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Legal Issues

by Joseph Weisenthal

Thu, Jul 19th 2007 6:45am




Filed Under:
antitrust, politics

Companies:
doubleclick, google


Now Congress Is Interested In Google/DoubleClick Deal

from the now-answer-this dept

This week, we pointed to a report that predicted the FTC would block Google's acquisition of DoubleClick on antitrust grounds. This particular case notwithstanding, the report's author made the argument that Google was likely to replace Microsoft as the chief target of antitrust enforcers. That prediction could be coming to fruition very quickly. In addition to the FTC's scrutiny of the deal, Congress has decided to drag Google in front of a committee to discuss the deal. This doesn't spell doom for the deal just yet, but it does suggest that politicians are growing wary of Google's power, in the same way they had concerns about Microsoft. It's no wonder the company has been busily beefing up its forces in Washington.

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    Martin Edic, Jul 19th, 2007 @ 7:53am

    they are grandstanding

    If Google were not Google congress wouldn't touch this- it's a stunt, IMHO. Why not look at Microsoft's purchase of aQuantive which includes a major ad agency (AvenueA/Razorfish)? This is a real conflict as they will now be competing with their agency advertisers for clients.
    As far as I can tell the Doubleclick deal does not include any agency properties. It is an natural expansion for a media company to acquire another technology, not a monopoly. There are many ad servers out there.

     

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  •  
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    michael, Jul 19th, 2007 @ 8:06am

    next purchase

    i heard google is gonna buy congress

     

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  •  
    identicon
    Overcast, Jul 19th, 2007 @ 8:32am

    Congress must not be getting a cut!

    Either that - or double click is how the FBI and other agencies install spyware onto PC's and they couldn't have that compromised.

    I wonder if we'll get arrested in the future for our words against 'The Government'.

    hmmm.

     

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  •  
    identicon
    Trouble Maker, Jul 19th, 2007 @ 9:56am

    two cents worth

    >This message as been censored by the Google Congressional BOT. Due to the nature of this message it has been deemed to be in violation of the Congressional Anti-Trust Statement Act. All derogatory statements made against Congress will be viewed as Free Thought. Currently Free Thought is not illegal however Congressional Bill #321-798-2007 is a proposal to limit Free Thinking to licensed constituents only.

     

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  •  
    identicon
    geri, Jul 21st, 2007 @ 7:48pm

    Google/Double Click

    This was does definitely need review... But let's look at who is complaining... Microsoft and AT&T.... Make ya' wonder!

     

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