is correct -- to a point. Cablevision Systems Corp. alleges that Viacom Inc. is violating federal antitrust laws by requiring cable and satellite companies to carry less popular channels in return for paying a reasonable price for the good stuff. In other words, if a cable company wants Comedy Central at a fair price, it also has to take Teen Nick.

Collective bargaining talks between the NHL and the players' association took a potentially bleak turn Thursday as the union began polling members for a second authorization to file a disclaimer of interest, which could lead to the union's dissolution and allow players to file antitrust lawsuits against the league. The NHLPA, which allowed the deadline for its first disclaimer filing to expire Wednesday while it continued bargaining, also filed a memo in U.S. District Court in New York asking for a dismissal of the class-action suit the league filed Dec. 14. The NHL contended that the union's consideration of a disclaimer was a bargaining maneuver and that its lockout should be declared legal.

Microsoft Corp. said it had settled an antitrust dispute with Be Inc. and would pay the software developer $23.25 million after attorney's fees. Under terms of the deal, Be agreed to drop its lawsuit against Microsoft, which admitted no wrongdoing. Be, which developed an operating system it later sold to Palm Inc., in early 2002 filed suit against Microsoft for allegedly destroying its business through anti-competitive practices.

Here is a chronology of the antitrust actions involving Microsoft: * June 1990: Federal Trade Commission secretly investigates possible collusion between Microsoft and IBM. * Feb. 1993: FTC takes no action, closes investigation after commissioners deadlock. * Aug. 1993: Justice Dept. takes over Microsoft investigation. * July 1994: Company signs consent decree agreeing to change contracts with PC makers and eliminate some restrictions on other software makers. * Aug.

Even the U.S. government can't rein in Google Inc.'s dominance of online search. Federal regulators ended a 19-month antitrust investigation into the Mountain View, Calif., search engine giant without imposing any major sanctions. The probe focused on complaints that Google skews its search results to favor its own products and services, which unfairly hurt competitors. It was a bitter decision for Microsoft Inc. and a cadre of other small and large rivals that feel Google remains unchecked in its dominance of the Internet search business.

Google reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission to make voluntary changes to its search practices to put an end to a 19-month antitrust probe, the FTC announced Thursday. Google also has settled an investigation into its handling of mobile technology patents that it acquired when it bought Motorola Mobility. The settlement brings to a close one of the FTC's most closely watched investigations. Google still faces antitrust investigations by European regulators and some U.S. state attorneys general.