Do the antitrust laws have a place in the digital economy or are they
obsolete? That is the question raised by the government's legal action
against Microsoft, and it is the question this volume is designed to
answer.
America's antitrust laws were born out of the Industrial Revolution.
Opponents of the antitrust laws argue that whatever merit the antitrust
laws may have had in the past they have no place in a digital economy.
Rapid innovation makes the accumulation of market power practically
impossible. Markets change too quickly for antitrust actions to keep up.
And antitrust remedies are inevitably regulatory and hence threaten to
`regulate business'.
A different view - and, generally, the view presented in this volume -
is that antitrust law can and does have an important and constructive
role to play in the digital economy. The software business is new, it is
complex, and it is rapidly moving. Analysis of market definition,
contestibility and potential competition, the role of innovation,
network externalities, cost structures and marketing channels present
challenges for academics, policymakers and judges alike. Evaluating
consumer harm is problematic. Distinguishing between illegal conduct and
brutal - but legitimate - competition is often difficult.
Is antitrust analysis up to the challenge? This volume suggests that
antitrust analysis `still works'. In stark contrast to the political
rhetoric that has surrounded much of the debate over the Microsoft case,
the articles presented here suggest neither that Microsoft is inherently
bad, nor that it deserves a de facto exemption from the antitrust
laws. Instead, they offer insights - for policymakers, courts,
practitioners, professors and students of antitrust policy everywhere -
on how antitrust analysis can be applied to the business of making and
marketing computer software.
