Dismissing complaints from Microsoft and Yahoo, the EU Competition Commission cleared Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick. The Antitrust Division (U.S. Department of Justice) had done so after completing its Hart-Scott-Rodino Act review in December 2007. According to the Associated Press, the EU noted that Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL would discipline any attempt by Google/DoubleClick to raise the prices for web-placed advertisements post-merger.
Feb
27
Posted by : | On : February 27, 2008
February 27, 2008. Microsoft became the first company that the EU Competition Commission has fined (in its 50 year history) for non-compliance with an antitrust decree. The decree was based on the determination that Microsoft abused its dominant position. To remedy the violation, the decree required Microsoft to disclose interoperability information to developers of work group server operating servers (on reasonable terms) which would allow them to compete. The EU concluded that royalty rates which Microsoft imposed were unreasonable and therefore violated the antitrust decree. Below is a link to the proceedings against Microsoft in the EU. http://www.ec.europa.eu/comm/competition/antitrust/cases/microsoft/index.html