Word: antitrusters
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...full extent of His Majesty's spoof becomes apparent only after examining the rationale of American antitrust law. The cornerstone of that framework, the Sherman Antitrust Act, does not prohibit monopoly per se and Sherman took great pains to point that out before Congress when debating the issue. Monopolies attained through continued innovation are totally legitimate. The law targets only those extended through predatory pricing, superfluous tie-ins and a handful of other shady practices that rely not on market merit but market power. Such monopolies invariably hurt the consumer, either by raising prices above the market level or destroying...
...only legal guideline congealing from Jackson's royal hemorrhage is that benefitting consumers through constant innovation in a fluid market is wrong. And this blatantly contradicts the rationale of antitrust itself. So much so, in fact, that it becomes quite clear His Majesty's inquest is not about delineating general guidelines. It is about destroying the very idea of general guidelines...
...high-tech needs smart antitrust enforcement, that raises an even trickier question: Is the American legal system up to it? The wheels of justice have always ground slowly--and even today the courts have more in common with Dickens' Bleak House than with the World Wide Web. By the lightning-paced standards of the computer industry, the law is positively glacial. After Jackson is done with the case, the appeals could drag on for two more years. That's a lifetime in Silicon Valley...
...this Gatesean religion, this take-no-prisoners holy war, that got Microsoft in trouble with the antitrust division--and that runs as a leitmotif through Jackson's findings. But if Gates' character explains the past of this lawsuit, it may also foretell its future. Shortly after Gates hinted at settlement in his videotaped press release, he appeared at a press conference at Microsoft headquarters. This time he seemed more focused on winning--if not before Judge Jackson, then later...
...Microsoft's troubles in perspective. Since the government filed its antitrust suit 18 months ago, the company has won the Web-browser war, revenue growth has accelerated and earnings have been rising 10% per quarter. Put another way: Bill Gates' company has had a great year four times a year, even with the Feds breathing down its neck. Little wonder that the stock doubled in that same 18 months--the fourth such double in the past six years...