After the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division cleared the acquisition by Google Inc. of travel software developer ITA a few weeks ago, many antitrust law practitioners believed public calls for a broader antitrust investigation of Google would cease. Spokespersons for Google competitors in Internet travel search and other fields nonetheless remain undeterred, and they convinced the Federal Trade Commission to launch a formal probe in late June.
It would be a debacle of serious and long-run consequences for the federal antitrust enforcement agencies — either DOJ or the FTC — to prosecute a Sherman Act complaint against Google. Putting Google under an antitrust microscope for actions it might take in the future is anathema to our U.S. system of marketplace competition and the widely accepted limitations on antitrust intervention in the free market.
