19 May COMPUTER ANTITRUST EXPERT WITNESS CONSULTING AND TESTIMONY
A top computer antitrust expert witness who covers hardware, software, and related services would be no stranger to major legal battles over the years. From the landmark Microsoft case to the more recent investigations into practices by tech giants like Google, Intel, and Apple, computer antitrust expert witness advisors are appearing on the scene more and more. Think about the type of work they perform to understand why.
- Bringing a big-picture view to the table – Looking at factors like the interrelationships between different hardware components, operating systems, productivity software, and more to determine distinct antitrust markets.
- Monopolization and attempted monopolization claims – Analyzing whether a firm has willfully acquired or maintained monopoly power through anticompetitive conduct rather than competition on the merits under Section 2 of the Sherman Act. Myriad computer antitrust expert witness companies model market realities and effects.
- Exclusive dealing and customer foreclosure – There are frequent allegations that dominant PC firms engage in exclusive contracts, bundled rebates, or other pricing strategies aimed at locking in customers and foreclosing rivals from distribution channels and complementary market segments.
- Interoperability limitations and fragmentation – Consultants investigate claims that intentional denial of full interoperability between computing platforms, formats, and standards is used as a way to raise costs for rivals and restrict consumer choice through fragmentation.
- Tying and technical integration – Tying antitrust claims often arise around hardware manufacturers integrating proprietary software or peripherals while making it difficult to un-bundle and use third-party alternatives. Effects on consumer freedom are analyzed by any given computer antitrust expert witness.
- Patent rights and industry standards – In collaborative standard-setting contexts, pros assess whether certain firms have violated FRAND licensing commitments or attempted to unlawfully monopolize markets through excessive royalties or refusals to deal.
- Innovation impacts and quality degradation – In these high-technology markets, a computer antitrust expert witness often goes beyond just price and output effects, also modeling impacts on disruptive innovation incentives, quality competition, and whether any actions have diminished consumer welfare in these dimensions.
From personal computing to enterprise IT systems, the practices of major hardware and software providers can have widespread ramifications across the tech ecosystem. Specialized computer antitrust expert witness provide perspectives grounded in engineering principles, best business practices and/or industrial economics.
