Money is the root of all evil, or so they say. It is what makes the world go round, and business owners will sometimes sell their souls in the hopes of becoming top dog. Some of these businesses get a little too big for their britches at times, and like children on the playground they have to be watched over so that everything stays fair.
According to the Department of Economics and Finance Chair of Law and Economics, “antitrust can be considered a form of economic regulation done by governments over economic activity of undertakings. Antitrust regulations and competition laws are primarily made in order to assure sound competition in each segment of the broader market, protect consumer welfare and avoid abuse of market power by dominant firms.” (Grillo, Renda, 2014) When one single company controls a big enough portion of the market share of a product or service that it affects significantly the terms on which others have access to it, it is deemed a Monopoly market structure. If a group of firms does the same, it is referred to as an oligopoly market structure. “Oligopolies and monopolies may maintain their position of dominance in a market because it is too costly or difficult for potential rivals to enter the market. Obstacles to entry are called barriers to entry.” (Grillo, Renda, 2014) This doesn’t go over well in today’s society, which is what antitrust laws are for. One company lately has been getting many accusations of infringing said laws and causing quite a stir.
“Google has been accused of giving priority to its own specialized search services over other competitors, using third party original content without sharing its revenues, and without receiving permission to take it, obligating advertisers to use only its AdWords platform and not competing ones, as well as imposing on third party websites to use only its own advertising channels
