WASHINGTON: Google is likely the next major tech target of US and EU trust-busters after the US Justice Department sued Apple Wednesday for illegally colluding with publishers in the e-book market, legal experts said.In an industry in which companies can soar to near-monopoly positions in a few years, justice authorities on both sides of the Atlantic will keep pursuing tech giants as they fight to defend their
market positions, they said.
But tech industry dynamics -- the pace of change, and the complex economics of technology and network-bound markets -- could make it harder to prosecute any of them.
"There are economic conditions that are present in the industry, together with the speed at which it changes, that make it an industry that the government really has to keep an eye on," said Gary Reback, a Silicon Valley lawyer who was deeply involved in the landmark anti-trust push against Microsoft in the 1990s.
"In the tech industry we have the network effects, which are very strong; we have the first-mover advantage," like Microsoft locking users into its program platform, he said.
"We have all kinds of things like that which makes the industry more susceptible to monopolization."
Wednesday's Justice Department charges against Apple and five large book publishers is at face value a more garden-variety anti-trust case, alleging that the publishers colluded to set prices for e-books.
Apple, as a reseller, allegedly worked with them as it sought to erode Amazon's dominance in the business. (AFP)
