Internet search services provider Google, Inc., US, is likely to be the next major tech target of the US and EU trust-busters after the US Justice Department recently sued Apple for illegally conspiring with publishers in the e-book market.
According to legal experts, in an industry in which companies can soar to near-monopoly positions in a few years, justice authorities on both sides of the Atlantic will keep pursuing tech giants as they fight to defend their market positions. However, tech industry dynamics such as the pace of change, and the complex economics of technology and network-bound markets could make it harder to prosecute any of them.
Earlier this week, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and 15 other US state attorneys general charged three of the nation’s largest book publishers and Apple Inc. with conspiring to fix the sales prices of e-books. The states’ antitrust case cites the defendants for violating the states’ antitrust laws and the federal Sherman Antitrust Act. Apple, as a reseller, allegedly worked with them as it sought to erode Amazon's dominance in the business.
