Geoff Manne on Google’s Default Agreements
ICLE President Geoffrey A. Manne was cited by the American Institute for Economic Research in a blog post about the U.S. District Court ruling in the recent Google search antitrust case. You can read the full piece here.
As Geoffrey Manne, President and Founder of the International Center for Law and Economics, notes in his review of the case, “Google’s default agreements can’t be deemed to have caused anticompetitive harm because defaults are readily overcome by high-quality, reputable alternatives.” The ruling itself even acknowledges that there was no “price that Microsoft could ever offer Apple to make the switch because of Bing’s inferior quality.” In other words, the price of the contract and Google’s market share are irrelevant because there is no other product that matches the quality of its search. Consumers clearly have options when it comes to search, but because they consistently choose one product over the other does not mean that the exclusive contracts indicate anticompetitive behavior. Companies invest in marketing, partnerships, and product placements to increase their visibility and, ultimately, their revenue. This is not anti-competitive; it is the essence of competition.