Antitrust Practices and Market Power

The policy on antitrust mainly comprises of government actions as well as laws that have been designed to discourage monopolies as well as encourage and endorse competition. In the year 2011, the United States government federal trade commission commenced an antitrust investigation into Google, the largest world search engine. The contents of the investigation were on a comprehensive exploration into the company’s business conduct as well as to whether the company was abusing the search strength it enjoys. 

Their investigation was on whether the company was driving traffic to its individual assets against their competitor’s services and sites. After a duration spanning to almost two years, the federal government made it clear that it was going to drop the investigation into Google as they could not locate evidence against the company. Thus, the investigation was concluded with the government holding that the company did not abuse the search power it enjoys (Singer, 2012).

The investigation into Google was because it thought that they were violating the Sherman antitrust act, which the Congress accepted to in the year 1890. The act holds checks on the monopolies by prohibiting them as well as another unreasonable arrangement by firms’ in order to control or restrict any form of interstate trade. The law mainly prohibits two or more individuals from taking part in monopolistic acts that could entail fixing of the prices although it does not clearly proscribe the fixing of prices in isolation. The amendments to the Act in the year 1914 to the Clayton Act, that clears prohibits the interlocking of deals as well as directorates with the intention to eliminate or restrain competition (Your Dictionary Law). One particular element in the duty to deal allegation that the Sherman Acts I lie in proving that Google through its acts in the treatment of its competitors subjects the consumers to harm. The assignment that rests in the protection of the competitors as well as the consumers stumps even the cleverest economist. The Sherman Act is the principle of the prohibition of monopolies, efforts individuals to monopolize or on the other hand stifle any conspiracies with the intention of monopolization. In its definition, a monopoly entails an example of a market structure by what the domination of the overall sales in regard to a particular service or product is under the control of a few or single payer. An obvious example in our case is Google as the company. Google’s biggest competitor normally is Yahoo. Under a monopolistic market, the public suffers since it does not have the volume or quantity of the products. At the same time doesn’t have them at the lower prices a competitive market offers (Singer, 2012).

From my analysis, assessment of oligopolies and monopolies range from being good to bad and at the same time can be utterly ugly but can’t always be ugly for the society. From my research findings, it is clear those monopolies that have a sound output can found in diverse types that include a technical, as well as a natural monopoly. Natural monopolies include the local electrical service. The fundamental characteristics of a power plant lie in the fact that as its size increases, the kWh cost rate goes down, thus benefiting the society (Singer, 2012). In the form of technical utility, the best example is the patent protection. On the occasions when a firm invents a new product, it obtains a patent for that particular product, thus making the company a technical monopoly for their product. In the United States, the Office of trademark and patent protection offers 20 years for the protection of the company’s new product. The importance of the patent protection lies in the encouraging of the development, research as well as the invention of new products in order to benefit the society (Your Dictionary Law).My assessment of the oligopolies finds them to have more demerits than the merits, although the research findings inform me that they can be beneficial to the society. With the use of oligopolies, customers are in a position of advantage in the making of comparisons in the prices effortlessly (Singer, 2012). The various businesses compelled into making their prices competitive in order to encourage easy comparison, a positive outcome in regard to the society. Prices that lie in the notion of set and stable enable the society in the planning as well as stabilizing their spending.

References

Singer, H. (2012, 12 05). The FTC's Decision to Reject the Search Antitrust Case against Google.

Your Dictionary Law. (n.d.). 

Carolyn Morgan is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in custom research paper services. If you need a similar paper you can place your order from urgent essay writing service.