Word: antitrust
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...does. And so far as the Department of Justice is concerned, maybe a lot better. Its antitrust division spent the summer trying a complex--some argue convoluted--case against Visa USA and MasterCard International in the U.S. Southern District of New York, in Manhattan. The two-year-old suit alleges that the associations, which together control more than 75% of the credit-card market, have conspired to keep Americans frozen in a sort of mid-'80s dark age of consumer-payment mechanisms...
...merchants will argue before a federal judge in Brooklyn that they are forced to accept and pay an artificially high fee on debit-card sales. They hope to wring $8.1 billion from the defendants in this class action--a number that would triple, if they win, under federal antitrust...
Competition has been a dirty word for decades in Italy, particularly for entrenched state monopolies like Alitalia and the electric company ENEL. But the private sector hasn't liked the word much either. If the country's suddenly energized Antitrust Authority has its way, however, businesses may have to get used to it. Last July Italy's insurance firms got a rude awakening when the Authority slapped them with $350 million in fines after determining they had fixed prices for many forms of vehicle insurance...
...Bill Gates and his employees have donated to Gorton is one piece of evidence that he's "the Senator from Microsoft," as he has called himself. "I certainly am proud to have that moniker," says Gorton. He says that on the campaign trail, his zing at the antitrust suit is "one of the best applause lines I have...
...RealNetworks and Microsoft are business rivals. Real's executives have gone before the Senate to claim Microsoft tried to hurt them. So you might expect this to be an antitrust grudge match. On the surface, at least, it's not. Washington State is so pro-Gates that Cantwell, who served one term in the House, is careful to stress that "they used to call me the Congresswoman from Microsoft." Break them up? No way. "I can stand up and say I know they're a great competitor...