While some feel that the extended antitrust fight against Microsoft finished up having <a href=”http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090729/0447005696.shtml”>small impact</a>, there does appear to be some evidence that Microsoft recognizes what a <i>pain</i> dealing with antitrust accusations are. That seems to be the most reasonable explanation for why Microsoft seems to be showing up behind the scenes in recent antitrust activity against both Google and IBM. With Google, a hardly any small companies with <a href=”http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091228/0304247512.shtml”>highly dubious claims</a> have stepped up with <a href=”http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090217/1841023807.shtml”>antitrust claims</a> against Google, however of direction, there’s a secret <a href=”http://news.cnet.com/8301-10787_3-10166357-60.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20″ target=”_blank”>Microsoft connection</a> in that these tiny companies with monetary disputes that are a <a href=”http://techdirt.com/articles/20100218/1835208230.shtml”>pittance</a>, seem to have secured the aid of some super high-powered lawyers who have a extended history of working with Microsoft. Hmm…
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And then, at the end week, the news came outside that the EU was <a href=”http://blogs.wsj.com/code/2010/07/27/eu-launches-competition-probes-of-ibm-no-weirder-to-antitrust-code/” target=”_blank”>investigating IBM for supposed antitrust violations</a> — and, IBM is immediately claiming that the small companies involved in the complaints are <a href=”http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/27/business/27blue.html?_r=1&sq=ibm&st=cse&scp=2&pagewanted=all” target=”_blank”>”proxies of Microsoft.”</a> Yes, it looks like rather than really being about protecting consumers, antitrust activity has immediately become about saddling competitors with a huge distracting fight.
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Of direction, IBM’s activity is a bit shady here as well. Part of the issue was that they were trying to block these companies that constitute software emulators of IBM hardware. IBM claims that such emulators “pirate IBM’s intellectual property.” That seems attractive silly. An emulator shouldn’t be seen as infringing. Of direction, if IBM is found to be violating antitrust behavior, then it may be its own fault here as well: intellectual property is, inherently, about using monopoly ability. However, if you rely on one form of monopoly ability, you shouldn’t be surprised when another form comes back to bite you.<br /><br /><a href=”http://techdirt.com/articles/20100801/18221910441.shtml”>Permalink</a> | <a href=”http://techdirt.com/articles/20100801/18221910441.shtml#comments”>Comments</a> | <a href=”http://techdirt.com/article.php?sid=20100801/18221910441&op=sharethis”>Email This Tale</a><br />
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