科技前沿::美國科技公司的反壟斷年

For Tech Sector, It's an Antitrust Year
IBM is now the target of a federal antitrust inquiry, but it's in good company in the tech sector.

Google, Intel and telecommunications providers in general have all faced antitrust-related probes in recent months. IBM's relates to its mainframe-computer business ─ rivals have complained that the company has abused its dominance of the market to limit competition.

Google's concerns its settlement with book publishers, which the Justice Department has criticized as raising antitrust, copyright and other legal issues. A U.S. district judge said yesterday that Google has until November to revise its settlement.

In May, chip maker Intel received the European Union's largest-ever antitrust fine after the regulatory group said it used its dominant position to keep PC makers from going with rival Advanced Micro Devices. Intel is appealing the ruling.

Back in the U.S., the Justice Department has given thought as to whether the exclusivity arrangements that big carriers like AT&T and Verizon ink with device makers ─ Apple's iPhone, which has an exclusive deal in the U.S. with AT&T, for example ─ unfairly limit competition with smaller players.

One company seeing the light at the end of the tunnel is Microsoft. After years of antitrust tangling and more than $2 billion in fines, the software giant may see an end to its charges by the end of the year, the EU said yesterday.

IBM目前成爲了一樁聯邦反壟斷調查的對象，但這在科技行業並沒有什麼大不了的。

谷歌(Google)、英特爾(Intel)和電信公司最近幾個月基本都面臨着反壟斷相關調查。IBM此次遭受反壟斷調查是因爲其主機業務──競爭對手投訴IBM濫用其市場主導地位限制競爭。

谷歌的問題則是其和圖書出版商達成的和解協議，美國司法部(Justice Department)批評這一協議帶來了反壟斷、版權以及其他法律問題。一位美國聯邦法官週三說，谷歌必須在11月之前修改其和解協議。

今年5月，芯片製造商英特爾接到了歐盟有史以來金額最高的反壟斷罰單，歐盟監管部門此前說，英特爾利用了其市場主導地位阻止個人電腦廠商使用高級微設備公司(AMD)的產品。目前英特爾正就這一判決提出上訴。

美國司法部已經在調查美國電話電報公司(AT&T)和Verizon等主要移動運營商與手機廠商簽訂的獨家安排協議，例如蘋果(Apple)與美國電話電報公司簽訂的獨家銷售iPhone協議，是否不公平地限制了小公司的競爭。

微軟(Microsoft)則看到了勝利的曙光。歐盟週三說，微軟有望在年底前了結其反壟斷訴訟。此前歐盟與微軟的反壟斷紛爭持續了多年，歐盟向微軟開出了20多億美元的罰金。