antitrust

Amazon, Apple Targeted in E-Book Antitrust Probe

E-readers like the Kindle and Nook may be on a rapid descent toward rock-bottom prices, but what about the prices of e-books? According to Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, they are too high, too uniform, and look too much like a violation of antitrust practices.

Yahoo Japan Teams Up With Google Search

Yahoo Japan is hooking up with Google to handle its search and paid-search advertising, carrying off a partnership that eluded U.S.-based Yahoo, and delivering a blow to Microsoft's efforts to increase the reach of its Bing search engine.

Google Faces New EU Antitrust Allegations

Internet giant Google once again finds itself on the radar of the European Union's antitrust agency, which now is looking at allegations that the search engine demotes rivals' sites in search results.

Cerberus Sells Talecris for $3.4 Billion

Spain may be embroiled in a credit crisis, but that hasn't stopped some of its companies from striking big deals. Take Grifols SA: The medical products developer has agreed to shell out $3.4 billion to acquire Talecris Biotherapeutics Holdings from private-equity firm Cerberus.

Unilever's Sara Lee Deal Hits Speed Bump in EU

Unilever's $1.3 billion proposal to acquire Sara Lee's household and body products operation ran into a snag Monday when European antitrust regulators announced they are opening a deeper investigation into the proposed transaction.

NFL Loses Court Case Over Logo Licensing Deal

For almost a decade, Reebok has had an exclusive license to sell headwear with NFL team logos, but perhaps not for much longer. A unanimous Supreme Court just ruled that the NFL's 32 teams are not automatically exempt from antitrust rules when it comes to granting merchandising licenses.

Is Apple Becoming the Next Microsoft?

The Federal Trade Commission may be investigating Apple for anticompetitive behavior called "tying" -- an illegal technique of using power in one market to gain a monopoly in another. And that's precisely the illegal strategy that got Microsoft in so much hot water in the 1990s.

Intel Trumps AMD with a New Server Chip

Intel has launched its new server chip, the Xeon 5600, beating its smaller rival AMD to the market. The chip provides more processing power while consuming less energy.

Microsoft Publicly Takes Google to Task Over Its Practices

Microsoft criticized Google for failing to adequately respond to a recent European Commission investigation into its market share and practices. In a blog post, Microsoft's deputy general counsel wrote that Google is trying to place the blame on Microsoft, rather than take responsibility for its own actions.

Italy Convicts Google Execs of Privacy Violations

An Italian judge convicted three Google executives of privacy violations over a 2006 video depicting a child with Down Syndrome being bullied. What's more, the search giant was also facing antitrust scrutiny from European Union regulators over complaints leveled by three European Internet companies.

Microsoft-Yahoo Search Deal OK'd

Antitrust regulators in the U.S. and Europe have approved Microsoft's search advertising partnership with Yahoo, giving the two companies a much needed boost in their quest to chip away at market leader Google. The regulatory victories are a major boost for Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, who made the search partnership a key component in her still-young tenure leading the one-time Internet pioneer.

AMD Posts a Profit, Boosted by Intel Payment

Advanced Micro Devices posted its first quarterly profit in three years. But the world's No. 2 maker of microprocessors said it would have lost money were it not for the payment it received from Intel to squash a long-running antitrust battle.