Posted 10/27/09 at 06:21:51 PM by Jason Barry

There aren’t tons of details about what Sony is alluding too, but they have outwardly admitted to U.S. antitrust investigations. Antitrust regulators are taking a closer look at Sony's optical disk drive operations.

Sony Optiarc America, in particular, produces the Sony line of optical disk drives for DVD, CD, and Blu-ray media formats and is the focus of the investigation. Sony didn’t hint to which products are of interest, but if you like to follow the gossip circles (or have a bit of common-sense) it is likely something to do with Blu-ray.

Blu-ray’s prices have yet to see the traditional price declination expected from a hot technology that has been released over three years ago. In fact, prices have remained steady over that time despite HD-DVD disappearing from the picture.
 
Further, the technology hasn’t skyrocketed in popularity the way Sony expected and antitrust investigations are not likely to help that process along.

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Posted 09/11/09 at 06:06:38 PM by Jason Barry

The U.S. Justice department is taking a closer look at the proposed internet-search partnership between Yahoo and Microsoft. As a part of this contract, Yahoo would use Bing’s search engine, across its websites. Yahoo will sell ads to appear next to search results and the two companies will be splitting the revenue. The Justice department has asked for more details about the agreement from both parties so they might be able scrutinize all aspects of the deal.

Microsoft and Yahoo both expected a lengthy inspection regarding the antitrust laws in place. If/when the agreement passes inspection it could change the landscape of online ad-sales where Google has been the top contender tripling the U.S. sales of its competitors. There is a chance that the Justice department may question whether the move is necessary for a competitive market in online ad sales and alter the arrangement.

So what does all of that mean to the average internet user? The answer: not a whole lot. Search and text based ads are nothing revolutionary and the long term future of Yahoo search could be considered irrelevant compared to those of Google and Microsoft’s.

Image Credit: Daryl Cagle, msnbc.com

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Posted 08/21/09 at 08:55:35 AM by Paul Lilly

Oracle, which makes databases and other software, said the U.S. Department of Jusice has approved its plans to acquire Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion.

The bid to acquire Sun was first announced in April and Sun shareholders approved the acquisition on July 16, but the deal has been in limbo following the DOJ's extended antitrust review. According to a lawyer for Oracle, the DOJ needed more time to review an issue about the way rights to Java are licensed, the Wall Street Journal reports.

With the DOJ no longer a roadblock, Oracle still faces a few more hurdles before the deal can go through. The acquisition is subject to certain conditions and also needs approval from European regulators, which said it will weigh in with an initial opinion in September.

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Posted 09/09/07 at 08:43:52 PM by Erin Simon

The DoJ Antitrust Division doesn't think net neutrality will help consumers, because we all know how competitive the telcom market is.

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