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1 1 (October 23, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govdcjl0001 and id is 1 raw text is: * Congrssoa Research Sevice The Google Antitrust Lawsuit: Initial Observations October 23, 2020 On October 20, 2020, the Department of Justice and eleven Republican state attorneys general (hereinafter DOJ) filed a long-anticipated antitrust lawsuit against Google, alleging that the tech giant has unlawfully monopolized the markets for general internet search services and search advertising. The complaint follows an investigation of Big Tech platforms that the DOJ launched last summer and represents the Department's most significant antitrust case since the Microsoft litigation that began over twenty years ago. The lawsuit also implicates an area of intense congressional interest: earlier this month, the House Antitrust Subcommittee released a report concluding that major tech companies-including Google-have engaged in exclusionary conduct that violates the antitrust laws. This Legal Sidebar provides an overview of the Justice Department's allegations and offers initial observations on their relationship to existing antitrust doctrine. Monopolization Doctrine: The Basics Section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act makes it unlawfulto monopolize commerce. But the statute does not define that key term, leaving the courts to flesh out its content. In unpacking this language, the Supreme Court has explained that the mere possession of monopoly power is not illegal. Instead, a firm violates Section 2 only if it has monopoly power and engages in exclusionary conduct to achieve, maintain, or enhance that power. An antitrust plaintiff typically establishes that a defendant has monopoly power by showing that it has a dominant market share that is likely to be durable. This process requires parties to define the scope of the market in which the defendant operates-that is, the denominator in the market-share fraction. Plaintiffs predictably argue that defendants compete in narrow markets with few rivals, while defendants ordinarily maintain that they struggle in large markets awash with adversaries. The legal test goes as follows: a relevant antitrust market consists of the good or service at issue in a given case and all others that are reasonably interchangeable with it. In addition to establishing that a defendant has a dominant market share, monopolization plaintiffs typically must prove that the defendant's dominant position is likely to be durable. Plaintiffs usually try Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov LSB10544 CRS Legal Siebar Prepared for Membersand Commi ----es o Cong rss-----------------------------------

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