Google 'wants to dodge consent decree' in any FTC antitrust deal Google is rumoured to be trying to persuade the Federal Trade Commission that it hasn't broken any antitrust laws and that any agreement it makes with the agency isn't bound by a consent decree. The Chocolate Factory is looking for a light wrist-slap for its alleged search market dominance as the agency finishes up its 19- …
With all the legal fights between such companies in the tech arena, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, etc you cannot give Google any legal room in which to maneuver. If the FTC does, it's asking for it's own slap when Google does anything it wants and just declares any actions, no matter how monopolistic or unethical, to be under the umbrella of this 'a good chap's word' type of agreement.
If I get that Edmund Burke guy right, then the FTC must be Good Men hard at work.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing"
Oops. Sorry Burke didn't say that. Sorry.
He did say:
"It cannot at this time be too often repeated; line upon line; precept upon precept; until it comes into the currency of a proverb, To innovate is not to reform"
Even better, I think.
Not only do they only get a slap on the wrist with a diet feather, they have the cheek to demand changes too?
If I was the regulator I'd do my damnedest to find a way to replace the feather with something of substantially more substance as it's crystal clear that the fine does not modify behaviour as it is intended to (no surprise there).
"Meanwhile, federal regulators are also getting interested in how standards-essential patents (SEP) are being used by Android manufacturers to effectively protect Google's share of the mobile market."
The SEP owners merely want paying for the use of their FRAND patents - some companies (<cough> Apple) seem to think they don't need or shouldn't have to pay anything or they should be allowed the right to determine what they pay (usually significantly less than existing FRAND payees).
Bluffing only works if you can pretend that you hold some cards. Microsoft thinks the FTC should play the word Fair as in Fair Trade Commission, however, Congress did not commission the FTC to interpret the word Fair and legal precedent says the law protects consumers from harm, not losers with K-street lobbyists.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
