3 ms·

tl;dr -- can someone summarize it?

• Osiris 16y ago
  The Justice Department is suing Google and ITA to block the merger by requesting that the court determine that it violates the Clayton Act. The claim is that ITA's QPX product is the most advanced and successful of all the available P&S systems (airfare pricing and shopping systems). There are 4 other competitors, including Expedia (which doesn't license their software). QPX is used by competitors to Google, such as Microsoft. If Google were to acquire ITA, Google would have an incentive to block access to QPX from competitors, and thus exercise an unfair advantage over the competition.
  • shrikant 16y ago
    If Google were to acquire ITA, Google would have an incentive to block access to QPX from competitors, and thus exercise an unfair advantage over the competition. So anti-trust cases can be filed for even potentially monopolistic behaviour? Seems a little like pre-crime to me. Or does "prevention is better than cure" come up trumps here?
    • esoteriq 16y ago
      IN a way you're right. I assume it's because once a monopoly exists or once antitrust practices occur, the damage is irreversible. A company wiped out because of some other company's illegal actions can never return to its "former glory". Also, it's a "reasonable probability" that the illegal actions would occur and that's enough in this context. That's my guess anyway.